The north wind continues to blow well, but the seas are not too rough, good conditions for fishing but there have not been too many trips this last week, with many of the boats sitting on the moorings awaiting clients.
At Watamu, Tarka has had a good week with their best day yielding two black marlin and two sailfish, with a couple of sail the next day. This was followed two days later, by another black marlin tagged, plus a sailfish and four wahoo, and a couple of sail the next trip. Three marlin and seven sail in the week, plus some wahoo, yellowfin and giant trevally with most of the fish caught closer in around the Banks – good fishing! A good sign, too, that the current is still running well north, as if the current turns and runs south, as it often does at this time, it can be disastrous for the fishing.
Alleycat has had a sail and a hammerhead shark, while White Mischief has had a couple of days with sailfish. Unreel weighed a very big kingfish, 28.5 kgs, bigger than most of the sailfish being caught! The Kenya record kingfish stands at 37.7kgs, caught at Mtwapa over twenty years ago, which will take a lot of beating!
At Shimoni, White Otter took out long-time regular angler ‘Mr Mike’ who caught and released a striped marlin, his fiftieth marlin with the Pemba Channel Fishing Club ! He also released a sailfish, his biggest ever, estimated at 45 kgs so a memorable trip for the veteran. The same boat had other trips with marlin and sail – the seas there are calm in the mornings, but get windy and rough in the afternoons, while most of the billfish are being caught after midday.
Shuwari, at Diani, raised a pack of striped marlin, hooking one from three strikes, and they also missed a blue marlin, but caught and released a sailfish so plenty of action in that area.
Kilifi sees the Delamere Trophy being fished over the next weekend, the 28th/29th Jan. Sponsored this year by Sean Garstin Motors, this is one of the oldest tournaments along the coast, started by Diana, Lady Delamere, over fifty years ago. With marlin running in the Rips it has always been an exciting tournament, with great prizes for the lucky winners.
