With most of the annual major tournaments over and the season nearing the end, it is ironic that at last after several weeks of poor fishing things are improving and the fish are biting again, a welcome change.
Malindi SFC held a Marlin Competition last weekend, a new fixture, and after the first day the anglers on Clueless, Rob Duff, Leo from Holland and Gerrit, had tagged a black marlin to be in the lead. The same boat followed on the second day with another tagged black marlin and two sailfish tagged to take a big lead and come in first place. Second was the Seyyida team, David Darnborough and Andrew Buckoke which released a black marlin. Third was Tarka, fished by Mark, Roy and Cindy with four sailfish released, and Unreel came fourth with a sailfish released.
Earlier, Eclare had a fabulous day, catching fourteen sailfish and raising many more, the first time sailfish have appeared in these quantities for many weeks, while Ol Jogi tagged a black marlin for Kelvin Nettleingham, and Tamu released two sail. At Kilifi, Iron Barde and Sijui both had a sailfish, and Eclare at Malindi had three sail on Sunday but was not in the competition.
White Bear, from Hemingways, had a busy day catching fifteen yellowfin tuna, a wahoo and a king fish, although the sail eluded them, and the following day B’s Nest found a sailfish, as well as tuna and a giant trevally. Chris Venn, in his Sand Dollar, had a active day with a black marlin and three sail released as well as tuna, but the sailfish really turned on the next day, with B’s Nest tagging five, Tarka and Contagious with three each and White Bear and Dilligaf one each.
The annual Mike Dunford tournament will be fished on Saturday 21st March out from the Tamarind, with the raffle and auction the evening before – this is a popular fixture and with sailfish still running at Diani should be good fishing.
The annual Kenya Association of Sea Anglers dinner, with raffle and disco was held at the Malindi fishing clubhouse last Thursday, and was a great success with a fabulous banquet and good attendance.
