The Mike Dunford Tournament was held at the Tamarind Mombasa last weekend, and for the eighteen boats that entered from as far north as Watamu and Diani down south it proved great fishing, with a total of  three black and one blue marlin and nine sailfish, and good catches of smaller fish, dorado, wahoo, tuna, barracuda and kingfish spread through nearly all the boats.

Norman Kitonga, from Capt Andy’s Fishing, caught the first billfish by 8.20am, a black marlin of 70kgs on Taru, just three miles out from Nyali beach, his first fish on his first outing – well done! With Steve Rodwell (to whom thanks for this report) and Max Donner in the team, this gave them top spot in the Open Boat sector.

Delta, fished by Hugh and Justin Walters and Sean McGovern, came first in the Professional stream with four sailfish, Justin and Sean with two sail each winning prizes in the Junior sector, and they were closely followed by the team on Centa, Irene Masai, David Chepkonga and Hassan Habit, which landed the biggest fish, a black marlin of 141kgs. Bahari Kuu with a tagged black marlin was third and Kipapa tagged a blue marlin.

In the amateur stream, Instedda with Imran Moosa, Meraj Issa and Ali al Harazi took first place, followed by Tudor Home Boys with Peter Vaz, and Bado with Bob and Alex Brenneisen and Anne Taylor, the latter winning the Lady’s prize with her 10kg dorado. Mike Kirkland in Matilai, which came second in the Open Boat sector, would have put his team amongst the winners had a nice black marlin he was playing on 10kg line not come off, which could also have won the Dick Chater Light Line trophy, which was not awarded eventually.

Thanks to sponsors Seaforth Shipping, Yara, Satao Camp and Tamarind Mombasa, and nearly 300,000/- was raised for the Kenya Society for the Blind in an event much enjoyed by all.

At Malindi, the Penn Challenge continued, won by the Double Dutch team whose last day fishing on Tarka proved their best with two striped marlin, a sail and a shark. Kipapa took top boat honours, with Snark second and Snowgoose third. They all plan a bigger tournament next year!

Leo Haak followed up his amazing day last week on Neptune with a 150kg blue marlin and a 100kg black marlin three days later, while Tina had a 100kg black marlin for Keith Hill from South Africa, as well as a sail and a 20kg giant trevally – his first black and first GT in many years of fishing! Snowgoose found a black marlin and a sailfish, plus eleven wahoo, a kingfish and a dorado, and on Snark Con Jooste and his nephew Donovan had a 80kg black marlin on a light rod one day, then next day a double header of sailfish both on fly rods for an exciting experience!

Good fishing continues at Watamu, Alleycat getting a 208kg black marlin and B’s Nest tagging a blue of 200kgs for Ken McGeorge, and with marlin harder to find many boats are fishing closer in. With the wind showing signs of switching south, a signal for the billfish to move on from the far-out Rips,the Banks at Watamu will become crowded with boats, and with a day like the crew on Black Widow found last Sunday, catching two sail, twelve wahoo, eighteen yellowfin tuna and four kingfish it is not hard to see why! White Bear has also had good fishing, with a sail and nine wahoo followed later by eleven wahoo, and then a sail, nine wahoo, a barracuda and a dorado for Chris Williams the next day – keeps the anglers busy and keen for another trip!