The annual awards dinner of the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, KASA, was held on Saturday 22nd September at the Tamarind Restaurant, sponsored by Imperial Bank. Nearly eighty guests attended with fishing enthusiasts from as far afield as Lamu and Shimoni sitting down to a great meal accompanied by the smooth sounds of the Tamarind band.
The annual trophies were presented, with the Catch of the Year going to Kamara II for a total of five striped marlin and three sailfish in a day, and the second prize to Tarka, for a blue and two striped marlin and eight sailfish, with Snowgoose third scoring one black and two striped marlin and five sail.
Most marlin caught by a professional boat over the season went to Tarka, with 55 marlin, and most sailfish caught went to Neptune, with 464 sail. For private boats, White Mischief was first with 10 marlin, and Sand Dollar had the most sailfish with 34.
Alleycat won for the most sharks tagged in the season, and Unreel for the most broadbill swordfish tagged, while Neptune had the most giant trevally tagged with 63.
In the individual prizes, Henry Henley won for the Best fish on a Fly, with a striped marlin, while Jodie Thomas had the Best Fish by a lady with a broadbill of 50kgs caught by daytime deep jigging, and the Best Fish by a junior Angler, under 18, went to Danny Thomas for a 35kg giant trevally.
Biggest marlin was awarded to Tom Cunningham with a blue marlin of 287 kgs. and the Best Fish caught by vertical jigging was an amberjack of 45 kgs caught by Andre Farr. The Photographer of the Year award went to Stuart Simpson. and a selection of the photos were on show at the dinner.
On the fishing front, news is limited by the low number of trips. Tina, from Malindi, had a good day with angler Bill Stewart, getting a black marlin, a sail and thee sizable yellowfin, as well as a wahoo, while the same angler on Snowgoose found seven wahoo and four dorado another day. Neptune has gone out the the North Kenya Banks today to see if those big yellowfin are still there – we’ll hear next week.
At Watamu, Unreel caught three wahoo, a kingfish and a yellowfin, while White Bear, with regulars Keith Asherwood and family from Zambia came back with a wahoo and a dorado on an afternoon trip.
