There have been very few boat trips this week, but strange weather – three days of heavy rain from Sunday, followed by brilliant hot sunshine the next two days. The Malindi Festival next weekend should get the boats working.

From Shimoni, veteran skipper Pat Hemphill writes that the Dobson brothers, out from England, lost a big black marlin last Sunday. It was hooked on a live skipjack, but first one angler then the other battled with the monster till they were exhausted, then a crewman tried his best but the fish refused to come in, and eventually after three hours the line parted! Pat thinks the fish must have been wrapped up in the line to have felt so heavy! A couple of days later, Jack Aston and his son Andrew found a 25kg wahoo, but the stormy weather seemed to put the fish off their feed.

At Malindi, Eclare went out and found a sailfish, seventeen kingfish and two dorado, while Alleycat at Watamu caught a 21kg barracuda for young Eric Taylor, out with his dad, Royjan.  The same boat weighed a 48kg yellowfin tuna and a 23kg wahoo, nice fish but no reports of any marlin this week.

The annual trophy dinner of KASA, the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, was a great success with a well- attended party at Ocean Sports Resort. New chairman Raymond Matiba, who has succeeded Dr Simon Hemphill, now retired after fifteen years at the helm, acted as MC to introduce the winners of the various prizes and trophies

Catch of the year went to Ol Jogi, with angler Roger Sutherland, skippered by Capt Stuart Simpson, for their grander blue marlin of 1062 lbs (481.7 kgs). Runner up was Kamara II with one black and six striped marlin and a sailfish, while Neptune and Eclare shared third place. The private boat award went to Pintail for a blue marlin of 233kgs, caught on standup tackle by Richie Moller, plus a second blue of 136kgs caught by R. Brumby.

Most marlin in the year went to Capt. Callum Looman and his boat Tarka with forty-one, while White Mischief in the private boat class had sixteen marlin. Most sailfish went to Neptune with skipper Angus Paul for 162 sail, while Sand Dollar had twelve in the private boat class. Pontus Smith on Alleycat had the best blue marlin with a fish of 281.9kgs, while the best fish by a lady was a black marlin of 227kgs estimated, by Gael Edwards on Whatever it Takes.