Next weekend sees the Malindi Sea Fishing Club’s Festival Tournament, preceded on the Friday by the light line formula Churchill Cup. The former is the oldest fishing tournament along the Kenya coast, having first started in 1959. It is also the first major competition of the season, as well as being a qualifying tournament for the International Gamefishing Association’s World Championships, to be held next year in Costa Rica. Many international anglers are expected, as well as Kenya’s top fishermen, so it should prove an interesting event, with marlin and tuna as well as sailfish as the main targets.

From Watamu, Unreel has continued to find black marlin, with the Webb family from UK releasing a nice fish estimated about 140gs, as well as catching a good kingfish and three wahoo last Friday. Simba, fishing in the Rips, tagged a striped marlin, and others have been reported as seen in the area, which up to now has yielded yellowfin tuna, so this is a good sign. Tarka has also been catching tuna and wahoo, but no luck with the marlin this week.

At Malindi, Tega has had interesting fishing catching giant trevally on fly tackle, as well as jigging and finding yellowfin tuna and wahoo to keep anglers busy. Neptune made an exceptional catch with a 78kg yellowfin for Aran Paul, tuna this size are not common here although the record is almost 100kgs.

No reports from other areas this week – there seems to be a shortage of anglers in the tourist areas, but with the Malindi competition soon, there should be more trips made this coming week.