With the wind changing, first to the south-east, then back to the north-east, the fishing has slowed in the last few days, and billfish have been hard to find in the Rips.
Early last week a group from Monsato South Africa fished for four days from Hemingways, with teams in nine boats, and found good fishing for the eighteen anglers with a total of 12 marlin and eight sailfish. Jasiri started the first day with both a black and a blue marlin, and B’s Nest and Simba both had blue marlin while on the second day Black Widow tagged a blue and Seastorm three sailfish. The latter boat then tagged a black marlin for Bram Strauss and a stripey for Hein Bantjers on the third day, while on the fourth and final day Simba, Seastorm and Jasiri all had marlin. The latter boat weighed a blue marlin of 129kgs which died on the line and had to be boated – most boats also caught wahoo and dorado for a successful trip with ten anglers catching their first marlin.
The Penn Challenge brought fourteen teams of anglers to fish an annual fixture, organized by the Dutch Fishing Foundation, and money is raised to help two orphanages in Malindi. The first day last Sunday four marlin were caught and released, a stripey on Tarka, a black on Seyyida, and blues on Jasiri and Tega, while Tina tagged two sailfish. The next day a night trip for broadbill unfortunately coincided with a brilliant full moon, when broadbill stay deep and sadly none were caught, although Eclare released a blue marlin. The tournament continues this week.
The North Kenya Banks has been a productive area this last week, with Clueless releasing two blue marlin of 170kgs and 70kgs, as well as a broadbill during the night, while Eclare had two blue and a striped marlin and Neptune a stripey on a day trip. But it is a long way out for a day trip, although starting from Ngomeni shortens it.
Tamarind in Mombasa hosts their annual tournament this weekend, and both Kilifi and Watamu have small informal competitions over Easter, focused on the family fishing and usually dorado are plentiful – great fishing for kids if the weather holds.
