The Delamere Trophy was fished last weekend at Kilifi, where fourteen boats tackled rough seas to compete for this long standing prize. The first day, Saturday was quiet with sailfish seen but few caught, and Katisa, a local small private boat was the leader at the days end with two sailfish tagged, while some other boats had one sail.

But the fish were more active the second day, especially after the wind got up and blew hard at midday, and Neptune went into the lead with a striped marlin tagged by Peter Hofmann. However Eclare, also down from Malindi, hooked into a black marlin with an hour to go and when this fish was duly tagged, together with two sail caught  previously, they edged ahead to win the overall prize for anglers Swabri Shee and Lindsay Cassidy from South Africa. Katisa, fished by Cate Waterer, Robbie Clark and Eric van Vliet was third overall, and also won the Small Boat prize. Engraved crystal glassware, presented by Snoo Colvile, formed the traditional beautiful prizes and Capt Andys sponsored the dinner and beers for the anglers.

The SADSAA Inter Provincial Championships at Hemingways finished with overall winners the Natal team of Anton Gits and Juley and Charles du Plessis, with six sail tagged over the four days. Runners-up were the Mpumalanga team, with five sail tagged and the SADSAA team were third also with five sail. Jackson Safari on White Bear was the leading skipper, with Steve Webb on Seastorm second.

Fishing in the Rips off Watamu started to improve and Clueless tagged two big blue marlin estimated at 200 and 250kgs for a great day, and they also had  a third fish on briefly. Earlier in the week B’s Nest tagged a black marlin estimated at 200 kgs, while Tarka released three blacks in the week, the best about 175kgs. Sand Dollar and Castle Lager also tagged a black marlin each, and Alleycat with Deon Otto fishing has had a couple in the week, many of these fish in the Banks/Canyon area on live bait.

Fishing continued good in the Pemba Channel, and Kamara II tagged a pair of stripeys for Ralph von Allmen, his first marlin. A few day later the same boat had a stripey and a sail, and Shuwari had a stripey. Simba, en route down to Shimoni tagged two broadbill at night, a good start to their trip.