The north-east monsoon wind, the kaskazi, is blowing properly at last, although it has arrived much later than usual, and this is the change which has been eagerly awaited by the angling skippers, as it should signal an increase in billfish activity. The sailfish, which are already around but have been difficult to catch, should start pouncing on the baits with more enthusiasm, and the marlin should arrive, particularly in the Rips, the bluewater area twenty miles off shore.

Initial portents are good, with Ol Jogi raising a marlin and four sail in the Rips on Wednesday, and ’Capt. Andy’ Thomas having a good marlin on which shook the hook as well as some sail up, so more boats will now be targeting this area, particularly with many private boats arriving for the festive holidays.

Although marlin are the main target for those after the ‘big ones’ many anglers still look for a big shark, and skipper Pete Darnborough in his Alleycat, has had many huge fish over the years. A week ago he released a tiger shark estimated at over a thousand pounds (454 kgs, known as a ‘grander’ in fishing parlance) and a few days later another of about 360kgs, while Malindi regulars Marc and Bernd

Neufeldt released one of over 400kgs –  huge fish these, which would make headlines anywhere!

Sailfishing in Malindi waters has been variable, but Neptune had a great day with Tony Johns releasing a nice black marlin of about 130kgs, and his friends Philip and Nick Mathias both catching a sailfish. On Tina, Raymond Carrell was top scorer one day with five sail, with the other boats scoring some sail as well as smaller fish, while Tega, up from Watamu, released four sail.

The Wildfly tournament went well, with the Kenya team, Gai and Garry Cullen,Peter Ruysenaars and  Richard Baudry ending up in second place, while a couple of days later Garry fishing in Simba, caught three sail on his fly – let’s hope the Wildfly camera team were aboard as this is a very popular series on TV.

Black Widow, while based at Watamu, travels a lot to other areas, and at present is fishing out from Lamu. This is obviously the hot place to be at present as they returned tp port having tagged thirteen sailfish in the day, so plenty of sail there which are likely to move south now with the wind changing.