The weather has been strange this last week, with winds varying in direction and hazy, overcast conditions, while on Monday there was heavy rain at Watamu, more than 30mms pouring down all morning. This affects the fishing, as on those days when the wind blows strongly from the north most boats come in with flags, while if it is calm and easterly fish seem hard to find.
Sunday was a good day, especially for What it Takes, which tagged a blue, a black and a striped marlin out from Watamu – a grand slam, and they also had a striped marlin a couple of days earlier. Clueless released a blue marlin on Friday and Unreel released another, while Tega had an unusual catch, releasing two broadbill swordfish during the day using the deep drop method, where baits are lowered to depths over 500 metres using heavy weights which break away after a strike! The same boat caught another broadbill two days later, together with a blue marlin, both released, and three sail a couple of days later, good fishing!
Kingfisher boats Snowgoose, Eclare and Neptune have all had blue marlin during the week, as well as sailfish, and Tarka released a blue marlin, after losing a much bigger fish estimated at 160kgs, which came off after a few jumps. The same boat, which leads the marlin race at the moment, mentions losing several fish recently in the same manner – this provokes a lot of argument among the skippers about hook arrangements and techniques, but luck generally is the answer in the angling world!
In the Pemba Channel, White Otter had two trips, with two striped marlin plus some sail on each. In her recent visit Simba had nineteen marlin and thirty sailfish in twelve days, and has now returned to Watamu. Shuwari, from Diani, caught a very big broadbill of 131kgs trolling at night, and also tagged two sail, so the fish are around in all areas along the coast.
The Captain Andy’s Kilifi Classic tournament is being fished this weekend, followed the next weekend by the Watamu SFC Festival, which also incorporates the annual Marlin Championship. A couple of days later is the Hemingways Friends of Kenya two day and a night competition with the Malindi International Billfish tournament following two days later. A very busy time for competition anglers!