Strong winds at night have made for some rough water recently, but this often has the effect of bringing the billfish up to the surface – perhaps to enjoy the extra oxygen in the churned-up layers? Marlin are being caught every day, and there seem plenty of sailfish as well, although some days these do not seem to come up.
A striped marlin and one or two sail appears to be the standard catch for many boats in recent days – Tarka and Alleycat doing better on Tuesday and Wednesday with two stripeys, while Unreel had two the day before and several boats have had marlin daily for several consecutive days, Neptune having had a run of six days with a marlin daily before having a day off! Good fishing but as yet below the incredible figures from the same time last year, although then it peaked at the end of January, so still some time to come perhaps for the peak!
Some black marlin are also being caught, Seyyida, a grand slam with a black and a striped marlin and three sail had a particularly good day last Sunday, and Unreel scoring two blacks a few days earlier. Castle Lager had a black marlin as well, having tagged five sail the previous day and a stripey and three sail the day after, so no shortage of flags flying in the Watamu anchorage.
At Hemingways, the Aggreko company ran an informal competition for their conference with eight boats fishing a long day till 6pm, which saw Ol Jogi tagging a black marlin estimated at 140kgs for Alan Fairbarn as she ran home as well as three sailfish. All the boats had sailfish while Seastorm and Pussycat had striped marlin as well. The latter boat has been doing well as they had a black marlin and a sail earlier in the week for Bernd Ragatzky, while the former with a black and a striped marlin and some sail one day, a grand slam, has also had a good run.
At Malindi, a group from South Africa organised by Joss de Kok had good sport with all the members catching a marlin on various boats, along with several sailfish. On some rough days, some boats elected to fish closer in and caught sailfish, while the Rips yielded striped marlin.
Fly540 sponsored a children’s competition for under 14’s in Mida Creek on the last day of 2010. Kids are always keen fishermen and the waters of Mida creek are an ideal place to start. Thirty anglers in twelve boats set out from Capt Andy’s boatyard, and the winners were Tiva Moller, Alanna and Joey Taylor with dad Ritchie Moller as skipper in EversoCool. The youngest competitor was Max, three and a half, in Jahazi, who came fifth. Second was Alex in Chichungi and third in Simbi were anglers Leon, Josh, Ryan and Eric. It’s easy to get hooked on fishing at this early age, many thanks to Fly540 and all the helpers for a fun day for the anglers of the future.
The Malindi Casino Tournament is this weekend, Jan 15th and 16th, while the Mtwapa Cup will be fished on Sunday 16th, this latter usually including an informal competition between Mtwapa and Kilifi boats in friendly rivalry!
