It seems to be getting warmer and less windy, as one might expect at this time of year, but there are many other factors that affect the fishing, water colour and temperature and the currents and moon phases among them. While there are plenty of sailfish around Malindi waters, they have been difficult to catch, and Eclare on a recent trip, raised three sail but failed to bring them to boat.

So it remains to be seen what will happen this holiday weekend over the Malindi Festival but expectations remain high. This last week Neptune has been up around Lamu with her team of anglers, where there proved to be a lot of fish, seven sail one day, thirty-nine yellowfin tuna another day, and then three sail while a 35kg wahoo was a notable catch – not many this size are caught these days.

At the other end of the coast, skipper Alex Torriani from Funzi Keys went offshore to the Pemba seamount, a fifty mile run, where the only signs were plenty of big flying fish but no sea birds, but then had a double strike of blue marlin, from which one fish about 110kgs was tagged and released. A hookup from a nice black marlin over 200kgs then followed, but the hook pulled out after twenty minutes. With warmer water there could be exciting fishing in this area for big, fast boats.

Tarka from Watamu tried a day at Malindi and scored well with five sail, while Unreel had one and Ol Jogi, with Gordon Adams and Phil Rivett, found three as their anglers check out the area for the coming competition. B’s Nest caught a couple of sail as well as a wahoo and a yellowfin, and Simba is back in the water, finding some wahoo and tuna on an initial trip. So all eyes will be on Malindi this weekend.