The Complete Fisher Forum

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending Friday 20th March



The season is coming to an end but the fishing is still good as Kenyas third Fantasy slam this season is recorded .White Bear lands a big blue and Neptune has another exceptional overnight trip.



Dear All



The season may be drawing to a close but the fishing is still good and it is a shame that most operations have no more bookings. The end of March always signifies the end of the season and this is mainly due to the monsoon changing to the south. As soon as this happens the majority of our billfish continue their migration. This is due to colder water and wind coming into our waters and it also brings rain which tourists obviously could do without on holiday. For the simple lack of fish and tourists the period from the end of March to April is our off season. Having said that we have kept a boat in the water throughout the off season for the last few years now, and although we don’t do to many days we have had some excellent fishing. The monsoon changing later this year is most probably the main reason why the fishing is still good. We expect it to change within the week, however. Once this happens it is not to say that the fishing turns right off as some sailfish, marlin and bigger gamefish do stay behind. There is just not the prolific numbers that you would find earlier on in the season.



On the 14th and 15th we had two boats out on each day. There were no billfish caught on either day but quite a few gamefish, such as wahoo and tuna were caught. Eclare with the Jooste family fishing their last day had a 25 kg tuna on the 14th.



The 16th saw three of our boats fishing. Tina was the most successful with a 60 kg mako released and some tuna. She was fished by the De Wandel brothers from Belgium. Neptune didn’t do too badly either with 3 sailfish and some small fish on the NKB, she was fished by Tine and Ronald. Snowgoose ventured out to the rips with the Pollards from Ireland but didn’t have to much luck and returned with some small fish. White Bear however was also on the rips and got a lovely blue marlin of 668 lbs. Unfortunately it came up dead after a lengthy fight. A few days later she lost an even bigger fish after fighting it for a while.



On the 17th Neptune left Ngomeni for a four day safari up north to Lamu. They went along the inside and not out via the NKB as they wanted to moor behind Ziwayu for the night. The anglers were friends of Andys from Dubai, Raed Dubois and Mark Cheing. They only caught a few small fish on this first leg of the trip. Clueless and Tega also fished up North but went out to the NKB. Tega had an amazing trip and by four pm had a super grand slam of a blue, black and striped marlin and a sailfish. Although they were meant to be going to Lamu for the night plans were quickly changed. After collecting some light sticks from Clueless they began looking for the last species to make a fantasy slam, the broadbill. Luck was on their side and they released two broadbill in the night. This is Kenya’s third Fantasy Slam this season which is quite exceptional. Well done to Steve and the crew and anglers on Tega.



Neptune fished into Lamu on the 18th but apart from loosing a black marlin and releasing a few sailfish the fishing was slow. Off Malindi only Snowgoose was out with David Pollard and they had a disappointing day returning with a skunk. For those of you who haven’t heard of a skunk it is an American term for catching exactly nothing. It has happened to the best of us and I don’t think there is too many of you out there who haven’t experienced a skunk in some sort of fishing. Skunking only makes the days when you do catch fish, even better!



The 19th saw Neptune fish out of Lamu and head back towards Malindi via the NKB. She fished the night out there and will fish into Malindi tomorrow. Snowgoose was out today with Peter Bokea and Daphne and although they didn’t get any billfish they had a good mixed bag of game fish. Eclare fished out of Watamu on a five hour trip and caught two good sized yellowfin tuna and some other small fish with some clients from Bateleur Safaris



Neptune returned today from their trip up North and they ended it with a bang! Heading out from Lamu yesterday they released a blue of 80 kgs and a sailfish, 4 wahoo,3 yellowfin tuna and 2 dorado. In the night they released 4 broadbill, two of these fish were good ones of 50 and 60 kgs. Today coming in to Ngomeni they released a black marlin of 100 kgs as well as a number of small fish. Another super grand slam and a very fun trip had by all. Tina was out with David and Celine Pollard again and they had a much better day today coming back with a big sailfish of over 35 kgs, 3 yellowfin, 6 dorado and some kawa-kawa. David had a go at some schooling yellowfin with a fly and was greeted with a big splash and a crack as the fish smashed the rod in two! Eclare released a sailfish and Snowgoose with Philip Schultz and some of his clients on board had a mixed bag of fish but no billfish.



Neptune has gone back up North for another 5 day safari with Peter Holdsworth. They will fish the NKB today and stay the night at Ziwayu and tomorrow continue up to Lamu. Let’s hope they have an exciting trip and I can give you some good news next week.



Take care.



Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

Sadly very few fishing days this week as bookings are hard to come by. Neptune has a very successful trip to Lamu and the NKB catching three black marlin in one day and a large broadbill during the night

Dear All,

All in all it has been a quite week for us with very few bookings. The wind has settled into the south now and although Neptune had a very successful Lamu\Nkb trip, the fishing has slowed down a lot this week. The ever faithful dorado are present as well as some other small fish but the billfish seemed to have moved off. It is still extremely hot and dry all over the country but there is some rain building up and we are hoping it will start this week.

On the 21st only Snark was out with Peter and Tine and Ronald from Holland. They came back with some small fish including dorado and yellowfin tuna.

On the 22nd Malachite was out with Philip Schultz and a client of his. They tried some spinning and caught a couple of koli-koli(yellow trevally.) Snowgoose was out on a five hour trip and got a sailfish,1 wahoo and a yellowfin tuna. Neptune headed up north with Peter Holdsworth a long time client of ours. They had plans of staying behind the rock at Ziwayu and then proceeding to Lamu. Unfortunately Peter was taken ill and they had to return in order to see a Doctor. Thankfully it wasn’t too serious.

The 23rd saw only Eclare out, with Mike Reid and Melvin from the UK. They came back with some dorado and didn’t see too much else.

Neptune headed back up north on the 24th with a much better Peter raring to go again. They stayed behind the rocks at Ziwayu tonight, and then headed up to Lamu. No other boats were out today.

On the 25th Eclare and Snowgoose were out on short days and came back, with mixed bags of a black tip shark each, quite a number of school size yellowfin and other bits and pieces.

On the 27th Neptune returned from the Nkb where they fished for two days and a night after overnighting in Lamu. They released a black marlin and one sailfish fishing into Ziwayu on the 24th. On the 25th fishing into Lamu they got 3 sailfish and lots of small fish. On the trip to the Nkb they didn’t see to much at all on the first day but made up for it during the night and today. They released a broadbill of approximately 100 kgs and one of about twenty kgs in the night. Today they live baited on the inside ledge and released three black marlin and a sailfish. Not a bad way to end a very successful trip! In four days and a night they caught 4 black marlin, 5 sailfish and 2 broadbill.

This coming week Neptune has a few bookings and we hope to pick up a few others. Otherwise we will start to think about taking boats out the water soon for their annual stint of repairs and tarting up. We will keep at least two in over Easter when we hope there will be a few bookings around.

It is good to see that our government are doing all they can to revive our tourism industry. They have halved the price of visas into the country and families of four will only pay for two. This will run until the end of December 2009 and then will be reviewed again. So for those of you planning to come out next season or for a quick break during our low season this is good news.

Have a good week.

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending Friday 3rd April 2009

Very few fishing days this week with a black marlin, a few sailfish and a number of smaller game fish caught.



Dear All,

Unfortunately I don’t have to much news to give you on the fishing front this week. This is because there have been very few bookings and hence not a lot of boat days. The weather is still very fine at the coast and the wind has settled into the south. Hopefully the rain is on its way as the rest of the country has thankfully started to get some in the last few days. This really is a god send as things are getting desperate with very little food left and cattle dying daily in the north. We can only hope that it will continue and it is enough to produce a good harvest and alleviate the problems we are experiencing here.



On Saturday 28th March Neptune fished with Mike Reid and Melvin. The boat was at Ngomeini and they fished into Malindi. All in all it was a very good day as they released a 110 kg black marlin and added 10 yellowfin tuna, 3 wahoo,3 kingfish, 5 dorado and 5 kawa-kawa.

On Sunday 29th March Billy Lynch, down from Nairobi for another weekend of fly fishing was out on Snowgoose. Billy, an avid fly fisherman, is a very loyal client and has done many days with us this season. Considering we are into the off season now he had a good day tagging a sailfish on fly and 3 dorado.

On April Fools Day Eclare was out on a short day with Leonardo Krucker who was staying at Coconut Village. They had a very good day with a 42 kg sailfish, 2 wahoo, 2 yellowfin tuna and 2 dorado.

On the 2nd April Malachite was out with Marc Beaver. They got 2 dorado,5 yellowfin tuna and 1 bonito. They saw tones of baitfish on the surface with lots of whales in amongst them.

On the 3rd Eclare was out on another short day and caught another sailfish and a whole load of tuna and 2 dorado.

The Watamu boats are still getting a few charters and it seems there are still marlin out on the rips. Most days that boats go out there marlin are either being caught or seen. That is good news as normally once the wind has swung around into the south the marlin disappear.

For you sports lovers out there what a choice we have on offer at the moment. Perfect for us out here with the rainy season coming up. On Saturday there was no less than five different sports being shown live at the same time. It does make a slight problem as you cant make up your mind on which one to watch and you end up flicking between them all and missing the best bits! For us here the high light had to have been our rugby sevens team in Adelaide. They got to their first cup finals ever after beating South Africa in a group game. Unfortunately they met South Africa again in the final and lost 21-7 to them. However it really is an incredible effort by Kenya. Not only are they the new wonder boys of the IRB circuit but they are the most popular team on the tour in terms of support. I think this is mainly due to their friendliness and good sportsmanship on the pitch. This says a lot about Kenyans.



Take care

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

Dear All,
Well we are well and truly into the off season now. Boats are out the water and being given some serious TLC, tackle is being cleaned up and sorted for next season and skippers and crew are getting a well deserved break. All in all it was a very successful season with boat days far exceeding all pre season expectations. Considering we were faced with one problem after the other, from pre election violence to the credit crunch, Kenyan tourism held up very well. On the fish side we couldn’t have written a more perfect script for the season. All sorts of records have been broken as far as numbers of billfish go and some incredible days were had. The best thing about the season is that the phenomenal fishing was spread out across the whole season and it wasn’t just over a couple of months. Already way back in September we were seeing abnormal numbers of sailfish and this continued into February and petered out in March.
Once again we can ask ourselves why this season was so exceptional. The reason that seems to come up time and time again across the bar over a pint of beer is the increase in Somali pirates further north of us. It certainly makes sense seeing as the commercial fishing fleets have been hit by this menace. The assumption is that more fish are now making their way into our waters and are not being hauled out the sea before they get to us. If this is the case then at least the pirates are of some use!
This past season was undoubtedly the best billfish season ever for Malindi\Watamu. We mustn’t forget that the season before was also a very good one. In fact sailfish figures show it was one of our best ever with our top boat far exceeding sailfish figures for the past ten years with 539 fish. The bar was raised considerably higher this season with the top boat Neptune, recording 758 sailfish in 162 days fishing. This gave her an average of 4.7 sailfish per day! Three of our other boats recorded over 400 sailfish each for the season and the fifth hit the 340 mark. The lowest average of sailfish per day was 3.0 on Eclare. It was a common occurrence for boats to come back with over 15 sailfish a day and there were many days in the late twenties. Sailfish numbers peaked in December and the sea was alive with packs of them. They were accompanied with stacks of smaller gamefish as well. Yellowfin tuna numbers were nearly double on the season before with our top boat catching 401 this season and 217 the season before. The average weight per day was much higher on all our boats for the past three seasons with some of them recording their highest averages ever. Neptune had an average of 267.5 kgs whilst her previous best was 170.6 kgs the previous season. This does include the average weight of tagged and released fish. Snowgoose had an average of 129 kgs per day where as her previous best was 98 kgs.

The marlin season was also phenomenal especially during the peak months of January to March. Our top marlin boat was Neptune with 69 fish which is her best marlin figures ever beating her previous highest of 58. In a normal season it is very good for a boat to get 30 marlin in a season. This season a large number of boats caught over 50 fish in the season. Tarka was the top boat on the coast with 97 marlin. I would like to point out that the black marlin fishing in August was also exceptional which meant the boats got off to a good start early season. There were many days of 2 marlin a day in August and Neptune had at least one with three in a day.
Although there weren’t too many nights fished for broadbill Neptune finished on 17 and Eclare 8. There were some bigger fish caught this season with Neptune weighing in the largest of 88.6 kgs. There were a number released around the 60 kgs mark as well. Amongst all the Malindi\Watamu boats there was a definite rise in broadbill figures, another bit of evidence in supporting the fact that there is less commercial fishing going on further north.
Neptune had a billfish average of 5.2 per day. These are phenomenal figures considering there are a number of days fished in the low season when there aren’t as many billfish around. We hope that next season will be as fruitful for all the Malindi\Watamu boats and that more of you will be able to come over and sample some of the wonderful fishing we have on our coast. We will have at least one boat in the water throughout the off season and I will keep you updated on any action. All going well we hope to start fishing properly again by mid July.
Until the next update I would like to wish you all well and for those of you in Europe have a good summer.

All the best

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing report - July 2009

Low seasons seem to be getting shorter and shorter every year and this year sees our busiest June ever with seventeen days fished.

Dear All,

It seems just the other day when we were closing up for the season and all skippers and crew were settling down to a well earned rest. Well here we are again at the beginning of what will hopefully be another long and fruitful season ahead of us. The skippers, crew and boats have had a good rest and are now chomping at the bit and raring to get out on the high seas again.
All our boats have been out of the water and have been prepared for the new season apart from Snark who will come out any day now. As one can imagine the boats take quite a hammering during the season and after doing 120 plus days they are in serious need of some TLC. Engines are stripped down and overhauled, hulls repainted and all equipment serviced etc,etc. We have a few bookings for August and the rest of the season is starting to fill up slowly too, so all in all we are hoping for a busy season.
The low or off season which in theory runs from April to the beginning of July used to mean a total shut down for us. All boats used to either come out of the water at once or would just sit on the mooring with no tackle on board and there would be no fishing throughout the three months. Recently each off season seems to get busier and busier for Kingfisher. We now make sure that we have at least one boat in the water at all times throughout as there are certain hotels that don’t close and there are more tourists around over the low season period. This June has been our busiest ever with 17 boat days. The weather has also helped as the wind has held off and it was very pleasant throughout June. I have to say it isn’t normal to have such calm weather in June as the wind has normally picked up by then. The fishing was also very good with some exceptional days. At the beginning of the month there were quite a few Giant Trevally caught as well as a few wahoo and kingfish. Most days were seeing at least one GT per boat as well as a few toothy critters. On the 19th our first billfish of the month was caught when Snowgoose had 5 sailfish as well as a load of smaller gamefish. On the 20th both Snark and Snowgoose were out and both caught a black marlin as well as some gamefish. On the 21st and 22nd Snowgoose released a sailfish as well as some small fish. Snark was also out on the 22nd and came back with a wahoo, kingfish, tuna, dorado and some bait fish. Snark had another sailfish on the 23rd and on the 24th Snowgoose and Neptune were out. Neptune was on her first charter of the season and caught 2 sailfish, 1 wahoo, I kingfish, 1 barracuda and some bait fish. Our last days fishing up till now was on the 26th when Snark had 1 giant trevally, I kingfish,2 dorado and some bait fish. All in all, it was good fishing in a month that is considered to be, the “off season.”
Although the wind has now picked up we are hoping to pick up some bookings soon so we can see what is lurking out there now. I will keep you posted regularly once bookings pick up.
For those of you who are not yet aware, I will be leaving my present job at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy at the end of July and I am heading “home”. I have been here for six years now and feel that now is a good to time rejoin Kingfisher. I will not however be skippering but will help run the day to day logistics of the business. Having said that, I am sure that I will be enticed to get out there every now and again! I look forward to seeing a lot of the old faces again and hope that as many of you as possible will visit us this season so that I can catch up on the last few years. Hopefully I will be able to give you more up to date info via the fishing updates now that I won’t be 600 kilometers away!
Otherwise all is well in Malindi. Mum has just returned from a very well earned break with Vanessa and Russell in Norfolk and Angus has been holding the fort. We have been very fortunate, unlike the rest of the country, to have had some good rain in June. Most of the country is suffering terribly from lack of rain and god knows how we will cope until October when the long rains are expected.
We are offering an all in one package with the Driftwood from now until the 15th of December. This includes seven days accommodation and four days fishing. Four any further information it will be on our website within the next few days www.kenyasportfishing.net.

Hopefully we will see some of you soon.

Take care.

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

KINGFISHER NEWS UPDATE 30th July 2009



INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF SPECIES ON THE BANKS PROVIDES SUPERB FISHING

Dear All,

The fishing continues to be incredible of the banks with such a variety of species making a presence. Although we are picking up quite a few bookings it is a shame that we arent doing more days whilst it is so good. The weather is still pretty rough but when there is action like there is at the moment one doesnt have to much time to think about feeling sea sick! The wind is blowing strongly out of the south still but indications are that it will start to calm down either today or tomorrow. The wind is very gusty and is blowing in squalls of rain from the south, some of which are reaching land but unfortunately it is not enough to get to excited about.Having said that the coast is so much greener than upcountry where the land is parched and is crying out for rain.

On Saturday the 18th Neptune was out with James and Ken Adcock. Ken who skippered out of Hemingways for a few years is now living in Abudabi, and works on a private yaught. Although it was extremely rough they had a lot of action and ended up with 2 bull shark (one released of 260 kg and one boated of 84 kg) 1 sailfish 2 kingfish, 2 yellowfin, 1 dorado and some bait fish.

On Sunday the 19th both Neptune and Snowgoose were out. SnowGoose was on a five hour trip and caught one sailfish and a number of small fish. These five hour trips are proving more and more popular with beginers who want to try their luck out on the seas but not for too long. Neptune was on a full day with Peter Hofmann and came back with two sailfish and some small fish.

On Tuesday the 21st Nick Diaper, who has just got married, went out for a full day on Neptune. They had a brilliant day with 6 sailfish 1 Bullshark 2 kingfish and some bait fish.

On Thursday the 23rd our old friends Richard Edwards and Philip and Nick Mathias were out on their first day of this years fishing trip. What a start it was with 9 sailfish, 2 gt trevally, 4 kingfish, 3 yellowfin, 2 rainbow runner, 3 kawakawa, 16 frigate mackerel, and 1 gar fish. Now how is that for variety

On Friday 24th Perez and Christine from Belgium were out again and had another very good day with 4 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 1 yellowfin, 1 baracuda, 1 dorado, 4 kawa-kawa, and 12 frigate mackerel.

Richard and co were out again on Saturday 25th and managed to release a Black Marlin, 1 sailfish, 1 giant trevally, and added a number of small fish. At the moment there arnt as many Marlin being caught as last year but most days at least one boat sees or looses one which shows they are around but conditions are probably not quite right.

Peter Vogt from Germany and his son Lucas were out on SnowGoose on the 26th. Peter is out here for at least 6 days with Fishing and Adventures a German Fishing Travel Agent. Although they were back early they managed 2 sailfish and 2 giant trevally.

On the 28th Neptune out again with Richard and Co had another 5 sailfish, 2 giant trevally, 1 kingfish , 1 baracuda and some baitfish. SnowGoose was also out with Peter Vogt and caught 2 sailfish as well as an assortment of other fish.

Yesterday, the 29th July Neptune out with Richard Edwards and the Mathias's had a diffucult morning as did the other boats which were out. There was not a lot showing and action was scarce. By the time Neptune was heading back towards Malindi they had very little to show for the day. Fishing is a strange game however, and can change so quickly. On the way back through the boiling pot in 70 ft of water Angus saw a fish surfing down a wave and on thinking it was a sailfish turned the boat back towards it. Low and behold it was actually a Black Marlin and came straight in to their spread and was duely hooked. After a good fight on 50 lb line they got the fish to the boat and noticed another one was following it in. Another bait was quicly thrown into the water and a second Black Marlin was hooked up. Both fish were successfully released to fight another day. Now for those of you who dont know the area so well it is almost unheared of to catch a Marlin let alone a double header in the "shallows" between the banks and the boiling pot . they then carried on to release 2 sailfish as well and what seemed would end as another one of those slow days ended up as an ungorgettable one. I think here is a perfect example of why we are all smitten by fishing.and why we never give up. SnowGoose was also out on a 7 hour trip with some visitors from Russia but they only managed a dorado and some baitfish. I say only but the fishermen themselves were over the moon with their catch.

Neptune is out again today and both Eclare and Tina are now ready for bookings as well. I hope that next week I can give you some more exciting news on the fishing front.

Malindi is fillilng up really quickly and early indications that tourism along the coast is going to be far better than last year, Hotels that have been closed for the last year and a half are opening and the number of charter flights into Mombasa has increased substantially. We hope this will continue and things will be back to normal soon.

Have a good week.

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

KINGFISHER NEWS UPDATE 9TH JULY 2009


ROUGH SEAS PERSIST OFF MALINDI BUT KINGFISHER BOATS HAVE HAD A BUSY TEN DAYS.


Dear All


Strong winds have made the seas off Malindi very bumpy since the last update. The wind has also stirred up the water which has turned the fishing off slightly. The fish are still there but the fishing is not quite like it was at the beginning of July. There have been a number of days this week where boats have seen up to six marlin tailing but they haven’t been coming up to the baits. I am sure that once the weather settles down the marlin fishing on the banks will hot up again. Although the marlin haven’t been playing ball other smaller game fish are still making a presence. There are still a few sailfish about and there have been a lot of wahoo showing. This can be really fun for beginners or not so serious marlin fishermen but when you are targeting marlin specifically they can be a real pain. One can spend up to four hours trying to catch a live bait such as frigate mackerel and no sooner when you do eventually catch one, and put it out a wahoo comes in and cuts it in half! You then have to start trying to catch bait all over again.
However, having said that the speed with which a large wahoo takes off on its first run is a site to behold and one which all fishermen never forget.


On the 30th July Neptune was out with Peter Vogt and Dr Althaus, they came out with Fishing and Adventures, a German fishing agent. They had a very good first day releasing a bronze whaler shark of 90 kg, 3 sailfish and 2 giant trevally. They also had 2 kingfish,2 barracuda, a green job fish and some bait fish.

On the 31st both Neptune and Eclare were out. Neptune with Richard Edwards and Philip and Nick Matthias had 4 sailfish, 1 wahoo,2 yellowfin tuna, 1 barracuda and some bait fish. Eclare out with Peter and Dr Althaus had 2 sailfish, 1 wahoo and some bait fish. The wahoo was foul hooked in the tail on a small bait rod and as you can imagine provided Peter with lots of entertainment!

On the 1st August Peter Vogt and Dr Althaus were on Neptune again and what an exciting day it was. The fishing for most boats was very slow but Neptune for some reason had all sorts of action. They hooked a very nice black marlin estimated at over 150 kgs on a live bait at around mid day. It performed spectacularly jumping across the ocean for all to see. The fish then sounded and started to behave in a strange way and didn’t want to come up at all. It wasn’t long before Angus and the crew realized that it wasn’t the marlin they were fighting anymore. The worst nightmare for a fisherman had happened; the marlin had been eaten by a bull shark. After another hour and a half or so the shark was brought to the boat and was weighed in at 185 kgs. It is highly unlikely that the marlin was eaten by the one shark but was attacked by a whole pack of them. Unfortunately it is one of those things we have to contend with at this time of year as lots of bull shark inhabit the banks waiting for such an opportunity. A very sad ending for such a beautiful fish. They then hooked another smaller marlin but the line parted after a few minutes. They added a giant trevally, 2 wahoo, 1 yellowfin and a dorado before returning home.

On the 2nd we had three boats fishing. Snowgoose on a short day had a couple of sailfish, Eclare had 1 sailfish and some bait fish whilst Neptune had an 80 kg bull shark and a number of smaller game fish. The fishing was a lot harder for all the boats today with the water turning much dirtier than it has been.

On the 3rd the fishing was still difficult with both Neptune and Snowgoose coming back with a sailfish each and some wahoo, kingfish and dorado.

The 4th was the last day out for Peter Vogt and Dr Althaus and once again fish were hard to come by. They did however manage to catch a giant trevally, 3 kingfish,3 yellowfin and a dorado. Eclare had a wahoo, kingfish and 2 yellowfin tuna.

On the 5th Neptune was out with Emiel Van der Werf and some of his clients from the sailfish club. Emiel is an avid shark angler and although he doesn’t fish so much anymore he has done many days in the past. He was a happy man today as one of his clients released a nice spinner shark of 100 kgs. They also had a good 20.5 kg wahoo, a kingfish and a 25 kg giant trevally.

On the 6th the wind really picked up and it made fishing very difficult for those that ventured out. SnowGoose out with Perez and Christine struggled and only managed a kingfish, yellowfin tuna and dorado. Eclare was out on a short day with Willy Potgeiter and family. They released a 25 kg giant trevally along with a kingfish and some baitfish.


Sadly we didn’t have any boats out on the 7th or 8th. Tina was out yesterday on a short day and what a day they had! She was out with Bill and Bo Rainbow. Bill was one of the founder members of Kingfisher Safaris and ran the photographic safaris side of things for at least five years. He was born here and went to school at the Prince of Wales in Nairobi. Along with Dad and Soren Lindstrom they formed Kingfisher in 1968. Unfortunately for Kingfisher and Kenya, Bill left for the states in 1974. He had been swept off his feet by one of his clients on safari. He married Lynn in Virginia in 1974 and has lived in Florida ever since. Although he lives so far away his heart is still firmly in this country.

Back to the fishing. They only did a short day and released a good black marlin of 80 kgs and 3 sailfish. 2 kingfish and a yellowfin tuna rounded up what was a brilliant day.


That’s all for this week so until the next update take care.

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

KINGFISHER NEWS UPDATE 23RD AUGUST 2009


Not so many marlin during the last two weeks but other fish make up for that.



Dear All,

Another two weeks have sped by since the last update and although marlin have been hard to come by our boats have had some good fishing. Firstly I must apologize for dating the last update the 9th July instead of the 9th August!

We continue to get the odd small shower of rain here which is enough to keep the grass green and settle the dust. We have had approximately 21 inches of rain since the beginning of the year, although it is less than usual it is a lot more than most parts of the country. Most places up country are experiencing water and power rationing which is making running a business very tough. People are starving and cattle are dying in most areas of the country. Reports from Tsavo indicate that wildlife is dying of daily. We can only hope that we have good rains in October\November to end this catastrophe.

Only Neptune was out on the 10th and she caught 2 sailfish, 1 kingfish, 1 dorado and some bait fish. Her clients from Holland were keen for a shark but unfortunately they were not playing game today.

On the 11th Neptune and Tina were out. For Neptune it was the start of a five day charter for Greg Much from the UK. It was a good start as they returned with four sailfish, 1 kingfish, half a giant trevally and some bait fish. The giant trevally was unfortunately eaten by bull sharks and only the head was recovered. Greg was here two years ago at this time of year and experienced sailfish fishing that one would normally expect in November. He had days of 15 and 12 in a day and as he was fishing on his own I should think was quite happy not to see another sailfish when he had finished. Tina started a six day charter with the Dutton group also from UK and out here with Peter Petzers World Wide Fishing Safaris. They weren’t as successful but did manage to release a 35 kg giant trevally as well as a kingfish and some baitfish.

We had four boats out on the 12th. Neptune out with Richard Bell got a good mixed bag of one sailfish, 1 wahoo, 1 yellowfin, 1 dorado and some bait fish. Eclare and Snowgoose both had short days and didn’t manage to get any billfish but did get some smaller fish. It is a bit risky doing short days at this time of the year as the fish tend to come up a bit later in the day on the “banks” and quite often a quiet morning will turn into a busy afternoon. Tina on a long day had a sailfish, a yellowfin, a dorado and some small fish.

The 13th was a slow day all round and our boats which were out struggled. Neptune with Greg Much did get lucky at the last minute however with an 80 kg bull shark and a sailfish. Tina released another good giant trevally of 35 kgs and Snowgoose only managed 2 barracuda and a yellowfin.

On the 14th Tina with the Dutton party on board released a decent black marlin of 100 kgs and added a few small fish as well. Eclare out on a five hour trip didn’t have too much luck losing a sailfish and only getting a few kawa-kawa.

The 15th was a much better day. The Belcher brothers down from Nairobi were out on Neptune and they had a lot of action and ended up with an 87 kg bull shark, 1 sailfish, 2 giant trevally, 3 kingfish, 1 yellowfin and lots of bait. They had a marlin on at the end of the day but unfortunately it threw the hook after a few minutes. Eclare was out on a short day with Andrew Hull and family and they had a good day too with four sailfish,a kingfish and some small fish. Three of the sailfish were caught together and caused total pandemonium as one can imagine!

It is funny how one day can be so different from the next. This happened on the 16th with the fishing going right off. Eclare and Snowgoose both returned with some small fish only and Neptune caught a sailfish and some small fish. Snowgoose did have two chances at marlin but unfortunately neither of them stuck and they had nothing to show for it. They did foul hook a turtle which gave Perez who was fishing a bit of a tussle. Luckily they managed to get hold of it when it came up for air and released it without any injury to the turtle or themselves. Unfortunately this does happen every now and again and rather than cut the line and leave the turtle with yards of line to contend with it is better to get it close and release it. I remember hooking a massive leather back on Eclare in the fin on 50lb line. I thought we would be struggling with it for hours but amazingly it was totally spent after 20 minutes and we released it successfully.

The 18th was another good day for Greg Much on Neptune. By eight in the morning they had released a black marlin and a sailfish. As is so often the case after an amazing start they didn’t manage to add any other billfish but did release a good sized giant trevally, 1 kingfish and 3 yellowfin.

On the 19th Tina was out on a five hour trip and did very well with 3 sailfish and a wahoo. Neptune was out with Guido Van De Steen who has fished with us for many years. He has proven to be quite a lucky angler and once again this was the case. They caught 5 sailfish, 2 kingfish, 1 yellowfin and 3 very good giant trevally. Unfortunately they had to boat one of 43.5 kg as it had swallowed the live bait and died on them.

Greg Much fished his last day on Neptune on the 20th. Once again they had a lot of action but no billfish. They released 2 giant trevally and a 20 kg grouper as well as catching 3 kingfish, 4 yellowfin,2 dorado and some baitfish.

There were no boats out the 21st. The 22nd saw Neptune out with the Belchers and Snark fished her first day of the season. Neptune ventured up north to see what was moving and found quite a lot of fish off the Mambrui/Che-shale area. She ended up with 2 sailfish, 13 yellowfin tuna, 2 wahoo, 2 kingfish and a dorado. Snark on a 5 hour trip released a giant trevally and a kingfish.

Malindi is still very busy with tourists but unfortunately fishing bookings are tailing off now and September is very quite. We hope to pick up one or two days but don’t have too much pre booked.

Looking ahead we are holding the Popes Trophy on the 12th December. Those of you who are interested to fish it please book as early as possible so that we are able to book boats etc. For those of you who don’t know about the Popes Trophy it is held every year in memory of my brother Alister who died in October 2000. The boats are chartered at a good rate and teams are drawn out of a hat to decide who will fish on what boat. Lines out is at 2 pm and a good lunch and raffle is held at the club. All proceeds go towards putting Alister and Debbies children through school. All support is greatly appreciated as we need to keep the Popes Trophy going. It was initiated by a lot of Alisters friends from Imani School and has been going since 2001. It is still supported by his friends and many others and we are very grateful for this support. Nefty, Alister and Debbies eldest is hoping to take part with some university friends this year.

Well done to Kenya in the just concluded World Athletics Championships. They did very well finishing in third behind the USA and Jamaica. They may have done even better if all Kenyans ran for Kenya and not for adopted countries such as Qatar and the USA. England has just won the Ashes series so I am sure there will be lots of happy Englishmen tomorrow. It’s a shame both events are over as they have provided some good viewing in the evenings.

That’s about it for this week so until next week take care.


Adrian

[Znake]

Hi!

Was out with Rob on UnReel two days this week.

Lets forget first day, rough sea... not feeling that good and bad fishing as well. No Skunk any way, saved by a yellow fin tuna! We probably had a big shark on the hook because it was very heavy but after about 45 minutes the line parted

Day 2 was much better. We started early and was the first boat out from Watamu.

Robs plan was first to go for a sailfish and today the sea was much better than yesterday. I stood at the rear deck and talked to his nice crew about the tackle and their experience of fishing.

After a short while the action started and we got a nice sailfish. My smile was as wide as the fish. A quick photo and then the sailfish was released.

After a little while we got wahoo followed by a kinfisher. This nice fishes was followed by 3 yellow fin tunas that was a nice experience since they are strong without being big.

I thought this was about to be a great day but then we had a very calm period without anything and the hours went by. We caught to bait fishes but nothing more.

Then after going for big fish a long time the action took place. A Marlin appeared behind the lures and was going for it but missed it, but before i had time to be disappointed it came for a second attack, the pulse went high but another miss for the nice fish and I think there was some thoughts that it would go away but as miracle it struck again and this time it got the bait.

Full action on deck and the advices from Rob and the crew was coming all the time. Rob had told me that the best chance is to get the Marlin early. My mind was set on this and after what felt as a long time we had a nice Black marlin by the boat. Estimated to about 140 lbs it was tagged and released. Not the biggest Marlin caught but for me this was a lucky day. With both a sailfish and a black marlin and 1 wahoo, 1 kingfisher, 3 yellow fin tunas and 2 bait fish this made my day.

I hope I said "thank you" enough to Rob and his crew, because I don´t know since I was very happy!

Hope I will have the chance to come back for good fishing with Rob and his boat UnReel.

[Kingfisher2]

UPDATE 20TH SEPTEMBER 2009

TUNA GALORE NORTH OFF NGOMEINI!!

Dear All,

We have had another very quiet week bookings wise. Our boats only fished three days which is not good at all. However the good news is that the results were very good and the signs are looking bright for the coming months when we are busy. Malindi is lacking tourists at the moment and once again September lives up to its reputation as being a “ mini off season”. The weather is beautiful, sunny days with a cool breeze blowing but still there are no tourists. There are different theories as to why September is always quiet but the main school of thought is that it is straight after the summer holidays and everyone is back at work. It is a shame as it is a lovely month and the fishing can be very good. There is still very little sign of rain down here but there are areas upcountry that are getting a little and as far as predictions go it seems October will be a wet month for most of the country. As most of you will have seen on the news livestock are dieing flat out now and the drought really is taking its toll.

Now to the serious issue of fishing! Tina was out for five hours on the 17th. There wasn’t too much showing but they managed to get 3 yellowfin and a nice dorado of 14 kgs. There have been days when the sea has been alive with yellowfin off Malindi. Lady Nana had 28 at the beginning of the week but the next day another boat went out and didn’t get any.

Neptune started a four day booking on the 18th with Ferdinand and Ferdi Heymann,Adrian Skelton and Michael Shepperson.They are all from South Africa and are here with Island Safaris. They fished out off Ngomeni and had non stop action the whole day. Just north off Ngomeni heading north there was school after school of yellowfin tuna. Angus wanted to get to Ziwayu but it was impossible as they couldn’t get away from fish. They ended up with 33 yellowfin,6 kingfish,3 dorado and 1 sailfish which they released. One of the tuna was around the 20 kg mark whilst all the others were normal school size.

On the 19th Neptune headed north again with the same group on board. Once again the sea was alive with fish and the anglers had no time for rest. At one stage they had four different species of fish on at the same time. These were a yellowfin, kingfish, koli-koli and kawa-kawa. Another unusual thing which Angus has never seen before was a hooked yellowfin tuna being devoured by a pack of kingfish. He said there must have been at least eight fish darting in and biting chunks off the tuna. They had two good sized shark on, one of which was fought for an hour and a half before breaking the line near the boat. As they approached one group of yellowfin a rod went off before they got into it. Out jumped a 60 kg black marlin and then all hell broke loose as the yellowfin pounced on the remaining lures. The marlin was tagged and released and five yellowfin were boated. The final tally was 1 black marlin, 2 sailfish, 28 yellowfin, 12 kingfish, 1 koli koli,1 red snapper,2 dorado and 3 kawa kawa. How’s that for a days fishing! Neptune is out tomorrow and the next day as well but apart from that it’s another quiet week coming up. There are five boats from Watamu heading south on Tuesday to fish in the Latham Island Tournament in Tanzania. It will be very interesting to see how they do and let’s hope they fly the Kenyan flag high. The tournament is fished over two days but they are extremely long days as boats start at midnight to get to Latham Island which is 30 odd miles from Cinda, the base island, which in turn is 10 miles from Dar-es-salaam. The boats will moor and weigh their fish on Cinda Island. I will let you know next week how they are getting on as they won’t be back until the following Tuesday. It will take them at least three days to get there. It should be a very exciting trip and I am sure there are a lot of envious fishermen who will agree with me on this.

Until next week take care.


Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

KINGFISHER NEWS UPDATE 8TH NOVEMBER 2009

THE 15TH DRIFTWOOD EXTRAVAGANZA HELD OUT OF MALINDI IN HOT CLEAR WEATHER.


Dear All,


This past week was hot and busy for us. Sunday the 1st was another very wet day with 90 mm of rain falling but since then we have not had any more and every day has been hot and clear. Thank god is all I can say as we held the 15th Driftwood Extravaganza last week. Thirty six anglers took part, the majority from SA and a few from UK. The Extravaganza is organized by Basil Hill from Natal in South Africa. The first Extravaganza was held seventeen years ago and bar two or three years that were missed he has brought a group over every year. They stay at the Driftwood and fish for four days in a row. Sailfish is the main targeted species but all game fish count in the scoring. Since its inception the lowest amount of sailfish caught is thirty seven and the highest is over one hundred. Unfortunately they didn’t make it out last year when we had the amazing sailfish run. Although the fishing was tough we still managed to get forty sailfish on nine boats and twenty six fishermen caught their first sailfish ever. Neptune was away all week in Kiwayu on the annual boys trip. The fishing is slow up there as well but as usual an amazing time was had.

On the 1st November Neptune and Tarka fished up to Lamu with no clients aboard. Tarka released a black marlin and Neptune had two sailfish and a whole load of small fish. This included a 27 kg wahoo.

The Driftwood Extravaganza started on the 2nd of November. Ten sailfish were caught on the first day with Unreel, Zambarani and Tega getting two each and four other boats getting one each. A large number of smaller game fish such as wahoo and yellowfin tuna were caught as well. Neptune and Tarka fished from Lamu into Kiwayu. Neptune caught a lot of small fish including some nice wahoo over 20 kgs. Tarka got one sailfish and some small fish.

On the 3rd the boats in the Extravaganza had nine sailfish between them. Snowgoose was our top boat with two fish. Neptune had a good day off Kiwayu with 7 sailfish and lots of small fish. There were a lot of yellowfin showing and if one had targeted these fish scores of thirty or more could easily have been reached.

On the 4th the Extravaganza anglers had the best day of the tournament. Thirteen fish were caught on the nine boats. More fish were seen on the surface today jumping and finning. Eclare was skunking with an hour to go before lines out when they had a big pack attack. There were sailfish behind every bait but as they only had three anglers they couldn’t deal with them all but successfully tagged and released three fish. Tina, Snowgoose and Snark got two each to make it a good day for our boats. In Kiwayu Neptune and Tarka had two sailfish each.

The 5th was the last day of the Extravaganza and it turned out to be the worst day as far as sailfish numbers were concerned. However at the beginning of the day the aim was to reach the forty mark for all four days and this was reached at the last minute. Tina excelled today with 4 sailfish to ensure their anglers, the Gaffers, outright tournament victory. A very good prize giving dinner was held at the Driftwood and a happy bunch of fishermen partied in to the night. The Kiwayu boats had a slow day today with a couple of sail each.

The 6th was a very tough day of Malindi and Watamu with the dirty water from the river pushing right out to sea. Most of the day was spent fishing in dirty green water and very few fish were seen. Eclare and Tina had a sailfish each and Snark and Snowgoose struggled with a few small fish. Neptune and Tarka fished in to Lamu with Tarka getting 3 sailfish and Neptune 1.

The 7th was a good day for Andrew Gibbs fishing alone on his first deep sea fishing day on Eclare. He got 3 sailfish, 1 wahoo and 3 tuna and was elated on his return to the club. There were a few more tuna around today and Tina had 7 between 1 and 3 pm. Neptune and Tarka fished back into Malindi to end the boys trip. Tarka got one sailfish and Neptune got quite a number of wahoo and king. Seeing as it was the end of the trip a large fining session was had at the club where some serious shots had to be downed. One poor unfortunate soul was hit badly for being the only member not to catch a sailfish the whole trip. Even the skippers didn’t get away with the fines and I am told this was a daily ritual! All members of the party were over the moon with the trip.

We are getting busier and busier now and we hope the fishing continues to get better. The wind swung around to the north east a few days ago. Whether it will stay in that direction now until March or whether it will swing round to the south again remains to be seen. Most years it comes round for a few days in early November but doesn’t change properly until sometime in early December.


Until next week.

All the best

Adrian

[Kingfisher2]

KINGFISHER NEWS UPDATE 3RD January 2010


VERY BUSY FESTIVE SEASON WITH EXCELLENT SAILFISH FISHING AND NOW THE MARLIN ARE APPEARING TOO.

Dear All,

First of all I would like to wish you all a happy new year and I hope that you all had a really good Christmas. We had a very good one here with all the family so Mum was very happy indeed. I am sorry for not sending out an update last week but it has just been too hectic with most days seeing all the boats fishing. The weather has been beautiful with the extremely hot temperatures we were seeing at the beginning of the month dropping slightly so it hasn’t been unbearably hot. Although the wind is coming out of the north it has been blowing gently and we haven’t had a strong kaskazi blow yet but I am sure it will come. Therefore the sea has been flat calm. There have been reports that Nairobi and some areas up country have been getting lots of rain and storms but there has been nothing at all down here. The sea is still very dirty close in due to the Galana river flooding each time up country has a big deluge.

On the 21st December Neptune was out with Thomas Fjastad and his son Torsten’s family from South Africa. There were seven of them on the boat so luckily they had a lot of action to keep all entertained and they ended up with 9 sailfish, a wahoo and a barracuda. Snowgoose fishing with old stalwart Perez Vanneste from Belgium were finding it tough with the sailfish, so at 3 pm they decided to live bait for something bigger. Their gamble paid off and just after they got the live friggies in the water they hooked and landed a nice black marlin of 115 kgs. Unfortunately they had to boat the fish as it came up dead.

On the 22nd Malachite fishing with Gary Chesters showed the big boys how to do it by catching nine sailfish and emerging the top boat of the day with Tina getting eight and Eclare three.

The 23rd was another frenetic sailfish day with Snowgoose catching eight, Snark seven and Tina six. Eclare was fly fishing with the Jooste family as they had been for the past four days but they didn’t have to much luck and only released one sailfish.

On the 24th Snowgoose, out with Rik Van De Vlugt from Holland had ten sailfish. Rik is a fanatic fisherman back home but this was his first time deep sea fishing. It has been his dream to catch a billfish and eventually it has come true and what a way for it to happen. In six days fishing he had fifty one sailfish and a lot of the time he spent looking for a marlin. Neptune and Tina had seven sailfish each as well as some smaller game fish including a 28 kg wahoo on Tina, which took a live frigate mackerel. The Joostes on Eclare had a wahoo and a nice bull dorado both on fly which they were very happy with.

The 25th was a whopper of a day. We don’t normally have too many people fishing on Christmas day, but this year we had five boats fishing. Eclare was the top boat with 15 sailfish and some small fish. Snowgoose had fourteen, Snark eight and Tina four on a five hour day.

The 26th was Riks last day out and once again he had double figure with twelve sailfish and most of these he hooked himself.

On the 27th Russell and Peter Brumby were out on Snark. Russell was after his first sailfish on a fly which he was determined to get after a few unlucky mishaps a few days before. Luckily there were a lot of fish showing and coming up to the teasers and it wasn’t long before they had a couple up and Russell managed to hook and land it successfully. They then carried on fishing light line and caught a few on 6 and 8 kg line before they hooked a double header, Peters was on 6 kg line and Russells was on a very small casting rod with less than 300 metres of line on it. Ofcourse the fish went in different directions and after a while there was no option, but to either cut one of the fish off or to chuck the rod in the sea attached to a buoy. Like any true fisherman the last thing Russell would do would be to cut a fish off and they went for the latter and after tagging Peter’s fish successfully they retrieved Russell’s rod which by now was a mile or so away and still attached to the buoy and the fish. This fish was also released successfully. How is that for some excitement! Malachite also ended up with seven sailfish.


Tina was out on a five hour trip on the 29th and came back with 11 sailfish and a barracuda. The clients had no time to sit down let alone have a drink. Neptune took part in the Watamu Christmas competition fished out of Ocean Sports on the 28th and 29th. This has become one of the most popular events along our coast and it is good to see so many private boats entering. It was sponsored by Capt Andys and the top prize was a small zodiac and outboard engine. Unfortunately it was not to be Neptunes comp and they didn’t feature in the top places. BlueEyes took top honors with Simba second and Unreel third. Blue Eyes had a marlin on both days and one marlin is equal to ten sailfish so it needed a lot of sailfish to beat them.

On the 30th all our boats had 5 sailfish or more. The sea was alive with fish and lots of fun was had.

On the 31st Danny Hill took his kids, Kieran and Krista out on Eclare and they had a brilliant day with 9 sailfish. However this could back fire on Danny as now they are hooked and want to go out all the time! It has been perfect fishing for kids as there has been lots of action to keep them entertained. We have taken out quite a few kids over the Festive period and very few have had sea sickness problems thanks to the calm weather. It really is a good time to introduce kids to fishing.


We only had one boat out on the 1st as most people were nursing hangovers or were still partying. Eclare was looking for a marlin but they didn’t see any and caught 4 sailfish and some small fish. They had the sea to themselves as no other boats from Malindi or Watamu were fishing.

The last few days have seen a lot of marlin appearing outside the boiling pot and canyons, mountains area off Watamu. B’s Nest fishing out of Hemingways had three marlin yesterday and one the day before and Seahorse now anchored in Watamu has had two days with two black marlin. There has been quite a number of small striped marlin around the 30 kg mark caught with Seyyida getting three together the other day. We have anglers coming for marlin starting the middle of this month so hopefully our boats will be tangling into some soon.



Until next week take care and have a good one.


Adrian