The Complete Fisher Forum

[Chris]

Many thanks to Kingfisher for providing us with these reports and updates
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[Kingfisher2]

Week ending Sunday 11th February 2007
Weather Lovely weather at the beginning of the week, but there was a definite change by Friday, with the NE wind starting to blow at 18 - 20 knots, making it uncomfortable at sea, and also churning up the sea. Fishing conditions have therefore changed a little and is reflected in the billfish catches for the last few day. New moon will be on Saturday 17th, and should bring a weather change, hopefully for the better. Each day starts by being overcast, usually clearing to be sunny and hot, but some days the cloud stays all day. This is unusual for this time of the year, which should be sunny and clear. No rain here, but there could be a little in land.
Fishing This is the 3 rd week of fantastic Marlin fishing, perhaps not quite so frantic as the last 2 weeks, but still remarkable fishing. Blue Marlin are now also here, but they are mostly small fish. On Tuesday both Albatross and Simba had Black Marlin of about 150 kgs each. By the weekend though it had slowed down considerably, with 3 Marlin caught on Saturday, compared to 10 Marlin on the Friday. Malindi Bay is muddy again and the NE wind has become much stronger in the last few days. Current is running south, not very strong, but strong enough perhaps to turn the water out on the rips cloudy. Whether this affects the fish or not is debatable, but I believe it does, certainly as far as Striped and Blue Marlin are concerned. Sunday, again 3 Marlin on the rips and none off Mambrui. Bait is again difficult to catch, infact the shoals of frigate mackerel are not showing on the surface at all and staying down deep. The Marlin caught in the last few days have been mostly on lures.
Monday. Neptune 1 Black Marlin, 1 Striped marlin, and sailfish. Tina got a Black Marlin and a Striped Marlin. Snark 1 sail, SnowGoose 1 sail, Eclare 2 sail.
Tuesday. Neptune a Striped Marlin and 3 sail plus 4 yellowfin all over 20 kgs each. Eclare 1 sail and SnowGoose 1 sail. Fishing a little slower today but Albatross had a nice Black Marlin and Simba also a Black Marlin which they estimated at 150 kgs.
Wednesday. Neptune had a Black Marlin of about 120 kgs and 2 sail. SnowGoose had a Black Marlin of 98 kgs, and 1 sail.
Thursday. Neptune 1 Black Marlin and 1 Striped Marlin. Eclare got a Black Marlin and a sail. Tina 1 sail and Snark 1 sail. No Marlin in the Mambrui area.
Friday. Tina had a Striped Marlin and a sail. SnowGoose got a Striped Marlin. Ten Marlin caught today on the Rips with Clueless getting 4 Striped Marlin. Apparently they were fishing a special teaser on a spreader and the Stripies were just all over it, would not leave it alone. They hooked three out of that lot, releasing them all. Must have been pandemonium on board that boat.
Saturday. No Marlin on our boats, and only 3 Marlin amongst all the other boats. Neptune got a sail and 2 good yellowfin. Eclare 2 yellowfin, Tina 1 yellowfin, SnowGoose 3 yellowfin. Snark 2 sail and a giant trevally, fishing in the Mambrui area. In the same area Lady Nana raised 3 Black Marlin but missed them all.
Sunday. Tina got a striped marlin and two yellowfin, Eclare a sail, Snark two giant trevally, and Neptune a sail and 12 yellowfin.
On Monday, January 22nd there appeared an article in the Daily Telegraph on the state of the worlds Tuna stocks. It is quite horrifying. Written by Charles Clover - the author of books and articles on overfishing world wide - he states that ; Global supplies of tuna face total collapse if the oceans go on being run as they are, and that the capacity of the worlds tuna fleet is now far greater than is required to catch the legal quota.
We have been saying this for years, but our Govt. takes no notice at all and continues to license any commercial vessel which is prepared to pay. All commercial Tuna vessels are required to register with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and are not allowed to fish inside 12 miles from the Kenya coast. The other day Simon Hemphill - fishing out of Shimoni - discovered a long liner operating one mile outside the entrance to Shimoni harbour. The vessel was not registered with the IOTC but had been licensed by the Kenya Govt. The fisheries department eventually got their act together and the vessel was later impounded in Mombasa. But now there seems to be a problem with the case, which does not surprise me at all: I think that money is probably changing hands frantically. Mans greed will surely destroy this planet and mankind with it. This ship should be confiscated and the crew fined as they have broken the law, but what will be the final outcome.

[Kingfisher2]

Report for week ending Sunday 18.02.07
Weather New moon on Saturday 17th. Fairly strong winds from the NE particularly in the late afternoon and evening at the beginning of the week, but by Wednesday the wind had changed to moderate and was blowing from the east. Most days sunny, clear, and hot. Current negligible. Malindi bay muddy due to rain up country, but water off shore clean.
Fishing The week started with good marlin fishing but unfortunately slowed up by the weekend just at the start of the Billfish Tournament on Saturday - sods law. Still, that did not prevent several sail being caught in the area of the rips and two Black Marlin. Mambrui area there were 3 Black Marlin caught on the Saturday. But returning to the beginning of the week, Neptune had a Black Marlin and a Striped Marlin plus 4 nice yellowfin on the Monday and Snark fishing in the Mambrui area got a Black Marlin and so to did Sailfish boat in the same area. On the Tuesday Neptune had two Black Marlin and 5 good yellowfin. Tina got a sail and 5 yellowfin. In the Mambrui area Eclare got a Black Marlin and a sail and Snark had a Black Marlin. I believe that Tarka got a Black Marlin of about 450 lbs and Clueless was fighting a Blue Marlin for 7 and half hours but was eventually spooled on 80 lb tackle. A big fish, as photographs show, but just how big is very difficult to tell.
Wednesday Neptune a Black Marlin and 2 yellowfin, and Tina had a good day with a Striped Marlin, a sail and 7 yellowfin. No Marlin or sail caught in the Mambrui area. I hear that Ol Jogi was on a overnight on South Mlima, got 2 Broadbill and a Black marlin of about 400 lbs.
Thursday on the Rips Neptune a Black Marlin and 2 yellowfin. In the Mambrui area, Eclare got a Black Marlin and SnowGoose a Black Marlin plus a sail. Snark had 2 Black Marlin and lost a third when the hook pulled right by the boat. Malachite also had a fish on the line but lost it.
Friday in the Mambrui area, only 1 Marlin caught today and that was on Malachite who had 4 Marlin up to the boat together, and it happened like this: Whilst looking for bait they hooked up with 4 frigate mackerel and were now stationary in the middle of a shoal of these bait fish, trying to rig the 4 live baits, each one to its own hook and trace which are then attached to the boat or held in hand until you have a chance to attach the trace to a rod. In this case Abudi had the trace in hand and was about to attach it to a rod when a Marlin grabbed the bait and would have pulled him into the water had he not let go of the trace. Malachite is a small boat so one is very close to the water when fishing this boat. I would think that the fish which took the bait from Abudi's hand was so close to the boat that you could have lent over and touched it. The remaining 3 baits were finally attached to rods and 2 of them were taken by Marlin. One they brought to the boat and was successfully released, the other jumped once and threw the hook. Further south on the rips I hear that 3 Black Marlin were caught in total.
Saturday. This is the first day of the Malindi International Billfish Tournament. As the name suggests it is purely a billfish tournament and only billfish will get you points. Five Marlin and 8 sail caught today - a good result. SnowGoose was first today with 2 Black Marlin, then Eclare 1 Black Marlin, Unreel 1 Black Marlin, and B'Nest 1 Black Marlin. Then Seahorse 2 sail, Simba 2 sail, Zambarani 1 sail, Neptune 1 sail, Tina 1 sail, and Tarka 1 sail. The scene is now set for a very interesting 2nd day, as I am sure some of the boats fishing the rips will come up to the Malindi area.
Sunday. Neptune, Albatross, Clueless and Tina have come up to Malind, and what an interesting and exciting day it turned out to be. In the lead after the first day was SnowGoose with two Black Marlin followed closely by 3 boats with one Marlin each; Eclare, Unreel and B'Nest. As the morning progressed SnowGoose lost 3 Marlin in a row, one after the other and Eclare got 1 Black Marlin which put them in first position together with SnowGoose. Not soon after this Eclare got a second Black Marlin, which now put them in first position on their own. SnowGoose was not ready to accept this turn of events and promptly caught their first fish of the day and they now had 3 Black Marlin putting them on level terms with Eclare. But now Albatross and Simba enter the fray, Albatross with two Black Marlin, bang, bang just like that. Unfortunately the second fish was tail wrapped and came in dead, so had to be boated, but it was the only fish to be boated during the tournament. Simba suddenly makes her presence known by releasing a Striped Marlin and then later a Black Marlin. Neptune at this time had been catching sail and had 3 for the day giving them a total of 4 when they suddenly woke up and got a Black Marlin. This makes 5 boats all in contention, and the way that the Marlin were taking any one of these five boats could have cleaned up the tournament. As it turned out it was SnowGoose who got the fish, a fourth Black Marlin for the tournament and a sail. And that was how this very memorable tournament ended. Unfortunately, the team fishing SnowGoose had one particularly unpleasant member , who somewhat soured the proceedings. At the end of the prize giving they gathered up their loot and left the club in a hurry, without so much as "how's your father'. Perhaps that was best for all concerned.
The fishing though was quite amazing. I can not remember a year when so many Black Marlin were caught during the Billfish Tournament, of course every boat had their stories of the fish that got away and Neptune was no exception, raising 4 and got 1. Albatross raised at least 4 and got 2. Only one boat never saw a billfish over the 2 days; Lady Nana never even had a strike from a billfish. Depressing. Final results were, first SnowGoose, 2nd Eclare, 3rd Simba, 4th Neptune, 5th Albatross.
Other boats on Sunday not in the tournament, Snark a wahoo, a yellowfin and a few bonito. Malachite got a very nice Black Marlin of 150 kg plus with Gary Chester, the fish was released in very good condition.
It is with much regret that I have to mention here the loss of Wave Hopper at sea on Wednesday evening, together with Ali Kibawa (Ali Omar) crew member , who did not make it ashore. I am sure that I am correct in conveying the regrets and condolences from all fishermen to the family of Ali and the fishing community in Malindi. The boat went down in seconds not far from the light house, so there was no chance to get only life saving equipment. Both Martin and Brian are lucky to be alive, but poor Ali perished, although the strongest swimmer of the three. The sea is an unforgiving master, and has to be treated with the greatest respect, but still, accidents will happen. We express our deep sorrow to the family of Ali and to Martin Egar.

[Kingfisher2]

Monday 19th
Calm and clear, temp 75 F. Both Snark and SnowGoose caught a Black Marlin along with mixed bags of dorado, wahoo red snapper. Tina had a sail plus yellowfin and snappers.
Tuesday A good day for Marlin. Neptune had a good Blue estimated 140 kgs, Eclare had a Blue, a Stripey and two sail whilst Malachite caught a Black. All three species of Marlin on our boats.
Wednesday. Wind blowing from the east, the bay dirtier but not too bad. Neptune 2 Black Marlin t/r est. 60 and 90 kgs. Eclare boated a Black Marlin of 117 kgs and t/r a sail. Both SnowGoose and Malachite also had Black Marlin.
Thursday. Neptune was the only boat with a Black Marlin along with 6 decent wahoo and a yellowfin. The rest of the fleet had mixed bags of sailfish, wahoo, yellowfin and dorado.
Friday. Marlin again in abundance! Neptune t/r 2 Black Marlin. Eclare had 3 Black Marlin plus a blacktip shark (rel). Tina had a Black Marlin and 3 sail. Other boats good mixed bags.
Saturday. A quieter day on the Marlin front however Neptune got 2 Blacks. Snark had a sail and the other boats had mixed bags.
Sunday. Eclare top boat today with 1 Blue Marlin, 1 Striped Marlin and 1 sail, all t/r. Other boats good mixed bags of sail, yellowfin, wahoo, giant trevally and dorado.
Weeks summary.
I make that 22 Marlin for the week! Whilst all this was going on here in Malindi, much the same was happening on the Watamu boats and the rest of the Malindi fleet.
Extraordinary fishing, and although I haven't been fishing these waters quite as long as Herbie , I cannot recall such a fantastic Marlin run.
Monday 24th Feb
I arrived in Malindi to find the wind had picked up considerably, temp in the high 70's and not too humid. The boats had 4 Black Marlin, 2 on SnowGoose and one each on Tina and Snark. The other boats had several sailfish, dorado, yelloowfin and wahoo.
Tuesday. Wind blowing hard from N/E, seas choppy to rough and fishing slower. Eclare caught the only Marlin, a Black. Malachite continued her good run with a couple of sail, other boats mixed bags. This wind does not bode well for the 'Friends of Kenya Tournament' , a day/night /day marathon fished out of Hemingway's in Watamu. Of our fleet only Neptune entered in this event.
Wed. Dawned hazy but calm, and, despite a forecast for more wind, stayed that way. Neptune, fishing out of Ngomeni, had t/r a Black Marlin by 7.30 , a good start to the competition! The rest of the fleet all had a sailfish and mixed bags. Snark also had a blacktip shark.
In the Friends of Kenya comp, due to the weather forecast, many boats decided to forego the night fishing.
Thursday. Still calm but breeze picking up by noon,. The Marlin fishing has slowed with only Tina getting a Black Marlin. Tina was fished by Martin Thompson and his daughter Mara, Mara caught the Black Marlin her first ever. The rest of the fleet had mixed bags of yellowfin, wahoo and dorado. The boats fishing the F of K competition had mixed results. Those that elected to start from Lamu and fish the N.K.B. , the area that has produced the winners of all past F of K comps, were disappointed. The rips off Watamu produced all the winning fish. Results 1st. Tega with 3 Marlin and 5 sailfish 2nd. Ol Jogi 1 Marlin, 3 broadbill and 9 sail, 3rd. Neptune with 1 Marlin and 4 sail.
Today is Friday 2nd March and my report will have to end here. I was lucky enough to be fishing aboard Ol Jogi along with Phil Rivett and Ken Adcock during this tournament. We had amazing fishing although I have to say that one of our Swordfish was so small it failed to break the rubber band attaching the line to the down rigger weight! I was convinced that there was something on the line but was assured by Capt and crew that it was only the weight of the downrigger. After about half an hour I decided that I would not be happy unless I checked the bait and "lo and behold" there was this tiny swordfish of about 5 or 6 kgs. with the hook impaled through its sword. The fish was alive and still strong ( for its size! ) and was returned to sea relatively unharmed after its experience. I wonder if anyone else has ever livebated using a broadbill as the bait !!
This weekend sees the Watamu March competition. Of our boats Eclare is entered.

[Kingfisher2]

This time of year has always been associated with shoals of smaller fish, such as koli koli and the small kingfish known as bowrega, and a host of other fish. Unfortunately the nylon net has been the main reason for many of these fish to have been virtually wiped out. Still, there is good sport to be had on lighter tackle, but it pays to remember that some bigger fish are still around. So, on Monday, Neptune fishing from Ngomeni, tagged a Black Marlin and a sail, Snark also tagged a sail; the rest of the boats had wahoo and dorado, Tina leading the way with 8 wahoo and 10 dorado.

Tuesday. Neptune still fishing from Ngomeni got 3 sail, 5 yellowfin, 2 dorado, and some rainbow runner. Tina tagged 2 sail, SnowGoose got a Black Marlin, a sail and 3 wahoo plus 2 dorado. Eclare and Snark had wahoo and dorado. Seems like this week, and the previous weeks are dominated by wahoo and dorado.

Wednesday. Neptune the only boat our today; fishing from Ngomeni got 3 sail, one of which was boated and weighed 40.5 kgs. They also got wahoo, yellowfin and dorado. Eclare was taken up to Ngomeni by the crew.

Thursday. Neptune out of Ngomeni got 2 giant trevally 15 kingfish and wahoo plus dorado. Eclare also fishing from Ngomeni tagged a Black Marlin and boated 15 kingfish, plus wahoo and dorado. Eclare returned to Malindi. The other 3 boats, fishing from Malindi, Tina got 1 sail, SnowGoose 2 sail, and Snark 3 sail plus the odd dorado and bonito.

Friday. Neptune, still in Ngomeni, got 6 sail plus wahoo, yellowfin, and dorado. Eclare and Tina both had sail and dorado, whilst Snark had no luck and ended up with baitfish. SnowGoose was not out; she had to have a damper plate replaced.

And so we come to Saturday and drama. Neptune still up at Ngomeni got 2 sail, wahoo and dorado and yellowfin, Tina 1 sail plus dorado, SnowGoose on a halfday, wahoo and dorado. Malachite, with Graham Heaton on board were fishing the banks and had just put out 2 live baits when both baits were hit at the same time, or within seconds of each other. One bait never hooked up but the other did. Although Abudi swore the fish was a Marlin, nobody saw the fish actually take and there after nobody saw the fish for the next 8 hours or so. The fish never broke the surface. Now the fish decided to travel, and moved steadily out to sea until they found themselves at centre Mlima amongst the bigger boats fishing the Rips. This is no place for a small boat to be, particularly with a big fish on the line, and now a further problem arose; Fuel. Did Malachite have sufficient fuel to get home and to continue to battle this fish, which was growing in size by the hour? No, probably not. Tina, who was fishing in the area was asked to get Graham and rod on board and transfer the clients on Tina to Malachite and go home. This they flatly refused to do, and really I must agree with them, an elderly couple and sea sick into the bargain. So Tina made her way home and we organised for Eclare to go out with fuel, Robert Duff and Guytano elected to go out there with Eclare and Alfred which was a good idea. In the meantime Seahorse with Pete Ready had arrived on the scene and had transfered Graham plus rod on to Seahorse. Now he had a good platform from which to fight this fish, and when Eclare arrived, Robert Duff also transferred to Seahorse to give a helping hand. By this time it was late afternoon, and Eclare stayed in the area for a while until it was nearly dark and then turned for home. It is a dodgie business coming into Malindi in the pitch dark, so Alfred and Guytano took their time to get in arriving at around 8 o'clock with the help of headlights from a car on the jetty supplied by Angus. On Seahorse they were still struggling with the fish, but eventually, when it was dark, the Black Marlin came up dead having been foul hooked just by the dorsal fin. They got back to Watamu about 9 o'clock where Catharina was waiting for them in the Canter. A quick drink at Ocean Sports, load the fish on the vehicle and they were on their way to weigh the fish in Malindi. Rob Duff drove back as Catharina does not like driving that road at night. The fish weighed out at 198 kgs (435 lbs). It seems that there is always a good fish caught on St Patrick's night: The 'grander' in the club was caught on March 18th as were many other good fish. Many thanks to Seahorse for their timely assistance and to Rob and Guytano. It is good to know that there is help out there when things go a bit bear shaped.

No fishing Sunday. I hear, though, that quite a few Marlin were caught on the Rips this past week.

[Kingfisher2]

Weahter Very hot and high humidity. New moon on Monday with spring tides and fairly strong winds in the afternoons from the S.E. Winds are variable at this time, the period when the N.E. changes to the S.E. Water is clean. A short shower of rain Sunday morning.

Fishing Marlin are still here and most of the sailfish are in deeper water. Dorado seem to be every where, and wahoo are still plentiful. Striped Marlin appear to have moved on but there are still some good sized Blues out there. Frigate mackerel are in profusion every where, so no problem with getting live bait. Not many boats fishing now, but for those that have been out chances of getting a good fish are still good. Shark have appeared on the scene and some boats report having released a few of these which look very much like a bronze whaler, but could also be a Dusky Grey shark. Neptune released one on Tuesday of about 40 kgs, and I believe that a Black Marlin which B'Nest hooked up was mutilated by these sharks. Neptune got a Black Marlin and a Blue Marlin plus a sail and 2 nice yellowfin over 20 kgs each, on Monday.

On the Tuesday Neptune got 2 sail and this bronze whaler shark and 3 yellowfin all over 20 kgs each. Snark was the only boat out on Wednesday and ended up with 1 sail and 5 dorado. No boats fishing on Thursday and only Eclare fishing on Friday. They stayed inshore fishing for smaller fish, and got a gaint trevally, wahoo, dorado, rainbow runner, 1 gueen fish and plenty of frigate mackerel. Out on the Rips I understand that B'Nest got a Black Marlin and Albatross a Blue Marlin.

On the Saturday Neptune managed to loose or missed 6 sail and they lost a Blue Marlin estimated at 200 kgs. On board was Roger Silvester from Bunsons Travel and I believe he was on the rod when this Blue Marlin appeared behind the boat, rejected all baits and lures on the heavier lines and decided to have a go at the lightest line in the water which was a 30 lb outfit. If they had got the fish it would probably have been a 10 to 1 and maybe even a 15 to 1, but they lost the fish after some considerable time. Everyone on board could see the fish clearly just underneath the boat. Roger has yet to give a reasonable explanation as to what happend on the boat: 6 sail and a Marlin all lost, dear oh dear. Inspite of all that I believe they had a lot of fun on the boat. Eclare was still fishing for smaller fish and got a good selection, SnowGoose got 1 sail and Malachite with Graham raised a Marlin which never took anything, but he got a nice gaint trevally, a wahoo and 4 dorado,

Sunday, nothing really exciting, a few sail caught, 2 on Neptune and 1 on Eclare plus some dorado etc. At some stage or other I will be asked the question; How do you account for such a good Marlin season with all these long liners and Purse Seiners operating in the Indian Ocean; and I would not be able to come up with a satisfactory answer. But firstly we do not know what the fishing would have been like if commercial vessels had been absent. Secondly these ships target either Broadbill or Tuna. It is also possible that there just was not enough fish to support 1 longliner let alone a fleat. What ever the answer, we are happy to have had a good Marlin season, and hope that it will continue next season.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather The southerly winds have now set in and will remain until Nov/Dec. when the winds will return to the N.E. Seas are certainly rougher in this southerly monsoon season, but so fare conditions are fairly quiet, and some days are really calm. Rain has started and we have recorded around 2 inches to date. We were starting to get very dry and hot, so it was a relief to get some rain to cool the place down. New moon was on Wednesday 17th

Fishing At this time of the year fishing is confined to the Banks where weather conditions are favorable and the area is full of bait fish in the from of bonito, rainbow runner and frigate mackerel - and where there are baitfish you will find the bigger predators: wahoo, kingfish, yellowfin tuna, shark, sailfish and of course Marlin. I think that this year, Black Marlin will be present in small numbers for most of the time, but they should start to show in late June, July and August. I can remember fishing on Tina in the late sixties and seventies together with Ian Rooken-Smith on Apple-pie and David Slater on Honeylulu. The weather in July and early August was at times atrocious and a little scary, but we still went out and some really good fish were caught, 500 lbs - 750 lbs. So the term 'off season' applies to the weather, and not to an absence of fish. If you can handle the sea conditions, you could catch some good fish. Then there is the yellowfin tuna which appeared off our coast at this time of year in 2004 together with huge quantities of mantis prawns which the tuna were feeding on. I have seen the big yellowfin close inshore before but they were chasing the little red crabs at that time. Lets hope that some form of crustacean will arrive here which the tuna will go crazy about.
At the present time boats are catching a few sail, giant trevally, kingfish, wahoo, dorado, the odd yellowfin, rainbow runner and bonito, quite a big variety, and the weather is good.

[Kingfisher2]

There was a full moon on the 2nd May and again on the 1st June. The period in between the full moon has been wet and overcast, but Southerly winds moderate and sea conditions not bad at all.

Since I last reported from Malindi there has been very little fishing. Snark was fishing a short day recently and saw no sailfish and got eight dorado on a lovely day - sunny and moderate winds. Since then the weather has deteriorated - winds have increased, rain and overcast conditions have prevailed. Recorded 11 and half inches for the week ending Monday 14th May, that is 287 mm. Since then it has rained everyday and the sun has not appeared at all in this period. Measured 23.5 inches of rain for the month of May. Not very nice for those people on holiday.

Snark was fishing on Thursday the 31st May and found a tremendous amount of bait fish - bonito, frigate mackerel and rainbow runner. They managed to get 2 sail, a small giant trevally, 15 dorado, a nice kingfish and lots of baitfish. They had two heavy strikes, but lost them both and never saw what they were. Fishing conditions were good. Not too rough with moderate winds. Snark was out again on Saturday 2nd June with Ted Greyson from Nairobi when again they noted the presence of masses of baitfish. They got 5 sail, had a Marlin on jumping which they lost early, a barracuda and 12 or so dorado. A good day by any standards.

I have said many times that there is good fishing at this time of the year. It may be a little wet for holiday makers but for fishing this is a good time, and I am sure that there are a good number of Black Marlin present. So next year, or even this year, if you can get away give it a try.

All boats still out of the water and maintenance work continues whenever the rain permits. Mechanical work is possible, even when raining, but paint work is difficult, and most days just not possible. Still, we have to make good use of every opportunity that the weather permits, Hopefully we will not be late returning the boats to the water. Snowgoose is due to

[Kingfisher2]

Week ending Sunday 10th June 2007

Weather A week of calm weather, sunny and clear. Sea conditions very calm for this time of year no rain to speak of for a week now. New moon will be on Friday 15th June, and this could bring rain.

Fishing Only one boat out fishing this week and only for 1 day and that was SnowGoose, her first charter fot the new season. Conditions were perfect, but no bill fish seen. Bait fish were everywhere and dorado, of which they caught 15, three kingfish and baitfish made up the days catch. Although no billfish were seen it was a great day for fishing with constant action. Great shoals of bait fish moving slowly over the banks with the ever present terns in their
thousands hovering over them, will gladden the heart of any fisherman, as he knows very well that big fish are lurking in the vicinity of these shoals.

SnowGoose was put back in the water on the 2nd of June, and Snark came out on the 5th. Not too much work to be done on Snark, so hopefully she will be back in the water quite soon.

The Chairman of the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, Dr Simon Hemphill has written a long letter to the Minister for Fisheries on the state of Kenya's fisheries, both inshore and offshore. For those of you who are not members of the Association, I shall try to give you the main facts. Kenya's Artisanl fishery is rapidly dying as a result mainly of the introduction of Nylon nets. In the Malindi area I must add that the Pemba Island fishermen with their huge nets have contributed greatly to the demise of this industry and to the destruction of our coral reefs. Poverty in some coastal area's grows by the day and not much is being done to alleviate the situation.

On the off shore fishery, it is a fact that 80 commercial vessels - long liners and Purse Seine - have been licensed by the Kenya Govt. Sounds horrific to me. Further more, the Kenya Govt. is unable to patrol our coast line and protect certain areas from these commercial predators. The Association believes that this Govt does not recognise the importance of the Sport Fishing Industry to the economy of this country, and it is about time that it did. We believe that the income generated by sport fishing is greater than the licensing of these longliners. Whilst on this subject I would like to bring to your attention an article that appeared in the July issue of Marlin Magazine written by Michael Leech a long time serving member of the I.G.F.A. It would seem that the Sportfishing Association in the States has the same problem that we have here. Six years ago a large area off the coast off Florida, Georgia and Carolina was put out of bounds to all commercial fishing vessels so that the marine life and in particular the swordfish would have a chance to recover from being hammered by long liners. Sport fishing was permitted. Today the Swordfish have recovered to a large extent, but the fish are all small, obviously.However, the NMFS now wish to allow longliners into the area again to fish for Swordfish. The sportfishing fraternity are up in arms about this, and although it is a powerful body in the U.S., and this recreational fishery is valued at hundreds of Millions of Dollars, I fear that the Govt. will again destroy this fishery and all the small business's that this fishery supports.

[Kingfisher2]

Week ending Sunday 17th June 2007

Weather Good weather at the beginning of this week but we have had strong winds for the last few days, with, I presume, some pretty rough seas. New moon was on Friday the 15th, but it has not brought any rain yet except for 0.20 pts on Saturday morning. Some lovely sunny spells everyday but we still have some overcast weather.

Fishing No fishing this week which is a shame, because a break occurs in the weekly results, and one can not be absolutely certain that there is no great change from last week. I can not for a moment believe that the situation will have deteriorated. I think the fishing will actually have improved after this blow. The big shoals of baitfish will still be there and of course the predators. Meanwhile SnowGoose just sits there waiting for some brave soul to brave the elements and go fishing. Could be very rewarding.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather The first week was marked by strong winds and rough seas. Overcast a lot of the time with small showers of rain. The second week winds had subsided a little and seas not so violent. Still overcast most mronings with light showers. This last week was much better, with moderate winds and seas. Mostly sunny with occasional showers. A waning moon just now with a new moon on the 14th July.

Fishing Not much fishing these past 3 weeks. SnowGoose was fishing for 3 days at the begining of the first week when the weahter was quite nasty. In the 3 days they got sail, giant trevally, kingfish, dorado and baitfish. They were also out yesterday - 7th July - and got a giant trevally, a small shark about 40 kgs. both released, kingfish and dorado plus bonito and rainbow runner, and that was all the fishing for the last 3 weeks. I must note here that the frigate mackerel which were here last season in large numbers and attracted the Marlin to our area have not been seen yet this season, but then it is still early days with the fishing confined to the Malindi/Watamu banks. Weather conditions not suitable for fishing off shore yet. SnowGoose will be out a few days next week and we will have to wait and see what will happen then.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather At the begining of this period it has been unusually calm and quiet. Overcast a lot of the time with sunny spells. Then on August 1st the wind started to blow strong from the South/West, a very irritating wind blowing dust and rubbish all over the place. Full moon was on the 30th July with the accompanying high tides when both Tina and Snark were returned to the water. No rain.
Fishing The first boat out during this period was SnowGoose on the 26th July. No Marlin seen, and got the usual fish which the Banks have to offer - giant trevally, king, baracuda, rainbow runner and bonito. On the 27th July Neptune and Eclare were out together with some boats from Watamu. B's Nest got a nice Black of 100 kgs but no other Marlin seen. Neptune had 4 sail, wahoo, king, bonito, and Eclare 1 sail, 3 giant trevally and bait fish. Eclare again on the 28th for a very short day, got 1 sail and 5 yellowfin, but again no Marlin seen. SnowGoose on the 29th, 1 sail, wahoo, yellowfin and king. No fishing after that until the 2 nd August when Neptune, Eclare and SnowGoose were out. Still some wind but not so strong and the sea settled down. Fishing can change for better or worse from day to day, and this day was different from the trend of the last week or so when we saw no Marlin. Richard Edwards and Philip Mathais- regular visitors here- were fishing Neptune. This pair are nearly always lucky, and they got it right yet again.A pack of sail came up behind the boat and they hooked five of them. Angus, upstairs, becomes vocal with the usual language, and confusion reigns on board for a time while they sort everything out. In the end they get four of them, which is not bad. Then a little later they got a black marlin, a lovely , strong fish by all accounts, which they released. They finished the day by adding two more sail- total six- 1king, 1 yellowfin and ofcourse that great fish the black marlin. Eclare also had a good day with a black marlin a sail and 2 dorado. while SnowGoose got 4 sail. A very good day for all. It is interesting to note the number of sailfish at this time of year. Normally there would be a few sail around but not the numbers we are seeing now.

[Kingfisher2]

Not very nice weather these past 2 weeks. Rough seas, overcast most of the time, with rain squalls and gusting winds. The sun has appeared of course, particularly this past week when we had quite long periods of sunshine. Full moon will be on the 28th. when we can expect a change in weather. We have already had nearly 5 inches of rain for August, which is twice the average of for this month. Temperatures are lower than normal, averaging 68 - 69 F at seven o'clock in the morning ( 19 - 21 C) Strange weather we have had so far this year.

Fishing Not much change here either. Still plenty of sail around but very few Marlin. The fishing would indeed be a disaster if it were not for the early presence of the sail fish, and giant trevally, kingfish, wahoo, yellowfin, dorado and the tiger sharks. It will change for the better though, I hope, once this weather improves. The Marlin did appear for a short while in early August, and then disappeared again.
Most boats are catching sail everyday, but the catch of the week was 15 sailfish caught by Greg Mutch on Neptune on the 15th August. As Greg said, he heard of sail being caught in double figures, but never dreamt it would happen to him. During this time Snark was religiously trying for Tiger Shark everyday, and inspite of a strong current which makes it very difficult to keep boat and bait in one area for any length of time, they got 2, the first on the 14th and the second on the 17th. Both were estimated at 300 kgs each and released.

On Wednesday the 22nd. tiring of fishing the same area on the Banks, Angus took Neptune north to check the place out. Weather was bad, strong southerly winds, overcast and rough, prevented them returning to Malindi, so they set off for Ziwayu on Friday, with clear sunny weather for a change. Numbers of sailfish were seen, and they got about 8 yellowfin. Nothing much else seen, so the trip was a little disappointing fish wise, but they did manage to check out the area as much as possible. Clueless set out for the North Kenya Banks on Saturday morning, but turned back due to severe weather conditions. We still do not know what is going on out there.

Sunday, Neptune went north again but not for long, as the weather became nasty with strong southerly winds, so they ended up fishing fairly close to Ngomeni, ending up with a sail, some yellowfin and 7 kingfish. Although few Marlin are being seen right now, there are some still around. I hear that some are being hooked up and lost. We hope the numbers will increase.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Not very nice weather this week, with strong winds, rough seas and some short showers. Full moon was on the 26th and could well be responsible for the unusual weather we are experiencing at this time. Then on Friday it really rained and I recorded 5 inches of rain for the day - a real soaking. I hear also that some incoming aircraft had to divert or return to Nairobi. Saturday was much better, still windy, but the sun did appear for short periods, and no rain. Very high tides Friday - Sunday, with a big swell.

Fishing Reports reaching me tell of a very big Black Marlin caught in the nets this last week off Ngomeni. Apparently, after having been cut up, the pieces weighed 600 kgs plus - truly a very big fish.At this time of year the nets are never set very far out due to the weather and I suspect the nets were set no more than a mile or so from the headland. I have in the past seen these big fish close inshore, infact have hooked up with a few, but never with much success except once when we got one of 375 kilos, caught by a very strong German fellow named Fred Guttes. He made the 130 lb rod bend like a bow until I thought everything would break. But it all held together and he had the fish to the boat one and a half hours later. On another occasion we got the fish to the boat in 3 hours and the hook dropped out. Both these fish were hooked up just off Mambrui, so if one is prepared to spend the time looking for this big fish you could just get lucky.
The fishing last week was mainly sailfish, yellowfin tuna, dorado and the odd kingfish, wahoo, barracuda and baitfish. SnowGoose seems to be raising more fish than the other boats. She had 6 sail on Monday, Neptune 2 sail, a yellowfin and a very nice wahoo of 32.5 kgs. Tuesday, Neptune got 24 yellowfin, and a kingfish. No sail caught today. Wednesday, strong winds and rough seas. All boats returned early. SnowGoose 4 sail, Eclare 1 sail, Neptune, some yellowfin and a couple of wahoo. No fishing Thursday . Friday rained all day. Eclare 1 sail, SnowGoose 7 sail. Malachite was also out fishing with Graham Heaton, out all day in the pouring rain is a wet and cold business on this boat. They stuck it out though and had a Marlin on jumping for a whilde before they lost it. Nothing much else was caught - except baitfish - to reward their efforts on this day. Saturday no fishing, and Sunday only Neptune was out. Weather was not too bad, only a really big swell all day, and quite choppy seas, 4 sail, 3 yellowfin, 2 barracuda was the total for the day.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather A definate change. Early mornings have been clear, cool and sunny, with an off shore breeze. The wind when it starts has been moderate S.E. except for the odd squall. Typical October weather new moon is on the 11th. when we can expect a further change in the weather. I do not think that we have seen the end of the rain. I believe there is more to come. High tides at the full moon last month were accompanied with a big swell which demolished a few sea walls in the Silversands area, but caused no further damage.

Fishing This week we had 2 groups of fisherment from South Africa, so most boats were out for 5 days. Neptune was top boat with 20 sail over the 5 days. In addition the catches included giant trevally, yellowfin, kingfish, kolikoli, dorado and barracuda. All boats were trying to live bait, but most of the time the bait itself was very difficult to catch. No Marlin seen this week, but Eclare got a good giant trevally estimated at 50 kgs. and Neptune on the 4th October got 8 sail and said they should have had double that number, and then on the 6th October Neptune got 6 sail, a couple of kingfsih and yellowfin. Nothing much happend on Sunday: Eclare had 2 sailfish and a few tuna and Snark lost 3 sailfish in a row, one after the other.
So the weeks fishing was really dominated with sailfish, which is very nice indeed. A much sought after billfish featuring high on the Anglers list. Long may it continue.

The net fishermen have been reluctant to go to sea, because their nets are being carried away by whales. These shark nets are very strong pieces of equipment and can capture fish of 1000 lbs or more, but whales are different and can carry such nets away, floats, bouys, and anchores, the whole lot. They are then impossible to find again. Hopefully the whale will be able to rid itself of the net, when it does the net will become a serious menace to shipping and to other fish. On the 7th, four nets were carried away in this manner.

The trawlers still operate, I am not sure where, because they are no longer visible from the shoreline. One of these ships was in Malindi this week off loading tons of small and juvenile fish.