The Complete Fisher Forum

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Most mornings have been calm and clear with the S.E. wind starting around 10 O'clock, but mostly moderate, just occasionally becoming strong. No rain, but overcast at times. New moon with the high tides was on the 11th October. Sea conditions much better now, just the occasional choppy sea.

Fishing although a strong S.E wind persists most days, and sea conditions sometimes are rough, there has been some really good fishing.
On Monday 8th. Neptune with Tine and Ronald on board had 4 sailfish, released a tiger shark, 2 kingfish, 1 yellowfin and some bonito and baitfish. Quite an eventful day with plendy of action. SnowGoose had a very short day. The boat left Malindi at 10 o'clock, and they managed to get a sail, which is what the fishermen really wanted.
No fishing on Tuesday, and Wednesday was one of those nasty days with strong winds and rough seas: not very much caught other than a few small fish. Neptune tried all day for a big fish with no success. Not a very pleasant day at sea. Tine and Ronald were fishing this day and said that of all the years that they have been fishing here they have only had 2 or 3 days when they caught nothing, and this was one of them.
Thursday was quite different with Neptune getting 3 sail, 2 tiger sharks, a barracuda and a kolikoli. A much better day, and Friday was also a great day, with many more different species caught. Tina did well with 3 sail, one kingfish, one wahoo, one yellowfin, bonito and frigat mackerel. Neptune with Tine and Ronald got 3 sail, a tiger shark, one giant trevally, a wahoo, a kingfish, a 23.5 kg rock cod, a cobia, and a yellowfin. A really fun day.
Saturday the fishing was again good, Neptune with 5 sail and a giant trevally, and Eclare got 2 sail both caught on fly by Con Jooste and his son Con Jooste Jr. These two fish only with the fly rod these days, and very rewarding it is when you get one. They were also here in March when they got a Black Marlin on fly.
Sunday was not such a good day, although Eclare did well with 2 sail, one on fly.
This past week then has produced some good fishing, with sailfish still predominant. Tiger sharks have arrived on the scene. These are big fish and not for the faint hearted, but if you want to test your self on a big fish then try for a tiger shark.
Humpbacked wales with their calves have been in the area since August and can be seen nearly every day: wonderful animals they are too, and hopefully are safe in these waters from whaling ships.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Better weather now, not so rough and winds not so strong. Full moon will be on the 26th October. A few short showers on most days, enough to keep everything green, but not a lot of rain. Getting hotter.

Fishing This week Malindi was hosting the Driftwood Gamefish Extravaganza, organized by Basil Hill from Durban, South Africa. This must be the 14th year that this tournament has run, thanks to Basil Hill and his team and may it continue for many more years to come. I feel confident that it will, providing prices within Kenya remain stable and of course the political scene as well. Right now Kenya is expensive.
The fishing has not been as good as previous years. Weather conditions have been decidedly odd, which may be a deciding factor . However, although sailfish was the principal target for most boats there were some other notable catches: a striped Marlin on Alleycat on day 3 and a Black Marlin on SnowGoose on day 4, Both fish were tagged and released. SnowGoose had a nice Cobia of 22.5 kgs and Snark a good yellowfin of 20.5 kgs. Alleycat on day one, had 8 giant trevally. Must have found a nest of these fish.
This tournament is run on the team system. Each team consists of 4 fishermen, and the teams change boats on each day. Anypoints won belong to the team and the winning team emerges after 4 days fishing. This method does not leave much to chance, surprising therefore that the winning team caught the only two Marlin on different boats on different days, well done indeed. The winning team then was Zabra, fished by David Pretorious, Thomas Gillies, Trevor Sony and Bryan Harvett. Second, was the Port St.Francis Pirates, fished by Mr and Mrs Gibson and Mr and Mrs Barnes. Third was team Real McCoys fished by Ashley Seiler, Wouter Foord, Ian Steward and Paul Davies. The prize giving took place during the closing dinner at the Driftwood Club on Friday evening, where a jovial atmosphere prevailed. Basil Hill was also celebrating his 200th Billfish caught over the years in African waters, the biggest being a Marlin of 860 lbs. Well done Basil. Judging by the amount of beer consumed, I believe everyone had a good time, inspite of the slow fishing. Have a safe journey back home, and see you all again next year.
Following directly after the Extravaganza the Malindi Sea Fishing Club held its annual International Fishing Festival on the Saturday and Sunday. For the first time in many years Cooper Motors were not sponsoring this event and instead Lonro and the Airline 540 were the chief Sponsors, and what a good job they did of it. Their organization of this event was very good, and our thanks go to all those involved in the 540 organizing team. Sixteen teams of 3 took part, a good turn out. The fishing was difficult, but at the end of each day there were many fish at the weigh in.
At the end of the first day Alleycat was well in the lead with 5 sail and 8 good wahoo. Second was Neptune with Tarka very close behind. It seemed at this stage highly unlikely that anybody could catch Alleycat, but fishing is unpredictable. On the second day Alleycat had 5 sail up to the baits, but only managed to get one plus a yellowfin. Neptune got 4 sail and a dorado. Only these two boats at the top with more than 1000 pts each. and it was a very close run thing in the end, with Alleycat coming out ahead by just 1/10 th of a kilo. So Alleycat came first, fished by Ivor, Al, and David, with Neptune second fished by Russell and young Peter Brumby and Angus, Third was Seahorse, fished by Eddie and Glen Scanlon and Peter Ready. The Irish contingent, fished with Peter Ready on Seahorse and came third, the first time that Eddie and Glen Scanlon have ever featured on the prize list. A good result there. The two youngest fishermen, both very keen, were Peter Brumby 13 years old and Jackson Brown 9 years old. Jackson fished with father Earnie on Snark and had no problem in catching all the fish on Snark that day - 2 sail, 1 giant trevally, 1 kingfish, 2 barracuda and a yellowfin. Obviously much quicker to the rod than father. Well done. Peter was not feeling great, but also never had a chance against rod grabbers like Russell and Angus. You have to be real quick to beat those two.
The story of the tournament has to be Tega and the Whale Shark. Whilst cruising the waters looking for fish, Tega came upon a friendly Whale Shark. They got very close to this huge creature, when the two young boys jumped into the water and hitched a ride on the sharks back and also by holding on to a fin. Father then jumped into the sea and rode the fish on its back. The fish then came right alongside the boat and he was able to step on board from the fishes back. A lovely story, emphasizing just how harmless and tolerant these big fish are. Why now, would anyone in their right mind want to kill these big gentle fish.
A vote of thanks to all those concerned in organizing the tournament. Carole Brown and Rusty who did all the scoring, Yusuf the weigh master, David Darnbouough who did the auction and officiated at the prize giving. Agneta, who once again produced a very good dinner, barmen, waiters etc. and of course the Sponsors. 540 did well, and we are very pleased to hear that they will be prepared to do it again next year.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Mainly sunny, clear and quite calm. Full moon was on Friday, which brought some heavy rain on Saturday morning. A wet day which started to clear up by midday. Winds moderate, with most days starting calm with little wind. Wind increasing during the day. Temperatures still a little low, 70 - 72 F at 7 am. Recorded 1.30 pts of rain for the week.

Fishing Not a good week. Plenty of fish around, sailfish are seen daily in fair numbers, but to get them to take a bait is another matter. Masses of little baitfish present: sardines, white bait, the little red crab and small squids plus many more. What the reason is as to why the fish are shying away from the baits offered by the boats - and the skippers have tried every thing - we will never know. Be it water temperature, current, wind, whatever it is we will just have to put it down to fishing, so unpredictable. Apparently there is no such problem up at Lamu where the fish are taking big time. Those fish will be making their way south and should be with us in about a months time. Full moon on Friday has caused a weather change with plenty of rain on Saturday morning. Fishing has also improved and I hear much better news from the boats fishing off Mambrui this morning. The sailfish appear to have changed their minds and are taking quite well after the rain in the morning. Eclare has 4 sail at 1 pm, much better.
In spite of the fishing being so slow this past week, there have been some good fish caught. Alleycat got a Tiger shark on Friday which was estimated at over 1000 lbs, and Snark got one on the same day, but only half that size. Eclare did well and finished with 5 sail on Saturday fishing off Mambrui. Tina, although they had just one sail, lost count of the number they lost. Neptune went south to try some jigging but this proved impossible due to a very strong current, also it was quite rough in the Watamu area. The fishing on Sunday was also good with Neptune getting 5 sail off Mambrui, and Eclare tried all day for shark without success. Hopefully the fishing will improve from now on.
The large beach seine nets are operating all up and down the coast, scraping up everything inside the reef. I thought that this net was banned about a year ago, but the fisheries Dept seems unable to do anything about it. These nets are doing a lot of damage, taking out everything, including little fish 1 cm long, or less, breaking up coral and disturbing the sea bed.
A number of small boats are now fishing with lights at night. The lights attract small bait fish including squid which are then caught in a small landing net, these fish are then used as bait to catch bigger fish, eg. kingfish, barracuda, yellowfin and kolikoli. Seems to be quite successful

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Wind is still from the SE, strong at times. The days are quite calm and sunny, and very little rain, just a few short showers. Temperature at 7 am still around 70 - 72 F. A waning moon, with the new moon next week, we expect the wind to change to the NE this month and it might happen over the period of the new moon.

Fishing With last Saturday and Sunday showing promising signs of much improved fishing, it was disappointing to see Monday going back to really tough fishing. Not very much caught today, a couple of sail, a few yellowfin, a dorado and a couple of kingfish. So, when Tuesday came along we were expecting more of this slow fishing. What a surprise then, to hear that Neptune had found a lot of fish and they were taking well. Sail, yellowfin, wahoo and kingfish. It really is a fantastic experiance when it happens. Eight sailfish, 3 wahoo, 7 yellowfin and 2 kingfish later, Angus was thinking of getting back to Malindi. The wind had got up considerably and the seas with it. The trip back to Malindi was going to be a rough and uncomfortable business; and then the Marlin hit a bait and Guy Raemaecker was into a good fish on 30 lb tackle. After half an hour the fish came alongside the boat and was released in good condition. Estimated weight 120 kgs. So on 30 lb tackle it is a good 5 to 1 and very nearly a 10 to 1. By this time it did not look feasible to go back to Malindi, so Neptune went into Ngomeni for the night. Much closer, only half an hour to the anchorage. What a wonderful fish to end a very memorable day. Tina was in the same area for a while and had 3 sail and some yellowfin. Both SnowGoose and Snark went south and missed out on the fun. I know of several youg boys who would have loved to have been on board Neptune on this fantastic day.
Clueless came back from Dar es salaam on Tuesday having fished in the Latham Island Tournament. There were I believe about 4 other boats from Kenya taking part. The fishing was not as good as in previous years - a few yellowfin, sail and one or two spearfish where caught, but the first three winners were all jigging for bottom fish, catching mainly not very big trevally and koli koli. Apparently tournament rules allow bottom fishing, but if tournament fishing has to revert to bottom fishing it just shows the effect that long liners and purse seiners have had on every area in which they operate. I have this feeling that the Kenya crews were not accorded much of a welcome in Dar es Salaam. This is a pity. The fishing fraternity is huge world wide and any fisherman should be welcome in any fishing club any where in the world. I am sure the attitude will change in the future. Some Kenya crews have vowed not to return again to Dar es Salaam, whilst others, like Clueless have said they will be back next year.
Wednesday, the fishing is not so good again. Neptune was the only boat without a sail, getting only 1 wahoo, 1 kingfish, and 1 yellowfin. Tina had the best result today with 4 sail a wahoo. 2 yellowfin and a dorado. The othr boats all had 1 sail each plus a few small fish.
Thursday was much better again. Quite a few Watamu boats came up to the Mambrui area, where B's Nest got 5 sail. Tina had 2 sail, a wahoo, 2 yellowfin. Snark 2 sail, 1 dorado,. Eclare fishing on the banks had 4 yellowfin. Ol Jogi, also fishing south, got a very nice Mako shark estimated at 450 lbs which was released. Neptune went all the way up to Ziwayu to see what is going on up there. Angus reported a lot of fish in the area. They got 8 sail, 5 yellowfin, a small black tip shark which was released and a rainbow runner. A good days fishing, but a long way to go.
Friday, a good day for Tina fished by Kim and David from UK. They got 2 Tiger sharks estimated at 300 kg and 100 kg, 1 yellowfin, 1 rainbow runner, 3 bonito. SnowGoose 3 sail and a yellowfin, Eclare 1 sail. Neptune and Snark did not do very well with only a yellowfin and a wahoo resp. The day belonged to Tina. They set out to get tiger shark and were successful. Excellent.
Saturday was a busy day, Neptune was on a short day, and got back with 2 sail and a yellowfin just before midday in order to prepare everything for a 4/5 day trip to Lamu/Kiwayu, where apparently the sailfish are in profusion. Neptune and Tarka finally left Malindi just after dark. The whole party consists of 8 young Kenya men Batian, Peter & David Frankham, William CarHartley, Neil Mcray Justin Larby, Brendon Hill and Jeremy - 4 on Neptune and 4 on Tarka. They will have a ball, no doubt, We will get news from them later. Eclare left Malindi in the morning to spend the night up at Ziwayu. They had a good trip on the way there, getting 11 sailfish. More news of them later. They return to Malindi on Sunday. Tina was targetting giant trevally today and managed to get one of 30 kgs plus a sailfish, 1 yellowfin, 2 dorado and a bonito. Snark was unsuccessful in trying for a tiger shark.
Sunday, we have heard from Neptune that they had 15 sail today plus a few yellowfin and wahoo. Fantastic fishing. Eclare got back to Malindi at midday with 8 sail and some smaller fish. A total of 19 sail for the trip, good stuff. Tina tried all day for a tiger shark and got nothing, and Malachite got 1 sail and a yellowfin.
So another week of quite tough fishing in spite of Mambrui/Ngomeni area being full of fish. Conditions not quite right at the moment. Not so up north, where the fish are taking well.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Very hot and humid. Winds light and variable . Water temp. around 85F, a little high. Very calm. Some rain, but not much.

Fishing Monday was a good day. Plenty of fish in the Mambrui area, and all the way north. Neptune and Tarka were fishing in the Kui area which is very close to the Somali border. Fantastic fishing up there, and first reports indicate that neptune had 26 sail, 2 or 3 wahoo over 30 kgs each - big fish - 1 yellowfin of 35 kgs plus many smaller all these fish were released. Tarka had much the same.
Back home SnowGoose had 2 sail, 2 wahoo, 1 yellowfin, 1 dorado, and Eclare in the same area had 5 sail, 2 kingfish, 2 yellowfin, and 1 wahoo. Snark fished further south trying for a tiger shark. They managed to get one of about 120 kgs plus a giant trevally, 1 kingfish of 20 kgs, nice fish this one, a wahoo and 2 bonito. Malachite was also fishing and had a sailfish and 1 yellowfin.
Tuesday, only Eclare and SnowGoose fishing, both in the Mambrui/Ngomeni area, in fact Eclare was further north than Ngomeni and had 10 sail, a wahoo plus a yellowfin. SnowGoose got 2 sail.
Reports reaching me indicate that unusual amounts of sailfish have been observed up and down the coast. Fishermen from Mambrui say that they have never seen so many sailfish ever before. This is good news, and long may it last, but I hope that the final result will not be a complete lack of sailfsih the following year. But one has to ask oneself why there are so many here. Obviously they have had a very good breeding season somewhere, and assuming the sailfish are from the Omani area they must have avoided all the many nets on the way here, or have been further off shore than the fishermen operate. In any event the fish have been lucky or very clever, and do not for a minute think that fish are never clever, because they are.
Neptune fishing up at Kui/Kiwayu got something like 28 - 29 sail plus smaller fish, and Tarka also had many sail, but not sure the exact number. Those guys are having exceptional fishing, not often experianced. Go for it while you can.
Thursday was a much better day in Malindi. SnowGoose had 8 sail, Seahorse 7, Unreel from Watamu 13, Zambarani 2, and Clueless 19.
Neptune left Kui this morning and make their way back to Lamu. Got 7 sail on route. They come back to Malindi on Friday, haveing had fishing seldome experianced. Just imagine if you can catch 20 plus sailfish in a days fishing, how many have been missed or lost.
Neptune got back to Malindi on Friday getting 10 sail on the way from Lamu. Pretty good going. Tina had 4 sail, SnowGoose 2, Eclare 7 sail. So, a good day. Lots of sail around.
In the 4 days that Neptune was fishing up in the north they got 118 sail, and the two boat gother got 198 sail. Everybody had plenty of chances with sailfish: Angus said that it was interesting to see the daily improvement in their fishing skills. This is good, as we like to see fishermen improving their fishing ability. Some people improve rapidly - natural ability - and some just never get it right, but never give up and remain really keen for ever.
Sunday, only Snark fishing with an Italian man and his wife, very nice people. Just shows there are some good Italians. They got 9 sail. 2 yellowfin and a dorado. Good fishing.
Most of the sportfishing boats subscribe to the Tag and release system for all billfish, and it seems to be working quite well. There are some boats however that will not tag and release and kill everything that comes their way. I think it is generally accepted that about 60 - 70% of fish tagged survive - sometines for years - so it has to be a good thing. A few years ago in the United States and also in New Zealand some heavily fished area's were set aside and no commercial fishing was allowed. Sportfishing was O.K. but you were only allowed to keep a certain number and juvenile fish had to be returned to the water. Thier results after two years were quite remarkable. Fish stocks had improved and also the size of the fish. The commercial boys wanted back in, but thankfully have been resisted so far. So releasing fish back into the water must be helpful in sustaining fish stocks. It is therefore an extremely short sighted view that these few baots have on the question of releasing fish. Some people prefer just releasing fish without tagging. This is O.K., but there is then no record of the fish having been caught and released.

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing Report for Week ending Monday 19th November 2007

Weather Very calm, hot, with high hummidity. What little wind there is, blows mainly easterly, but variable. Water temp. around 82 - 83 F. Some rain during the week, recorded 0.65 points. Much more rain falling south of Malindi,

Fishing Monday. Another calm day, hot and humid. Fishing a little difficult. Plenty of fish available, but often ignoring the baits. A lot of bait present, so trying to entice the sail to your baits can be difficult with so much other food available.
Tina had 2 sail and a wahoo, Snark 4 sail, SnowGoose 2 sail and a yellowfin, Eclare 3 sail, 3 wahoo, 1 kingfish, 3 yellowfin, and 3 bonito. Eclare was fishing a little further north than most of the other boats.
Results for Tuesday were much the same as Monday. Snark 2 sail, 3 wahoo, 1 barracuda, Tina 5 sail, 1 wahoo, 1 yellowfin. SnowGoose 3 sail, 1 wahoo. Eclare 2 sail, 1 wahoo, 1 barracuda. Rained in Mombasa and all the way to Kilifi and beyond, but nothing in Malindi. Both the Dutch tournament with 11 boats and a German comp with 2 boats start tomorrow from Malindi.
Wednesday a good days fishing with 36 sailfish caught and a dusty shark amongst the 11 boats in the Tight Lines Cup. Lines in at 7 am and out at 3.30 pm. The fish today only really started to show themselves after midday, so not too much time left in which to catch sailfish. Top boats today were Neptune 8 sail, SnowGoose 6 sail, Zambarani 5 sail, Alleycat 4 sail, Seyyida 4 sail, Kipapa a dusky Shark, 7 yellowfin and 4 kingfish. Tina with 3 sail, 8 kingfish, 2 wahoo, Snark 1 sail and 6 yellowfin. These first two days, Wednesday and Thursday, are practice days and Friday is a rest day. The tournament starts on Saturday and is over 3 days ending on Monday. Top boats today were Eclare 4 sail, Tina 4 sail, Alleycat 4 sail, Snark 3 sail, Neptune 2 sail. Sailfish were difficult today and again did not really come up until the afternoon, when the fishing improved.
It rained Friday, starting early around 8 am, but it was really calm with little wind and the fishing was pretty good. Malachite was out today with 2 Swedish girls who got absolutley soaked, but happy with 1 wahoo and 2 yellowfin. Snark did a lot better today with 7 sail and Neptune had a good day with 6 sail and a very good wahoo of 34 kgs. plus 4 nice yellowfin. Tina was trying for tiger shark all day with no success and SnowGoose was trying some jigging with not much success.
Tomorrow the Tight Lines Cup tournament starts and runs for 3 days , under IGFA rules.
Saturday, a lot of fish were caught today, 36 in the Tight Lines competitions and 5 on the 2 boats in the German comp. So there has to be a great many fish out there. When you consider that the nets are still catching every night as well, then the daily count must be about 60 sail a day, and so far no tagged fish have been recovered on the sportfishing boats, not sure about the netboats. As the moon light becomes stronger, the nets will not operate until nights become dark again. Results today, Tina 5 sail, Alleycat 1 sail, Neptune 5 sail, Seahorse 6 sail, Seyyida 3 sail, Zambarani 3 sail, Snark 3 sail, SnowGoose 4 sail, Sailfish 5 sail .
Kipapa 1 sail. Most boats also had some wahoo, yellowfin and dorado. The fish appear to be concentrated in the area from Mambrui to Ngomeni , and with all the boats churning up this stretch of water it will not be long before the fish just stay down and will not come up to the surface at all.
Sunday is the 2nd day of the Tight Lines Cup and a total of 20 sail were caught, compared to 36 on the first day. It also marked the first and only Marlin to be caught, and this was on Neptune, a Black of about 70 kgs estimated - a small fish, but still a Marlin. This day was also noted for being flat calm, like a sheet of glass and yet some guys were really ill and returned early. I am told though that this was the result of a very late night. All billfish so far have been tagged and released where ever possible.
Monday, the last day of the Tight Lines Cup and 28 sail were caught, making a total of 141 sail for the five days, 44 fish better than the previous best. Neptune was top boat with 19 sail and a Marlin. SnowGoose had 20 sail, so it must have been the Marlin that tipped the scales in Neptune's favour. SnowGoose did very well, as did Tina with 19 sail and Seyyida with 16 sail. Very good fishing so far this season. Last two days the fish came up very late maybe due to the sea being flat calm until early afternoon when a little wind starts up. With lines out at 3.30 pm there was not too much time left. The winning team was team de Giganten fished by Tom Waasdrop, Mart van Roon and Ed van der Leeden. Second team was Dutch Hunters 1 fished by Hans Poppe and Erik van den Bos and third was team Nederhorst fished by Rob Lam and Toon de Bruin. A highly successful Tournament.

[Kingfisher2]

Week ending Sunday 25th November 2007

Weather Calm weather with light variable winds and morning off shore breeze. Full moon was on Saturday 24th November, but it has not brought any rain to us, maybe south and also north of us, appear to have had some good rain. Water temp. is around 84 F (30 C) which is OK., maybe a little high. Ambient temp. about 80 F but high hummidity making it a little uncomfortable, particularly when there is no wind, or very little wind. The N.E. monsoon will establish itself in the next week or so, making Malindi Bay muddy and rough for the next few months.

Fishing Sailfish are still plentifull off Malindi and catches have geen good this week. In fact there are more sailfish than anything else at this time. Bonito are abundant just now and one can on most days get wahoo, kingfish and yellowfin but not in any quantity, you have to work to get a good fish. This week Malindi recorded 1000 sail from the begining of August to date, only from Sportfishing boats. The net boats have also caught a considerable number, but I have no figures for those landings. Watamu boats have also caught fish for which I have no figures, so perhaps a total of 2000 fish would be closer to the mark. Further north I hear that the sails are still taking well.
Tina had 4 sail on Tuesday, and Wednesday Neptune had 4 sail, and Malachite released a bull shark of about 100 kgs. Saturday, Eclare got 6 sail, SnowGoose 3 and Neptune was trying some jigging, finishing up with 2 sail, 2 giant trevally, 1 wahoo, 1 kingfish, 1 big eye trevally, 1 kolikoli, 1 barracuda, and 15 bonito. Sunday was also good fishing, Eclare getting 7 sail and Neptune was again jigging, catching giant trevally and a variety of other fish. Malachite had 2 sailfish.
It looks like the N.E. monsoon will start up this next week in which case we might get some Striped Marlin fishing in the deeper water.

[Kingfisher2]

Sunday 2nd December 2007

Weather

Fishing Many different species caught this week, including tiger shark, bull shark, and blacktip shark. Twenty different species recorded in all. That in itself is a very interesting stat. figure. There are not many places today where you can expect to catch 20 different species in a weeks fishing. Makes for some very interesting sport. Some of the better fish this week include a Black Marlin caught on Eclare together with a bull shark and a sailfish. On Tuesday Neptune had 4 good wahoo, one of which weighed in at 36 kgs, a beautiful fish. They also had 2 sailfish. On the same day Snark got a sailfish and released a tiger shark estimated at 200 kgs. Tina also had a good day on Tuesday with 3 sailfish, 5 wahoo, a black tip shark plus smaller fish. Wednesday Snark had another tiger shark estimated at 150 kgs, while Neptune was quite content with 3 sailfish 3 wahoo, a Cobia ( black runner) and 4 queen fish, which have suddenly appeared on the scene. On Thursday, Snark did it again with a much bigger tiger shark estimated at 400 kgs, a big fish indeed, which the anglers wanted to release. But now a communication problem arose because the skipper thought that the anglers wanted to keep the fish, and so contacted Kingfisher for directions on how to proceed. He was told very quickly that on no account should the fish be killed and must be released. As this is exactly what the anglers wanted in the first place, everyone was happy. The fish in question was a big female, heavily pregnant and about to pup down at anytime. Such a fish should never be killed. Neptune got 5 sail plus a selection of smaller fish. Both Eclare and Neptune had 5 sailfish each on Saturday.
Our computer came out with a statistic the other day which I find quite extraordinary . In the last 70 days of fishing, our top boat caught 328 sailfish and 6 Marlin, making a daily average of 4.69 sailfish and 0.09 Marlin. Average daily billfish is 4.77. This takes into account all 70 fishing days, whether fishing for sail or not. I think you will all agree that this is an amazing average.
A good week for fishing with a few different fish appearing on the scene. A fish called Soli (Swahili name) which is a horse mackerel, was present in these waters in big shoals years ago, now only seen occasionally. The same for the skipjack, and also the queen fish which is only seen occasionally now. Lets hope that all these fish will become plentiful again in the future.

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing Report for Week ending Sunday 9th December 07

Weather Still quite calm with winds mostly Easterly. The N.E. Kaskasi wind has not really started to blow yet. Some dirty water coming down the Sabaki River, but Malindi bay is quite clean at the moment. Dirty water sometimes reaching well out to sea being blown there by the off shore breeze. New moon on Sunday the 9th, so we can expect a change in the weather.

Fishing This weekend Malindi hosts the Mathews/deVilliers Memorial Tournament. Held over the two days, Saturday and Sunday. The tournament has attracted an entry of 15 boats, the best attendance we have had for many years. The fishing though has become difficult. The fish are here alright but are playing hard to get.
Monday until Friday most boats have been getting sail, but not in the quantities we were getting a few weeks ago. Wahoo, dorado yellowfin tuna, giant trevally, and barracuda all feature in catches this week. Also a few cobia, longtail tuna, koli koli and kingfish have been caught. Baitfish appear abundant at this time: plenty of bonito and frigate mackerel.
Neptune released a tiger shark on Wednesday of about 200 - 250 kgs. a very nice fish.
On Tuesday two boats went on an overnight to the South Malima but had no luck at all. On Wednesday 6 boats went out on an overnight to the same place, 4 boats did not score and 2 boats got 2 broadbill each, but I have no idea about size and weights.
Local fishermen are catching a lot of barracuda at night with strong lights. I also heard that the shark nets have caught 2 or 3 Marlin last week. I believe they were not big fish.
Fishing Saturday was quite difficult for most boats but not for Popi 1 who had 6 sail, way ahead of everyone else. Neptune, Eclare and Tarka were next with 3 sailfish each. SnowGoose actually had 4 sail , but only 1 was tagged, the other 3 were released , and could not therefore be counted. Tina was next with 2 sail and a blacktip shark. Then came the rest of the boats with 1 sail each, 28 sail caught for the days total.
Sunday. Unreel came first today with 4 sail. Then followed Tengesi - the only boat in the private boat categorie and fished by Adam Ogden - Eclare and SnowGoose with 2 sail each. 24 sail was the take for the day. Most boats did not catch much else other than sail, but then all the boats are fishing for sailfish, because sail get more points per kilo. Snark was the exception today catching 1 sail, 1 giant trevally, 5 kingfish, 3 longtail tuna, 1 dorado and 3 bonito.Quite a nice mixed bag.
The results are as follows. 1st was boat Popi 1 with a total of 9 sail and fished by D.Corbeel, Hemedi and Salim. 2 nd was Neptune fished by Filu Salle, Tom Cunningham and Angus Paul. 3 rd was Unreel fished by Ruth Vaughan, Rob Benjamin and Sean Finlayson, with 5 sail and 4th was Eclare also with 5 sail, fished by Martin Clark, Terry and Amanda.
It will be noticed that Popi 1 was fished by the professional crew of Hemedi and Salim, with only one client from Europe, who broke with tradition and failed to fill the trophy cup. Thanks has to go to Angus Carr for organising 7 teams mostly from the farming community. Many thanks Angus.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Mostly calm, ecpecially in the mornings. but some days the seas quite rough, with the N.E.wind becoming stronger. The N.E. monsoon has definately set in now. Neeptides just now with a full moon on the 24th December. No rain for us here, but further north in the Tana river area, they have had some good rain. Malindi Bay is dirty with river water, but fishermen are now catching Malindi Herrings in the bay. Evening winds cool and pleasent

Fishing Another good week with a total of 64 sail caught, plus dorado, tuna, barracuda, skipjack and many bonito and frigate mackerel. The shark net fishermen are still catching a fair number of sailfish and small sharks, but not much of anything else.
On Saturday the Pope's Trophy was held in Malindi. This a one day tournament in aid of Alister Paul's Education Trust. Kingfisher give their boats free for this one day and the outside boats are paid for fuel. The fishermen then charter the boats for 30,000/- Shillings. This has proved popular with the young generation who would love to go fishing but never have the chance. Well, this year I believe the majority of prize winners were all youngsters. Good, I like to see that.
This year there was a very good turn out. I don't think I have seen so many people in the club house who all know each other. Just like old times, and so many of Alister's old friends , a fantastic atmosphere.
Prizes are also donated, and in this respect Capt Andy's, Ian Craig from Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Batian Craig on Ol Pajeta, Richard Collins of Kakuzi, all gave fantastic prizes. Without them we would have been hard pressed to find any prizes at all. The Pope's Trophy stipulates that all boats must carry a crate of beer to alleviate the possibility of any fishermen succumbing to thirst, and this was donated by Capt.Andy's, who also donated a new Yamaha 8 hp outboard Engine to be auctioned at the end of the prize giving. They also gave each of the young contestants a voucher of 1000/- shillings to spend at Capt Andy's shop. From Brendan and Sandra Hill a cedar coffee table and two picture frames. Batian Craig 2 boxes Ol Pejeta Beef and Honey and two nights for two at Porini Rhino Camp , and if taken up during the later part of January 2008 they have the opportunity to witness a rhino capture. Such a voucher was recently auctioned in the U.S. and realised 27,000 US $. A great prize. Ian Craig gave two nights for two at the Lewa Safari camp. This is all inclusive, including game drives. Ian also gave two nights at Rutundu Fishing Camp a self catering lodge. Richard Collins, always ready to help in any situation, donated 4 engraved beer mugs and a lb of Kakuzi tea. To all of you many thanks for your support. Our thanks also go to Sheikh Mohamed and Milano for donating prizes. Without you fishermen there would be no tournament so a very big thank you. The boat owners, who gave their boat for the day, many thanks. And to the two ladies who really worked hard to make it all happen, Catharina and Carole, many thanks.
The fishing was not bad at all with 22 sail being caught by the 10 boats. First was Neptune with team Rusty Hookers - russell Brumby and sons Peter and Herbie. Young Peter got top angler having caught 4 of the 7 sail on Neptune. Next was Eclare with team Taliban - Nigel DeSouza, Brendan o'Reilly; they had 4 sail and were level with Neptune until the last hour when Neptune fluked 3 sail together, you can't do much against that. Third was White Dove with team The bold, the bad and the ugly - Arthur Brown, Jackson Brown, Andrew Paul and Arran Paul; they had 2 sail, one caught by Arthur and the other by Andrew. Arran got the prize for the biggest 'other' fish which was a 12.5 kg dorado, a very nice fish and a well deserved prize. Fourth was Tina with team Farmers United; they also had 2 sail but did not have a fish to beat Arran's dorado of 12.5 kgs. Every team got a prize and every young fishermen also got a prize thanks to the generosity of the sponsors. A very successful weekend and I really hope that everyone enjoyed themselves.
Finally I would like to thank our two auctioneers, Rob Hart for stepping in to the breech when we were really stuck and David Darnborough for coming forward on Saturday afternoon to help give out the prizes. Lastly many thanks to the Fishing Club for letting us hold the event in the Club house.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather The NE - E wind is much stronger now, causing Malindi Bay to be muddy and rough. Most days are calm in the morning, with the wind becoming stronger during the day. Seas are quite rough some days and there is dirty water off Malindi. We have a waning moon now with dark nights - New moon will be on the 8th January.

Fishing. Sailfish are still here off Malindi. but not in such large numbers as a few months ago, also they are not taking all that well, and nobody really knows why. Variable winds and changing currents and perhaps dirty water and certainly temp. all seem to affect the fish in some way or other, but the fact remains that the fish become timid and are reluctant to take a bait. Could be sun spots or the moon or atmospheric pressure; All these factors can affect the fish. Now off shore on the Rips sailfsih are suddenly abundant and some boats are catching sail in double figures, whilst other boats in the same area find it difficult to raise even one fish. This is what Clueless did on the 2nd day of the Watamu comp. caught 10 or so sailfish thereby winning the comp.; that's fishing. Eclare had a good catch on the first day Friday 28th, eventually landing a Black Marlin of 410 lbs which was D.O.A. when they finally got the fish to the boat, having had to hand line the fish up from the depths. The fish was hooked in the middle of the back making it vertually impossible to land the fish according to the rules. The boat was in anycase time barred - it took so long to bring up the fish - and secondly the fish would have been disqualified - having to had line the fish up - but had it all gone well, with 2 sailfish on the 2nd day I think that Eclare would have won. Well now, call it what ever you like, but sods law seems appropriate at this time.
On Monday 31st Eclare had 5 sail and SnowGoose 5 sail. all on the Rips. Sunday 30th Neptune 6 sail, Eclare 3 sail all on the Rips. Closer to home SnowGoose had a bad day with only a yellowfin tuna and some bonito. Snark and Tina both had a sailfsih, kingfish, wahoo, longtail tuna dorado and bonito. Saturday the 28th Snark got 3 sailfish. 2 wahoo, 2 barrucuda and bonito. SnowGoose only some bonito and Tina also just some bonito and a barracuda. Seas rough. Eclare and Neptune in the Watamu comp.
The childrens comp in Watamu took place on Boxing day with 10 boats. Unfortunately the seas were quite rough and many felt sea sick. Alleycat was the winner with the Darnborough children on board. Second was Neptune with two Brumbys, 2 deMare and Andrew Paul. Third was Nina 2 with 2 Conways and 2 Taylors. However, all who took part got a prize, supplied yet again by Capt. Andy's. The main feature about this comp. is seeing the number of younsters - girls and boys - taking part, and the enthusiam and competative spirit that this event has generated. Long live sport fishing.

[Kingfisher2]

Kingfisher Fishing Report for Week ending Sunday 5th.January 2008

Weather Generally quiet and calm but some days rough at sea. Cloudy most days in the morning but clearing later. New moon will be next week on the 8th January. No rain, so Malindi Bay fairly clean at this time.

Fishing Still plenty of sail out on the Rips and a few inshore. A Black Marlin and a small Striped Marlin were also caught this week together with the many sailfish. Lets hope that this is a good sign for the next few months. Giant trevally, kingfish, wahoo, yellowfin, dorado and barracuda are all available.
Tuesday January 1st, there was no fishing. On the 2nd SnowGoose 1 kingfish, 1 dorado, bonito. Snark 3 wahoo, 3 kingfsih, 3 dorado, 1 yellowfin, bonito. Tina 2 giant trevally, 1 sail. Neptune 2 sail, (a short day on the banks) Eclare on the Rips, 7 sail. 3 yellowfin, dorado. On the 3rd. Eclare on the rips, raised many sail but only got one and a wahoo. Neptune ( a short day on the banks) a nice kingfish of 23 kgs, 1 giant trevally, many bonito. Snark 2 wahoo, 2 kingfish, 2 yellowfin, 1 giant trevally, 1 dorado, bonito. Tina 2 giant trevally, 1 barracuda, SnowGoose, 2 sailfish. On the 4th Eclare, Neputne Tina all had 1 sail each, and SnowGoose 4 sail and 1 wahoo, dorado on the rips. On the 5th SnowGoose had 6 sail and 1 dorado on the rips, Neptune on the banks released a nice shark, probably a dusky shark of 75 kgs (estimated) got 2 giant trevally, 4 kingfish, 1 yellowfin, 1 barracuda, lots of bonito. No fishing on Sunday 6th, cancellations already taking effect,
Nobody has been North for a while, but I am ssure we will be going there in the next few weeks.

[Kingfisher2]

Weather Most days are calm and clear in the morning with the wind picking up dueing the day. New moon was on the 8th so we have increasing moon light nights with the full moon on the 23rd. Wind is NE.E., quite strong some afternoons/ Seas have been reasonably calm. Temperatures - hot. No rain so quite dusty.

Fishing Still very good fishing: lots of sail mainly on the Rips and some Marlin appearing, not many, but more Blacks than Stripeys. Unreel did well on Thursday catching one Black Marlin, raising another and got a number of wahoo on a short day fishing on the banks.
On Monday SnowGoose had 4 sail, 3 wahoo and a dorado, fishing on the Rips. They raised a Black Marlin and a Stripey, but they never took a bait.. Eclare, also on the Rips had 5 sail and Neptune fishing a short day on the banks 2 sail, 1 wahoo, 2 yellowfin, 2 red snappers. Simba fishing on the Rips had a small Striped Marlin.
Tuesday, fishing on the Rips, SnowGoose had 5 sail and Neptune 5 sail plus yellowfin, wahoo and dorado, they raised a Black Marlin and a Stirpey, but they never took a bait.
Wednesday, Tina went North and fished the Mambrui area.big shoals of bait fish reported, bonito and frigate mackerel. They got a giant trevally, 1 kingfish , 1 dorado, 3 longtail tuna, and many bonito. The weather was good - quite calm - and the area looked very promising. Eclare fished the Rips, and had 2 sail, 2 skipjack tuna, and frigate mackerel. Lost many sail.
Thursday Tina went north again to the Mambrui area and released 1 black tip shark estimated at 50 kgs. They then got 1 bull shark weighing in at 98 kgs, 2 longtail tuna, and 15 bonito. Eclare fished the Rips again and had 3 sail, 1 yellowfin, a dorado and a number of frigate mackerel.
No fishing on Friday and Saturday due to cancellations, and it looks like it will be the same for the whole of next week and beyond.
Sunday Eclare was on the Banks. Saw no Marlin, but got a big sailfish of estimated 40 kgs, and a good kingfish. Lots of baitfish. Seahorse got a Striped Marlin early in the day, but saw no further Marlin for the rest of the day.
So at the end of this week we still have a fair number of sailfish around, and sightings of Marlin increasing, particularly Black Marlin. If this trend continues - and there is no reason why it should not - then we can expect some really good fishing in the next few months.

[Kingfisher2]

Some very good fishing right now. Lots of fish on the Malindi Banks including Black Marlin which are seen everyday by most boats and several have been tagged and released. Seahorse raised five one day but not one was interested. Neptune has only been out four times this week, and got a Black Marlin on three days. Up north, Mambrui/Ngomeni area also plenty of fish. Sailfish boat a few days ago saw 2 Black Marlin in the one day, but not many boats fishing the area, only Snark and that only for a few days.
Monday there was no fishing, but lots of Marlin seen on the Malindi Banks.
Tuesday Snark fished in the Mambrui area and came home with 5 kingfish, 1 wahoo, 2 dorado, 3 longtail tuna, and a whole lot of bonito. Eclare on the rips managed a wahoo, a barracuda and some bonito, Malachite was out with Arran. He won this trip in the Pope's trophy and invited the Wright boys along. Apparently they hooked a Marlin which they lost and a giant trevally which they also lost, and ended up with a load of bonito. Exciting.
Wednesday. Neptune, fishing on Malindi banks released a Black Marlin estimated at 90 kgs, and 4 black tip sharks/dusky/bronze whalers. A really beautiful shark, the biggest estimated at 100 kgs and the other 3 slightly less. The day did not end here, because they went on to get 1 rainbow runner, 9 dorado, 3 wahoo, 1 kingfish and about 60 bonito and frigate mackerel. A very good days fishing: not much time to open a beer let alone drink it. Eclare went on a short day for bottom fishing and got 2 red snappers.
Thursday. Neptune, fishing on the Malindi banks, got a Black Marlin which was tagged and released, and estimated at 100 kgs. Thereafter 3 wahoo plus baitfish, 10 dorado and kingfish. Snark was in the Mambrui/Ngomeni area and had a good day. 2 sailfish, 2 kingfish, 2 wahoo, 1 giant trevally, 8 dorado, 10 bonito.
Friday no boats were out, but I hear from those that were that the fishing was not so good today.
Saturday. SnowGoose was out for just a couple of hours and got 2 wahoo and a garfish. Neptune on the Malindi banks did not have such a good day with 1 kingfish, 1 yellowfin, a dorado and 10 bonito. Snark in the Mambrui area had a more interesting day hooking 2 sail and loosing them both and then loosing a Black Marlin after 10 min. They finished up with 1 wahoo, 3 kingfish, a barracuda, and 8 bonito.
Sunday A cloudy and overcast day with quite a lot of rain during the day and strong winds, rough seas. Fishing though was good, apart from Eclare who was unable to go jigging due to the weather. Snark, in the north, got 1 sail, 1 wahoo of 34.4 kgs a very nice fish, and 3 smaller wahoo, a longtail tuna, and some bonito. Snark reported the seas as being not too bad. Neptune fishing the Malindi banks had a Black Marlin and a sail, 1 giant trevally of 42 kgs, a big fish by any standard, plus a smaller one. 2 small yellowfin, 2 dorado and a whole lot of bonito completed their day. Fishing was good this last week. Neptune was out 4 times on the Malindi banks and got 3 Marlin, and on the one blank day raised a big fish which would not take anything. Further north in the Mambrui area the fishing was also good. Lots of wahoo, longtail tuna, kingfish, etc. and masses of bait fish. Marlin are also present. but with only 1 or 2 boats operating in the area it is difficult to guess what numbers are there, I would think that there are sufficient in the waters there to make some interesting fishing.

[Kingfisher2]

On the fishing side it has been over one month since any news went out, so I will not be able to cover every day fished, but will try and fill you in on how it has generally been. At least we have been blessed with some World Class Fishing over the last month, and I am just sorry that more of you were not able to make it to Malindi to experience this fantastic time. Apart from a few days when we had strong winds and rough seas, the Black Marlin run that started early January has continued and got better, with Blacks being caught most days.

SNARK has not been fishing every day but the last 5 days they have been out they have caught 6 Black Marlin. These have all been just close by on the Mambrui Ledge.

SNOW GOOSE has been fishing really well this season and has had some very good results. In the last 13 days fished they have had 11 Marlin and 28 Sailfish. (6 Black and 5 Stripey) On the 10th Feb they had a Grand Slam with 1 Black, 1 Stripey and 2 Sailfish. They have been fishing the Rips and the Malindi area.

ECLARE has also been doing well and in the last 11 days fished, they have had 9 Marlin and 28 Sailfish. (5 Black Marlin, 2 Blue Marlin, 2 Stripey) On the 25th January they had a Grand Slam with 1 Black, 1 Stripey and 2 Sailfish.

NEPTUNE has done more days than the other boats recently. In the last 18 days fished they have had 10 Marlin and 45 Sailfish. (8 Black Marlin, 2 Stripey) It has not just been the billfish that have been plentiful but all the other game fish as well. In the last 3 days Neptune has caught 37 Wahoo up to 22 kg.

The BILLFISH TOURNAMENT fished out of Malindi on the weekend of 16/17 Feb had 14 boats entered. 14 Marlin and 41 Sailfish were caught in the 2 days. (13 Black and 1 Blue Marlin) First place went to Sea Horse with 2 Black Marlin boated, Second Clueless with 2 Blacks and 5 Sailfish, Third Snow Goose with 2 Blacks and 3 Sailfish, Fourth Eclare with 1 Black, 1 Blue and 2 Sailfish, Fifth Neptune with 1 Black and 1 Sailfish. The biggest billfish a Black Marlin was landed on Neptune weighing in at 181 kgs.

The has been some fantastic fishing further north off Lamu where Simba landed a Blue Marlin that weighed in at 927lbs. On this particular trip Simba also caught some smaller Marlin and had a number of bigger fish up. Clueless released a Black Marlin of over 700lbs and Cheza released a Black of over 750lbs, both off Lamu. Some other big fish have been lost up that way.

There has only been one overnight trip to the North Kenya Banks with Albatross and Unreel going out together. Albatross ended up with 7 Broadbill and had a further 12 strikes, Unreel caught 4. This is good fishing by any standards.