Sailfish arrive for the Watamu tourney

Following two days after the very successful' Friends of Kenya' competition, the Watamu SFC two day Festival saw the auction and draw hosted at Ocean Sports on the Friday evening. Many were wondering where to fish, as all the action seemed to be on the far-off North Kenya Bank, and indeed one boat was to try there on the first day, as they could start from any port.

The 'Rips', twenty miles out, have not been productive this season, but the more adventurous skippers decided to try their luck out there anyway, and as the boats sailed in at 5pm it was Simba, with ten red flags, and Mehbooba with nine, which proved that was the right choice.

But Lady Nana, fishing down from Malindi, was lying third having tagged a black marlin, giving them points equivalent to six sail, and Tarka with five sail was also in contention.

Seahorse and Usuri had also caught black marlin, but these came in dead, so only scored their weights, at 90 and 84 kgs respectively, instead of the 150 kg equivalent for a tagged and released fish. Similarly, sailfish score the equivalent of 50 kgs when tagged, a great incentive to release them.

Dawn on the second day saw nearly all the boats racing to the Rips, except for the diehard marlin men who chose to live bait for these in the Banks and Boiling Pot areas - without success. but full marks for effort!

As the day went on the two lead boats appeared to have lost their touch, and it was Instedda, who only found two sail the first day, which looked to be stationary with fish on all the time! And so it proved, as Imran Moosa and Daniel Sheni tagged sixteen sailfish for their days' total, to give them a big lead and pushing the fishers on Simba, Alan Sibley, Peter Lockwood and Mark Allen with their four sail, into second place.

Mehbooba, fished by skipper Jim Robertson, Anthony, Nick and Phil, added two sail to come third, while Phil Revett, Sue and Callum on Tarka, with a steady five sail each day, were fourth.

Tasha, whose run far north the first day had found little, was second highest scorer the second day with nine sail, enough to put them fifth overall.

A total tally of 79 sail, three black marlin, and mixed bags of tuna, wahoo and dorado kept the anglers busy in an enjoyable competition with, for a change, the fish cooperating!

There have been good fish caught outside the competitions, with Kingfisher reporting Neptune having a black marlin of 120 kgs at Ngomeni, and later another day with two released and a third missed - a good day this. Eclare reported a black marlin over 400 lbs released fishing out of Lamu, while Snark had one each of two days around Malindi, and Tina found one also - everyone in the action.

At Watamu, Tarka had a notable day with 24 sailfish, flags all the way down all three outriggers! And JimGin took Andy Thomas and Dick Chater out - an overnight trip to the NKB was the plan when an inch of rain as they got into the boat combined with a howling gale caused a change in tactics. Out in the Rips, the weather was fine, and by the time they had tagged thirteen sailfish they decided a good dinner and a comfy bed was the better option, so the broadbill were spared!

Ol Jogi also had a thirteen sailfish day, obviously a lucky number for them, while Bamara ran north for an overnight, returning with a tally of seven broadbill, two black and one striped marlin and a rare mako shark.

So should we start aiming at adding the mako to the big five billfish for a 'Super Fantasy Slam' ?