Early run of Black Marlin get new season off to a good start

After the off-season lay-off, this Newsletter is happy to report the fishing season is now in full swing, with the fleet finding small Black Marlin most days along with Sailfish and Wahoo, Kingfish and school Yellowfin, plus plenty of bait fish, Bonito and frigate Mackerel, tho’ some days these latter can be hard to catch.

This could be due to the fact that up to thirteen boats are plying up and down the Watamu Banks some days, and this small area, effectively only about four miles long and half a mile wide is under pressure making the fish shy to the sound of boat engines.

Tarka started off in late June, with a huge 232kg Bull Shark and a couple of Giant Trevally, and Snowgoose was first with a Marlin of 90 kgs in early July, along with a small Shark, two Kingfish, a Dorado and they released two Giant Trevally, a good days fishing.

Mid-July saw Alleycat coming into action, with two Black Marlin on 14th July and a Sail' as well, all released by Randy Scully from New York, and next day following with two more Marlin released and a further three Marlin in the week. More fish were raised and lost, showing that there must have been a good run of these small blacks there, up to 100 kgs.

Neptune from Malindi came back into the water after her overhaul, and skipper Angus Paul took his young son Arran and nephew Andrew out for a trial run. They released a small Black Marlin just off Malindi, showing that these fish are not restricted to the Watamu Banks!

Snowgoose and Tarka continued finding Marlin, the latter boat getting two Marlin on July 26th with Cindy Jeff from Dubai fishing, and Ol Jogi also getting a Marlin that day and the previous day also. A few days earlier Ol Jogi had a Striped Marlin, an unusual catch on the Banks so early in the season.

By the end of July all the boats were working, and B’s Nest released a black around 100 kgs with Mr. Van der Ven from Rotterdam, and Tarka finished a busy day with Andrea and Silvia on board, tagging two Marlin and boating seven Wahoo, the latter fish running around the 20 kg mark, so good sport.

Neptune and Eclare tallied seven Marlin in the second week of August between them, and eleven sail with Snowgoose included, so it looks as if the Sailfish might be coming early this year. From Ocean Sports, Castle Lager started their season well, with a couple of Black Marlin and some Sailfish and several Giant Trevally released, while one day they had five Wahoo to keep the ‘braai’ busy!

At a recent count, Tarka seemed ahead in the Marlin race with sixteen so far, and Alleycat and Neptune not far behind, but there is a long season ahead, and the skippers will be keen to improve their scores, and we must not forget the Shimoni boats once the Striped Marlin run starts down south!

Humpback Whales are being seen regularly around Watamu and Malindi - what magnificent creatures these are. To see them breaching close by can be a frightening experience in a boat! People pay to watch them in many parts of the world, but they don’t get Marlin and Sailfish fishing thrown in as we do here in Kenya!

On a recent visit to Dubai, where Andy de Mare runs a fleet of fishing boats from the Dubai Marina, we went out fishing with my small grandchildren. Six year old Elliot is a mad keen fisherman, with a Sardine sized trophy off the beach at Perth his biggest so far, so he was thrilled to catch a Barracuda unaided! But the next fish, a much bigger Cobia, needed help from Dad after the two kids had struggled on one of the strongest fighting fish!

The crewman seen turned out to be Gitsau Chiphandulu, who used to fish with me on Ol Jogi at Hemingways, and the skipper was Hamadi Saidi, formerly on Albatross out of Mtwapa, both now working here in Dubai.

Six kg line on spinning tackle is the preferred kit, and one of Andy’s boats recently landed a Cobia of 50 kgs on this tackle, well beating the world record; I wonder how long that fight took? Andy is, of course, a cousin of the Paul family of Kingfisher fleet fame, so one can expect results here!