Rain in February is rare at the Coast, but last Wednesday it was overcast all day, and while at Watamu we only measured 4mm, it was much heavier elsewhere. But it was also raining twenty miles out in the Rips, which served to bring the fish up, supporting those skippers who say the fish are there, but not coming up. Most boats had marlin up, and Black Widow, with a grand slam of a blue and two striped marlin and a sailfish, was top scorer of the day.

With action slow in the Rips, Malindi boats have split their efforts, some fishing out of Ngomeni, and last Saturday Snark had a great day with 12 sailfish, 6 kingfish and 3 long-tail tuna, an exceptional catch in present conditions, while Tina in the same area caught two sail, although they raised a lot more. Next day several boats went to the same area, but few sail were seen - variable fishing indeed!

Earlier in the week, Eclare did well with a pair of stripeys in the Rips, and and a single stripey the next day, both days with Andrew Ford and his fishing partner. Neptune had a good run, with four black marlin in four days, tagging a nice 120 kg fish with Dave Lewis, a fishing journalist, on the rod. Dave, who has been fishing in Kenya for many years was celebrating his 50th birthday, so there's a good story for him!

From Hemingways, Jasiri scored a blue marlin, estimated at 130 kgs for Mart van Roon and a sail for Tom Wasdorp, while the previous day Pussycat released another blue around 120 kgs with Jim Nutland. Seastorm also had a good blue, guessed at 130 kgs, for Gary Koen, while Black Widow went the deep drop route for a broadbill by day, releasing a 60 kg fish, and a couple of days later tagged a sail on fly with Mark Ainscow on the long wand. Mark Smith kept busy with Simba, a blue marlin and three sail one day and a stripey and a sail on two other trips. B's Nest has been out for sailfish, with three for George and Des Sugrue one day, and four the day before. Tega had a striped marlin on consecutive days, but all these good days are interspersed with quiet days on which few fish are raised.

At the Ocean Sports weigh station, Albatross with skipper JJ Nicholas, flew a marlin flag on three consecutive days, two blacks followed by a stripey, and Alleycat had both a black and a stripey on the day after they released another black marlin. Sadly. the fish record book run by the Watamu SFC, does not record the estimated size of fish which are released, nor the angler's name, which would make it a more useful and interesting record.

Unreel varied their catch of a stripey and a sail with a 27 kg amberjack caught deep jigging while both Seyyida and Tarka also had a stripey and a sail and Kipapa, visiting from Mtwapa, tagged four sailfish one day and a single on two other days.

The main international tournament season is now on, with Malindi SFC running their light line day, the Morson Cup, and a two day main competition this weekend. Next weekend the action moves to Kilifi for the  Weetabix Classic over two days, followed a week later by the Watamu SFC Festival sponsored by Fly 540. Mid week after that comes the two day and a night 'fishathon' from Hemingways, the 'Friends of Kenya'. A busy three weeks for keen anglers.