There are two entirely different methods of catching marlin. Most popular perhaps is trolling a selection of flashy lures at about eight knots usually far offshore, which results in strikes mainly from striped marlin or the rarer and bigger blue marlin, although some black marlin are hooked but these are often smaller fish. The other method, catching small live fish, bonito, tuna and frigate mackerel which form the marlin's main diet, putting a hook on it's nose and slow trolling these brings up the bigger black marlin, renowned for their tenacity and hard fighting qualities.

Skipper Pete Darnborough on Alleycat, who has caught some of the biggest marlin in these waters, is always keen to take out the enthusiasts who have the patience to sit all day watching their rods with a live bait swimming, and this Wednesday, having found no marlin trolling, kept the anglers busy jigging on the bottom for grouper and amberjack before returning closer in and putting down a couple of live 'friggies' for a quick try. An immediate strike hooked into a fine fish, which after a hard fight was brought to the boat and released, a big black marlin estimated at 180 kgs, a great end to the day.

Fishing has been slow recently, and the sixteen boats entered in the 3rd Casino Malindi Billfish Open Challenge had to work hard for success. Most chose to fish the Rips, and Clueless found two striped marlin as well as two sail which gave them the first place for skipper Rob Duff and his Italian team of anglers. Second was Snark, with Guido van der Steen and Herald Vanierperen, with two black marlin and a sail. One of these marlin came to the boat dead and had to be boated, which loses points as the tagged and released fish is worth 160 kgs, while the actual weight was 104 kgs! Both marlin were caught on live bait and Guido won the prize for Biggest Billfish.

Simba, with a black marlin and five sail came third, with all three teams winning sets of Technofish light tackle rods and reels, while the Top Angler award went to Steve Parkinson in

Blue Eyes, with daughter Jade taking top Lady Angler. 31 sailfish and nine marlin were caught in total over the two days, with the prize giving dinner at the La Griglia restaurant of the Casino Malindi an enjoyable climax to a fun competition.

The wind has been blowing hard in the afternoons, bringing greenish water down to the Banks, but further out in the Rips the water is blue and a current is slowly pushing north. But there are far fewer fish than last year, for no obvious reason, although Black Widow in a four day trip to Lamu found plenty of sail around the North Kenya Banks, scoring about thirty over the trip with a couple of stripeys and two broadbill to embellish the score.

A few days before the tournament, Snark again was in the news with a grand slam, a stripey and a sail in the Rips, and a nice black of 150 kgs tagged on the way home, while the other boats only found sailfish. Roger Gates in Snowgoose was exhausted after he had caught three stripeys and three sail on his own - hardly time for a beer all day! White Bear, B's Nest and Seastorm all found two stripeys in a day, while the latter boat also had a bull shark one day for a change. Most of the Malindi boats are now anchored at Watamu, making an impressive display of about three dozen bigs fishing cruisers in this small harbour!