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The Delamere Trophy was fished last weekend at Kilifi, with only one marlin being caught, but this black marlin, tagged by Snoo Colvile fishing on Tarka, won her the Lady’s Prize as well as biggest fish and the overall first place for her team with Ian and Maree Long who added four sailfish for 2160 points.

Second place went to the team on Seahorse Benjie Bowles, Jonny Havelock and Stuart Allison with five sail tagged for 1200 pts, while third were Andrew Buckoke, Erik van Vliet and Phil Revett on Clueless with three sailfish and a wahoo.             Eleven boats totalled a marlin and twenty sailfish, and the Baloo team were unlucky to miss out on second place as they caught a striped marlin the second day but were time-barred. Thanks to Snoo Colvile who sponsors the competition, and congratulations to her on winning.

The SADSAS Inter-Provincial Tournament fishing out from Hemingways at Watamu continued to find the sailfish responsive for the last two days - on the Friday 51 sail were caught, with a further 44 on the Saturday to make an imposing total of 178 sail tagged in four days for the ten teams. Leading team was the Zululand blue team, with 28 sailfish for Louis de Fortfer, Robin Vermak and Ezri  Ihlenveldt, followed by the Mpumalanga white team with 26 sail and the Mpumalanga blue team with 25 sail.

Top scoring boat was Tega, skippered by Steve George with an impressive 32 sail, with Ken Rodwell’s Delta and B’s Nest skippered by Mohomed Fadhili equal with 29 sail each. The best daily score was on Ol Jogi with the Zululand blue team catching thirteen sail, while Delta had a day with twelve sail and Tega eleven, so good sailfishing by any standard and much enjoyed by all the visitors.

In the Pemba Channel marlin have turned on, with Simon Hemphill reporting that he tagged five striped marlin last Monday with Ken Dodgson and John Levick from Cornwall fishing on Kamara II - in three days so far this team has had seventeen sail as well as the stripeys so good fishing there, On two days the previous week the same boat had been attached to three big marlin which had all come off so they are around.

Although the fishing in the Rips has slowed, Seastorm, with skipper Steve Webb, showed that the fish are there with a black and a striped marlin, the former estimated at 220kgs for Joerg Arend and the latter caught by Karin Arend, which with a couple of sail makes for an exceptional day’s fishing.

Hemingways continues this week with ten teams fishing the Billfish University competition, where one both fishes and learns, and with Black Widow coming home with twelve sail flags the fish are still active off Malindi.

Eight teams of anglers from the South African Deep Sea Angling Society, SADSAS, are competing in their Inter-Provincial Championships fishing out of Hemingways this week, and as their main target is sailfish, they were fortunate to find that the ‘sailies’ have really turned on and appeared in large numbers in the area off Malindi and the Leopard Reef, so not a long run from base to find the fish.

With 31 sail tagged the first day and 52 the second day the trend seems upward, so lets hope for the sort of catches which characterised this tournament a few years ago. The anglers use 10kg breaking strain line, far more fun for these sporting aerial performers than the heavier lines often used. After two days, with the anglers fishing on a different boat each day, the South Gauteng maroon team were leading with fifteen sail, despite an amazing day for the team on Ol Jogi on the second day with thirteen sail, but with only one fish on their first day they lag just behind the leaders - results next week.

The weather seems affected by the cyclone near Mozambique, with very strong winds some nights blowing green water down to the Rips and making the fishing difficult. Marlin were being caught earlier, with blue marlin on Tarka, a 190kg fish being the best last week, but this was followed by a 136kg blue two days later, and both Seahorse and Alleycat also had a blue marlin with some sail. Unreel and Billfish both had black marlin, while several boats found a striped marlin, so quite a variety of billfish around, but later in the week the Watamu boats found plenty of sailfish in deep water out from Wesa, between Watamu and Kilifi, with some good scores, so skippers had several options where to fish.

When the sail are running closer in, many anglers are happy to keep after the sail all day, but at this time of the season, many anglers prefer to chase after marlin, so the boats results depend on where they are fishing - the marlin generally being further out in the Rips where there are sail as well.

Con Jooste is a regular angler from South Africa who specialises in fly tackle, and two years ago made history with a grand slam, three different billfish in the day, on fly - he reached a milestone this week on Eclare with his one hundredth sailfish on fly. The previous day he had a striped marlin on fly as well. so well done to him!

Regular visitors Herbert and Monica Lewald on Snowgoose had an exceptional day when they had a black and two striped marlin, plus six sailfish for a grand slam. Neptune also had two marlin, a black and a blue, and a few days later they scored sixteen sailfish, so all the boats doing well.

Fishing hit the jackpot at the annual Casino Malindi Billfish Open Challenge when fifteen boats scored a total of 26 marlin and 65 sailfish, and in a thrilling finish, only one point separated the two top teams.

Overall winner was the team on Unreel, with skipper Rob Hellier, his wife Sandra and Vic Hawla tagging four marlin and five sail, both Sandra and Vic catching their first marlin ever. They had a brilliant first day, with two black and one striped marlin and two sailfish for a grand slam, and added a striped marlin and three sail on the second day, giving them 36007 points.

Tarka fished by Callum Looman and Phil Rivett, had two stripeys and two sail the first day and two stripies and three sail the second, to come in just one point behind the winners. Callum took the Top Angler prize and Sandra was Top Lady.

Third place went to the team on Ol Jogi, skippered by Stuart Simpson with Alister and Royjan Taylor, while Alleycat , with three marlin and four sail was fourth and Snark fifth. Prizes were awarded at an excellent dinner at the La Grigia restaurant for a most successful tournament.

This tournament came at the right time as the fishing has been really good over the last week with catches varying from grand slams to ten sailfish - the sailfish are all over the place and it seems just a matter of luck if one raises sail or marlin. Neptune, with Richard and Nick Steadman from Australia fishing, tagged a blue marlin estimated at 100kgs and five sail one day, then followed this next day with a grand slam, both a black and a striped marlin and four sail for a good story to tell back home. Tina, with a party from Austria aboard, also had a grand slam, with a black and two striped marlin and three sailfish, while the same day Snowgoose with two Danish anglers on the rods also had a grand slam - their black marlin died on the bottom and had to be slowly planed up to weigh in at 206kgs - all these catches on Friday 13th, so much for superstition !

Hemingways boat Seastorm recorded a grand slam for anglers Ben Hattingh and Jacques du Preez, with a blue marlin estimated at 200kgs, a stripey and two sail, while the same boat found a stripey and three sail the previous day, a good run for skipper Steve Webb. White Bear with ten and Black Widow with nine sailfish ran red flags all down the outrigger, while earlier the latter boat with skipper Adam Ogden tagged two black marlin and eight sail for anglers Terry and George Creasy. Kipapa, up from Mtwapa, started well with two black marlin and a sail, while Seahorse from Malindi, but which is based at Watamu at this time of year, has also had good days with striped marlin and a couple of six sailfish days, so really a plethora of billfish!

While some marlin were seen around the New Year period, they have definitely increased as the month has moved on, and there have been plenty of sailfish all along, both in the Rips and off Malindi up north and in the Pemba Channel at Shimoni in the south.

The Shimoni boats have been busy, with both Kamara II and White Otter scoring a striped marlin and a sailfish at the beginning of the week, and Broadbill and Clueless, down from Malindi, both tagging four sail.

Next day, Broadbill had a memorable day with a party of Russian anglers, getting a black and a striped marlin, as well as two sail, for a grand slam, while Clueless had five sail and White Otter two. The following day, Broadbill had another stripey, while Kamara II found four sail, but the day after no marlin were caught, only sailfish.

Broadbill then caught two stripies and Kamara II a blue marlin, following up the day after with a nice blue marlin of 140kgs and five sail for Kamara II and one stripey and a sail for White Otter, so the fishing in that area really good.

In the Watamu area the boats have been concentrating on the Rips, although tongues of green water have been moving down with the wind and the fish have been moving around. At the beginning of the week, B’s Nest found a hot spot and tagged two stripies, a sail and a small shark, but many boats found the going slow and went for the bottom fishing option.

White Bear with the Kenyon family caught 26 snapper and five grouper, while on Ol Jogi the Bairstow family found 36 snapper, together with a couple of amberjack and two grouper, while next day Black Widow with Chris Evans as angler found sailfish and tagged seven.

Unreel had a good run in the first few days of the New Year with three stripeys in three trips, then Tarka became the hot boat, totalling nine stripeys in five consecutive days, including a good day with three - that same day, Tuesday, Castle Lager also had three stripeys, and Tega caught a black marlin and five sail so a busy day for anglers there. Castle Lager had two stripeys a couple of days later, while Alleycat has been finding stripies along with sailfish for a successful week. Clueless came back from Shimoni and tagged a stripey and a sail, while Kipapa also came up to Watamu from Mtwapa via the Rips and tagged three sail on the way.

Malindi boats have been fishing in their local waters most successfully for sailfish, although things went quieter over the New Year, but Kiki Fernandes managed to tag two sail on fly tackle  on Snowgoose. On Friday last week the sail were more active, with Snark and Snowgoose getting eight and Eclare five.

The Casino Malindi tournament will be fished this weekend, and skippers will have the choice of sail closer in and the chance of striped marlin further out, so there should be plenty of billfish caught.