Rain is always welcome in drought stricken areas of Africa, but not so good for the unfortunate boat skipper who, high on his flying bridge, has to face the sleety squalls and chilly winds with the water dripping down inside his not so waterproof jacket! But the fish enjoy this weather and rise to the surface feeding, and it was typical of a long wet day last Wednesday when Tarka came in with a catch of a black marlin and two sail, while Unreel had five sailfish and a mixed bag of wahoo and tuna, as well as another five wahoo falling off the lines. But the small baitfish are still very difficult to catch, and the skippers reckon if they can catch a frigate mackerel, they will almost certainly raise a marlin! Tarka had other good days out, with eight wahoo one day, and a good marlin estimated at about 230 kgs released. Ol Jogi found two sail and four nice wahoo, from 15-20kgs for angler Hugh Buxton, while Vuma also tagged a sailfish, so all the boats finding billfish.

Alleycat only had a couple of trips this week, but with a pair of black marlin one day as well as three yellowfin tuna, and a black and three sail, plus a wahoo and a yellowfin another day, it is surprising not more anglers are around to experience this sort of fishing. Many years ago one had to book a year ahead for this August/September run of black marlin and sailfish on the good boats, with mostly local anglers, but the high cost of fuel these days makes even the run down from upcountry expensive, let alone the boat costs.

Castle Lager is a big ten metre catamaran owned by a syndicate of South African anglers, and one of their teams has started the season with a pair of sailfish released. Twin hulled catamarans are very stable fishing platforms, ideal for the rougher conditions often encountered at this time of year, and are very popular in South Africa, although there are not so many here, where skippers prefer the deep V type fishing cruisers with flybridges, mostly of American or Australian origin, though many locally built wooden boats have been upgraded with flying bridges in recent years. And with fish often active in wide spread areas, speed is essential in a modern fishing vessel, usually capable of twenty knots or 34 kms/hour.

The Kingfisher fleet at Malindi is all back in the water again, Neptune with her new engines running well, and was soon into the frame with a black marlin with regular angler Peter Hofmann, who also tagged two sail and landed a 17kg wahoo. Peter has caught huge numbers of fish here over the years and is one of our most regular visitors. On other days the same boat had scores of six, four, three and two sails with some missed marlin strikes, while Tina, on their first trip of the season with Dubai angler Rick le Monnier, released a black marlin and Eclare boated a black marlin which had been savaged by sharks close to the boat as well as releasing two sail. Tina also had a good day with an Italian family, with the father, a keen angler introducing his two young sons to the sport fishing scene, coming home with a sailfish, a yellowtail trevally and a yellowfin tuna.

Saturday 24th September sees the annual prize-giving dinner of KASA, the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, to be held at Ocean Sports. Annual trophies will be awarded, and an excellent meal assured, with a disco to follow. Open to all, and a must for fishing enthusiasts.