Sailfish usually arrive in Malindi waters early in November, and this year the season has been disappointing, with the fish hard to find around Malindi and north, while unusually there have been quite a few sail raised in the Boiling Pot area, nine miles east from Watamu, with boats catching three to four on a good day. But this changed dramatically last week suddenly one day, when presumably a new run of these fish arrived in large numbers and hungry, rising to the baits and taking them avidly.

Last Monday, Imran Moosa and friends, tagged nine sail on their holiday weekend sortie in his boat Instedda and Seastorm six with Kim Roberts and Toni Hill, but it was to get better when Adam Ogden in his Black Widow with his crewmen Nixon, Adam and Gitsao fishing tagged thirteen sail, and returning next day to the same area with angler Gavin Lawrence, they experienced one of those days that fishermen dream of - with sailfish coming up everywhere all day, thirty sail were caught, one of those amazing days with luck on one’s side and when everything goes right. All these sail were tagged and released, and with numbers like this it will be interesting to see how many of these tags are caught again and reported.

Good news also from the Rips, an area further out, as all three species of marlin have been caught in recent days. Unreel found a striped marlin on two different days and Tarka caught a black and three sail one day, and a stripey  the previous day, so skippers have the option of lots of sail, or the chance at a marlin, and it is great to see the fishing improving as the Xmas holidays approach.

December 28th and 29th are the dates for the Watamu Xmas tournament, always one of the season’s most popular competitions with magnificent prizes from sponsors Capt Andy’s, while on Sunday 18th Ocean Sports will host their annual Christmas Craft Fair, where KASA will have a stall so come and support your angling association.

From Shimoni comes news of improved fishing with the kaskazi winds blowing firmly, with regular angler Koos Pretorius from South Africa who tagged three sail on Kamara II as well as raising a big black marlin estimated at 250kgs, which rose to two lures without a positive strike. Next day on Broadbill Koos tagged a sail and a very active striped marlin on the way home. James Nutter from Mombasa, out in Broadbill, hooked into a beauty of a black marlin on 24kg line which was released after a most exciting fight, estimated at 200 kgs. With the wind blowing nicely, this is one of the best periods of the year in this exciting fishing area.