The team on Simba, Paul Worthington, Mtawali Zia and skipper Mark Allen, who won this event last year, were leading the field after the first day in the Weetabix sponsored Kilifi Classic, fished over two days last weekend at Kilifi. They had two striped marlin tagged, caught by Mtawali Zia and Paul Worthington, and were just ahead of Tega, also with two marlin but they consolidated their lead on the second day with several sailfish, ending up with five in total to give them 3003 points, one sail ahead of Tega, fished by Aditya Kelshikar, who tagged a blue marlin, Mandid Kalsi with a striped marlin and Richard Winn. Albatross, with Mitch, Marius and Rudi, was third with a stripey and two sail, while Gina Faber, whose stripey won her the Best Lady award, and Malise Graham on Seahorse were fourth.

In the amateur and small boat stream, Dingbat with Oscar and Walter Bigi and Joop de Leuwe lead with a striped marlin while Minerva was second with a sail, also taking  the best resident prize. Mtawali Zia topped the most billfish tagged prize with his marlin and two sail, and with twenty one boats it was the best entry for several years, with the good totals of ten marlin and twenty nine sailfish.

A cyclone off Madagascar has been making for high winds and rough seas recently, but that has improved now and with better weather in the Pemba Channel fishing has improved there. Tim Cane from UK caught his first sailfish ever in Broadbill on the way out, then fought a striped marlin which dropped off. In the afternoon, he hooked into magnificent blue marlin which he fought for 2 1/2 hours before the leader came in reach, a fish estimated at 270kgs, and almost a grand slam on his first trip!

John Carr Hartley from Botswana, who has been visiting Kenya to fish for 17 years, brought a party again and had a successful trip, with ten marlin and twelve sailfish in five days, all six anglers getting at least a marlin and a sail. Big stripies too, with one estimated at  82kgs, and the improved conditions augur well for March, usually a month for the biggest fish.

At Malindi, earlier in the week Snowgoose had a good day with eight sailfish, while on Eclare Reiner Wilde fishing the last of his ten day trip, hooked into a big black marlin on 24kg line, which after a long fight of nearly five hours was brought to the boat and released, estimated at 250kgs. Neptune released a 100kg black and a 60kg striped marlin with Clive Watts and Glenn Lines in the Rips, and trying up at Ngomeni they had five sail so a better week there.

Watamu host the Fly540 Festival this weekend, followed a few days after by the Hemingways 'Friends of Kenya' tournament. The fishing has been improving with the better weather, with blue water and calm seas,, and some nice black marlin closer in around the Banks.

Alleycat released a 150kg black on Tuesday and a bigger one about 180kgs on Wednesday with Tom Cunningham, while the Rips one day yields some striped marlin while the next seems to only show sailfish! Black Widow, with Christo Human from Tanzania fishing, caught a nice blue marlin of 247kgs, which died on the 24kg line after a hard fight. White Bear also had a big marlin, a black estimated at 200 kgs for David Cocks, and Seyyida did well with a blue and a striped marlin as did Castle Lager with a black and a striped marlin.