Sailfish and a few black marlin are still to be found, but the boats are having more varied catches with plenty of wahoo as well as yellowfin tuna, kingfish and giant trevally to keep the anglers busy. At this time of year, many of the anglers are tourists, often their first try at game fishing, and such varied bags are a fun experience, as well as providing them with a meal that they have caught themselves, fresh as can be!

At Malindi the Kingfisher fleet had only seven trips in the week, perhaps twenty percent of capacity but with at least one billfish on every trip - Neptune, fishing with Peter Hofmann last week, had a black marlin, three sailfish, four kingfish, three yellowfin tuna, two barracuda, a dorado and some smaller bait fish, as good a days fishing as one would see anywhere! Out with Mick Reid the next day, the same boat did not find a marlin, but with a sail and all the other species another good day.

Con Jooste, who made history earlier in the year with a grand slam of broadbill swordfish, marlin and sailfish all on fly, was back again on Eclare, trying especially for a wahoo on fly - he caught two, but actually raised a couple of dozen behind the boat, showing that there are a lot of wahoo around. With a sail on his flyrod as well, a satisfying trip for this dedicated fly angler. Tina was also out and caught four sail, with the same again the next day, when they also played a marlin on a small line for a while, till the swivel broke - light lines out the back for baitfish are not usually up to catching marlin which perversely swallow these tiny lures! Eclare was out as well and released a black marlin and a giant trevally, while another of the latter was unfortunate enough to be half eaten by a hungry shark while on the line!

Watamu harbour is almost empty, with nine boats having sailed off to Tanzania for the Latham Island tournament, but Alleycat found a couple of sail as well as five wahoo and four yellowfin for Geoff James, on holiday from England. Earlier the boats from Hemingways had caught mixed bags, with Ol Jogi tagging a nice 40kg giant trevally for Andrew Hughes and B’s Nest releasing a black marlin around 80 kgs with angler Mark Warpole so there are plenty of different fish around on the Banks.

KASA, the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, held their annual Trophy dinner at the La Marina restaurant at Mtwapa last Friday, an excellent meal with all thanks to management and staff there. The trophies, which have just been refurbished, will be housed at Capt Andy’s showrooms in Mombasa, and among the many awards was the best catch, going to Egon Jenke on Eclare - three striped marlin, two broadbill, one blue marlin and two sailfish, all caught under IGFA rules in one trip - what amazing fishing!

Best fish on fly was a black marlin estimated at 80kgs by Gai Cullen on Seastorm, who also won Top lady Angler, while best under 12 years went to Mansur Khan on Pika Pika for an estimated 80kg striped marlin, and the under 18 category went to Danny Thomas, aged 14, for his 228kg blue marlin.

Skipper Callum Looman in Tarka won for the most marlin in the season, with 112, while Angus Paul took second here with 101 marlin, as well as the prize for the most sailfish with 395. Snark and Clueless both shared a mention for eight marlin in a day, while Ian Fenton won for biggest marlin with an estimated 350kg blue marlin.