Kingfisher Fishing News Letter 2008/09
Malindi\Watamu has experienced its
best billfish season ever !The top marlin boat just misses out on a century
while Neptune records the highest number of sailfish on a boat in one season
off the African coast .
Dear All,
Well we are well and truly
into the off season now. Boats are out the water and being given some
serious TLC, tackle is being cleaned up and sorted for next season and
skippers and crew are getting a well deserved break. All in all it was a
very successful season with boat days far exceeding all pre season
expectations. Considering we were faced with one problem after the other,
from pre election violence to the credit crunch,
Kenyan tourism held up very well. On the fish side we couldn’t have
written a more perfect script for the season. All sorts of records have been
broken as far as numbers of billfish go and some incredible days were had.
The best thing about the season is that the phenomenal fishing was spread
out across the whole season and it wasn’t just over a couple of months.
Already way back in September we were seeing abnormal numbers of sailfish
and this continued into February and petered out in March.
Once again we can ask
ourselves why this season was so exceptional. The reason that seems to come
up time and time again across the bar over a pint of beer is the increase in
Somali pirates further north of us. It certainly makes sense seeing as the
commercial fishing fleets have been hit by this menace. The assumption is
that more fish are now making their way into our waters and are not being
hauled out the sea before they get to us. If this is the case then at least
the pirates are of some use!
This past season was
undoubtedly the best billfish season ever for Malindi\Watamu. We mustn’t
forget that the season before was also a very good one. In fact sailfish
figures show it was one of our best ever with our top boat far exceeding
sailfish figures for the past ten years with 539 fish. The bar was raised
considerably higher this season with the top boat
The marlin season was also
phenomenal especially during the peak months of January to March. Our top
marlin boat was
Until the next update I
would like to wish you all well and for those of you in
All the best
Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending Friday 3rd April 2009.
Very few fishing days this week with a black marlin, a few sailfish and a number of smaller game fish caught.Dear All,
Unfortunately I don’t have
to much news to give you on the fishing front this week. This is because
there have been very few bookings and hence not a lot of boat days. The
weather is still very fine at the coast and the wind has settled into the
south. Hopefully the rain is on its way as the rest of the country has
thankfully started to get some in the last few days. This really is a god
send as things are getting desperate with very little food left and cattle
dying daily in the north. We can only hope that it will continue and it is
enough to produce a good harvest and alleviate the problems we are
experiencing here.
On Saturday 28th March
On April Fools Day Eclare
was out on a short day with Leonardo Krucker who was staying at
The Watamu boats are still
getting a few charters and it seems there are still marlin out on the rips.
Most days that boats go out there marlin are either being caught or seen.
That is good news as normally once the wind has swung around into the south
the marlin disappear.
For you sports lovers out
there what a choice we have on offer at the moment. Perfect for us out here
with the rainy season coming up. On Saturday there was no less than five
different sports being shown live at the same time. It does make a slight
problem as you cant make up your mind on which one to watch and you end up
flicking between them all and missing the best bits!
For us here the high light had to have been our rugby sevens team in
Take care
Kingfisher Fishing Report for week
ending Friday 27th March 2009.
Sadly very few fishing
days this week as bookings are hard to come by.
Dear All,
All in all it has been
a quite week for us with very few bookings. The wind has settled into the
south now and although
On the 21st only Snark
was out with Peter and Tine and Ronald from
On the 22nd Malachite
was out with Philip Schultz and a client of his. They tried some spinning
and caught a couple of
koli-koli(yellow trevally.) Snowgoose was out on a five hour trip and got a
sailfish,1 wahoo and a yellowfin tuna.
The 23rd saw only
Eclare out, with Mike Reid and Melvin from the
On the 25th Eclare and
Snowgoose were out on short days and came back, with mixed bags of a black
tip shark each, quite a number of school size yellowfin and other bits and
pieces.
On the 27th
This coming week
It is good to see that our government are doing
all they can to revive our tourism industry. They have halved the price of
visas into the country and families of four will only pay for two. This will
run until the end of December 2009 and then will be reviewed again. So for
those of you planning to come out next season or for a quick break during
our low season this is good news.
Have a good week.
Adrian
Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending Friday 20th
March
Dear All
The season may be drawing to a close but the
fishing is still good and it is a shame that most operations have no more
bookings. The end of March always signifies the end of the season and this
is mainly due to the monsoon changing to the south. As soon as this happens
the majority of our billfish continue their migration. This is due to colder
water and wind coming into our waters and it also brings rain which tourists
obviously could do without on holiday. For the simple lack of fish and
tourists the period from the end of March to April is our off season. Having
said that we have kept a boat in the water throughout the off season for the
last few years now, and although we don’t do to many days we have had some
excellent fishing. The monsoon changing later this year is most probably the
main reason why the fishing is still good. We expect it to change within the
week, however. Once this happens it is not to say that the fishing turns
right off as some sailfish, marlin and bigger gamefish do stay behind. There
is just not the prolific numbers that you would find earlier on in the
season.
On the 14th and
15th we had two boats out on each day. There were no billfish caught on
either day but quite a few gamefish, such as wahoo and tuna were caught.
Eclare with the Jooste family fishing their last day had a 25 kg tuna on the
14th.
The 16th saw three of
our boats fishing. Tina was the most successful with a 60 kg mako
released and some tuna. She was fished by the De Wandel brothers from
On the 17th
The 19th saw
Take care.
Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending
Friday 6th March 2009,
Fishing getting tougher but still enough action for a fun day out.
Dear All
I must
apologize for the very late report for this week. We have been experiencing
e-mail link hiccups in Malindi and therefore haven’t been able to get the
news to you on time. However we have now got a new line and hopefully it
will be smooth sailing from now on.
Well it has
been another good week on the sea for our boats although marlin yet again
have proven hard to get. Boats are seeing marlin most days but landing them
is a different matter. Sailfish are not being seen in huge numbers but there
are still a fair few around. As is so often the case at this time of year
there is a good variety of smaller game fish about. Dorado are making an
early appearance. There will be more and more around as the wind settles
into the south.
Saturday the 28th was a tough day for all our boats with no billfish being
landed. Only wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna and baitfish today.
The 29th saw
all our boats out again. It was Claude and Stefan’s last day out today and
they had a sailfish, 2 wahoo and a dorado on Snowgoose. Tina and Snark came
back with a sailfish each as well. Malachite still fishing with Gary
Chesters was hunting for that illusive marlin but sadly there was another
“no show”. Today also saw the last day of the Kilifi Classic Tournament.
Eclare with a ladies team onboard took part but unfortunately “lady luck”
was not on their side this time. They had their chances with at least four
marlin but none of them stuck. Delta from Mtwapa won the tournament with 1
black marlin, 2 striped marlin and 8 sailfish. All three marlin were caught
on the last day and it was a real come from behind, as they were not in the
running after the first day. Tengesi, the leader after the first day managed
to hold on to second despite a late surge from the ever present Tarka. She
was fished by Batian Craig, Neil Mcray and Justin Larby. They caught 3
striped marlin and 2 sailfish on the first day and then had a black marlin
on for a while on the second day. This fish would have wrapped it all up for
them but unfortunately it threw the hook after a spectacular take. As if
this wasn’t enough for the fish to know there was a problem, it came back
for the bait a second time but once again fell off. Not very clever on the
fishes behalf! Tengesi is only 21 ft so it was a very gallant effort from
them.
The 2nd March
produced a striped marlin and three sailfish for Mike Tracy on Neptune.
Snowgoose and Tina returned with small fish only whilst Malachite with Gary
Chesters did find a black marlin which they hooked but unfortunately the
hook came out near the boat. Gary being the true fisherman that he is was
thrilled to have seen the fish and to have had a chance at it. Losing it
wasn’t the end of the world for him.
The 3rd was the beginning of a four day trip for a group from South Africa
and the UK. It was organized by Alan Wilcock who has been here before. They
stayed at Kingfisher Villas and fished on Tina and Eclare. Eclare had 2
wahoo and Tina 1 sailfish and some small fish. Snark with Keith Spall had a
mixed bag of 2 blacktip sharks, a long tail tuna and some bait fish. Mike
Tracy on Neptune had another striped marlin and a sailfish.
On the 4th the Wilcock group didn’t have too much luck but still managed a
sailfish and some small fish between the two boats. Snowgoose with
Alessandro from Italy struggled with 3 dorado and Snark had a sailfish and
some small fish.
The Wilcock group decided that they would brave the Malindi traffic by
hiring four motorbikes instead of taking taxis. Now I mean it when I say
they are brave, those of you who have been to Malindi would have experienced
the never ending throng of tuk-tuks and boda- bodas( motorbike taxis).After
fishing they all took off back to the lodge amidst shouts of “be careful of
the dangerous driving” etc . To cut a long story short Alan Wilcock and
Richie Burke faced Malindi driving first hand when they came off just
outside the Stardust which is one of Malindis busiest areas. Luckily apart
from a few grazes and a couple of dented prides no one was hurt. We are
still not to sure if it was a reckless boda-boda or pilot error that caused
the “off”! Needless to say they handed back the bikes to the hire company
rather quickly.
On the 5th Eclare and Tina once again had a sailfish and some small fish
between them. Snark had 2 sailfish and a mixture of small fish whilst
Neptune with Mike Tracy on his last day had a couple of sailfish and some
small fish.
On the 6th Eclare had a fun day up north with 2 sailfish, 5 yellowfin tuna,
1 wahoo and some baitfish. They were back on the mooring by noon. Tina,
Snark and Neptune had a few sailfish and some small fish.
There were some bigger fish seen this week. Seahorse boated a black marlin
of 360 lbs and Seyyida also boated a black of 420 lbs. This fish came up
with another large fish to two live skipjack, the second one was on briefly
but came off after a while. Seyyida who has had an exciting run also had a
double header of 200 lb blacks on the first day of an overnight trip. They
managed to get them both.
For those
sport lovers out there you will be pleased to know that Kenya excelled
themselves in the world cup sevens in Dubai. They reached the semi finals by
beating Fiji, the defending champions in the quarterfinals 26-7.
Unfortunately Argentina got the better of them in the semis. Still a gallant
effort and the rest of the world has certainly sat up and recognized them as
a serious threat in sevens. Well done Kenya!
The Watamu
International Festival was on over the weekend and the Friends of Kenya is
on today and tomorrow. I will fill you in on the outcome of these two
competitions in next weeks report. Tight lines to all competitors.
Take care.
Adrian Paul
Kingfisher Fishing Report for week ending
Friday 27th February,
Another super grand slam for a Kingfisher boat as marlin are still a plenty
on the rips.
Dear All
It has been
another busy week for us with most boats fishing every day. Although there
are still plenty of marlin around, they proved to be rather difficult to
hook this week. The sailfish seem to be dwindling off Malindi now with no
where near the number being caught that boats were catching a few weeks ago.
The weather remains relatively calm and it is getting hotter and hotter by
the day. This is normal for this time of year as we build up to the long
rains. The wind is already starting to swing around to the south which could
mean early rains. The signs are that we could have big rains this year and
it would be an under statement to say that the country needs it! We have not
had proper rain for a few good years now, and most districts are suffering
from drought.
The 21st and
22nd saw the holding of the Malindi Billfish Tournament. We only had Eclare
and Snowgoose fishing but on the whole it was a good turn out of boats. The
fishing was rather slow however, and a number of boats didn’t catch marlin.
The winner was Albatross with 3 striped marlin; she was fished by Jody Baker
and Mohammed Fadhili. Second was Mlango Wazi with Jonathan Savage and Gavin
Lawrence and third was Zambarani. The second and third placed boats had a
striped marlin each with Mlango Wazi catching one more sailfish than
Zambarani to pip them into second. Snark was our top boat on Saturday with a
black marlin and 10 dorado, she was fishing with Brian Parker and Bob Lane
from the UK.
Neptune
returned from an overnight trip to the North Kenya Banks( NKB) on the 22nd
with Shaun Wembridge. Apart from a good night where they got 4 broadbill and
lost a large one by the boat after an hour the trip was slow. Very little
was seen during the days. Shaun has fished with us for many years now and
first came when Tom his son was a toddler. The highlight of his trip this
time was Tom, who is now eleven, catching and releasing his first sailfish
of an estimated 30 kgs. Snark fishing with the Blank party from Germany had
a good mixed bag of sailfish and other game fish.
On the 23rd
all our boats were out including Malachite. Snowgoose fishing with Stefan
and Claude from Belgium had a couple of sailfish, a long tail tuna and a
dorado as well as some baitfish. Whilst Snark, with Klaus on board caught a
sailfish, a black tip shark and some small fish. Tina with the Lubkowitz
party. had 4 sailfish, 5 dorado and 2 wahoo. Neptune had a good day out on
the rips with Clive Watts and Glen Lines. They released a striped marlin and
4 sailfish. Not to be out done by Eclare, with John Cook had a black marlin
and 4 sailfish and some small fish.
On the 24th
four of our boats were out and although all had some sailfish and small fish
no marlin were caught. Snowgoose left for a four day safari in the late
afternoon with Rick Lemonnier, Don Lafferty and Andy. They were heading
north to spend a few days at Kiwayu but due to time decided to go as far as
Lamu instead.
The 25th was
another relatively slow day with most boats not seeing any marlin. Neptune
did get 4 sailfish however, and a 20 kg yellowfin and a dorado. Malachite
was out with Gary Chester who comes out every year to fish her and is only
interested in marlin. He has not been so lucky thus far and we hope that his
luck will change soon. Just one good fish on a small boat such as Malachite
makes your trip.
On the 26th
Tina, Snark and Malachite all fished of Malindi and ended up with sailfish
and small fish. Neptune with Clive and Glen lost two stripeys and ended up
with 2 sailfish and a dorado.
The 27th was a
much more productive day for our boats. Tina out with Claude and Stefan
again, had 3 striped marlin whilst Neptune released a foul hooked stripey
fishing into Ngomeini, to fish the NKB tomorrow. Klaus out on Snark for his
last day had a good mixed bag of smaller game fish. Snowgoose returned from
their trip up north and although the first two days did not produce to much
the last two were very good. They left Lamu on Thursday morning and released
a striped marlin,a blue marlin and 4 sailfish. They then had 4 broadbill in
the night which gave them a Super Grand Slam. On Friday morning they hooked
a nice black marlin which they fought for a while but lost after a good
fight. So close to a Fantasy Slam! All in all they had a very successful
trip and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the fishermen. Eclare fished into
Watamu today to fish the Kilifi Classic Tournament with an all ladies team.
Tight lines to the ladies, I hear the tournament will be very well attended
with over 25 boats taking part. Next weeks update will have all the news
from Kilifi and let’s hope it is a productive tournament.
On the whole
February has been a very good month for Kenyan tourism. Both the coast and
up country have seen good numbers of tourists. The first two weeks of March
are very good for us as well with a couple of longer trips up north in the
pipeline. Business will dwindle of at the end of March but this is normal,
especially on the coast due to the rainy season. The forecast for the coming
season is not so good but we are optimistic that it will get better.
Keep well and
have a good week.
Adrian
Kingfisher Fishing Report ending 13th
February 2009
Unreel records Kenya’s and indeed
Africa’s second ever “Fantasy Slam”
as the marlin
fishing reaches red hot levels !!!!
Dear All
Well what a
week this last one has been. A week ago it would have been difficult to
think how the fishing could have got better, but in true Kenyan style it has
gone up a few notches.
The real
excitement this week has got to be Kenya’s and Africa’s second Billfish
Fantasy Slam. For those of you who don’t know, a Fantasy Slam is 5 different
species of billfish caught within a twenty four hour period. It is the
equivalent of the Grand slam in the Six Nations or winning all four majors
in tennis. In other words in the world of deep sea fishing it is a major
achievement. As far as we know it has only been accomplished in two
countries before, in Venezuela three or four times and once here in Kenya on
Mark Allen’s Simba. The Venezuelan slams don’t consist of the same species
of billfish as ours however. Well Rob Hellier on Unreel has proved what
Kenyan fishing is all about by recording our second Fantasy Slam. Fishing
with the James Francis party, they achieved this amazing feat on the 11th
and 12th. They went out for a planned overnight trip to the South Mlima at
mid day on the 11th which started rather slowly as by the afternoon they
hadn’t caught anything. However, this changed at 5 pm when they tagged and
released a nice black marlin of 100 kgs. During the night they had a number
of broadbill strikes and managed to release two fish. The next morning
started with a real bang when they hooked a sailfish on a live frigate
mackerel. As they were fighting the sailfish a second live bait was taken by
what the crew thought was another sailfish. Low and behold it turned out to
be a small blue and needless to say the tempo on the boat changed
drastically when it made its appearance by the side of the boat. Both fish
were tagged and released and all thoughts were tuned into finding a striped
marlin. Although some of the other boats had caught up to three stripeys
each, and many were being seen this proved quite a task. At 1.30 pm Rob told
the fishermen time was up and it was time to go home, no sooner had he said
that, a stripey was in the spread and was duly hooked and tagged and
released. As if 5 different billfish weren’t enough they also released a
100kg bull shark in the night. It goes with out saying that many drinks were
downed in the bar on return to Watamu. Well done to the fishermen and Rob
and his crew!
The fishing
really is just fantastic at the moment. Tarka had 5 striped marlin in a day
earlier on in the week and most days are seeing at least one boat with over
three marlin in a day. If boats are not doing overnight trips it is
obviously near on impossible to get a Fantasy Slam in which case the next
best is a super grand slam. There have already been at least two super grand
slams this season. Where else in the world can one experience such bill fish
variety?
The Mclanaghan party continued to have good fishing this week with 11
sailfish on Snowgoose on the 7th. Neptune and Snark got a striped marlin
each and Eclare with regular fisherman from Germany Egon Jenke had 4
sailfish. On
the 8th Neptune had 2 striped marlin and 2 sailfish fishing with Guy
Raeymacker and Rudi on their last days fishing this year. Eclare fishing
with Egon again had an action packed day with 8 sailfish and a black marlin.
On the 9th Snark had 8 sailfish and Tina had 4. Neptune and Snowgoose both
went out to the rips, Snowgoose lost a stripey and Neptune tagged a 100kg
black marlin and two sailfish.
The 10th saw
all our boats out on the water again which is really good to see. Tina was
out with Van Davies who has lived in Malindi for many years but has now
moved back to the USA and his brother Art and Dr Stauffer. Just fishing off
Malindi they had 4 sailfish and some small fish. All the other boats
recorded 3 or 4 sailfish each with the exception of Snark who tagged a 100
kg black marlin and one sailfish.
The 11th was another exceptional day all round. Snowgoose fishing with
Manfred Haase had 14 sailfish and some small fish. Eclare had a striped
marlin with Egon and Neptune fishing with regular angler Shaun Wembridge on
his first day out this trip, started it with a high, catching 2 striped
marlin and 5 sailfish. Tina fishing with Joachim Pander and Jutta Bohn from
Germany had 5 sailfish and some small fish. It is their dream to catch a
marlin so fingers crossed!
The 12th saw four of our five boats catch marlin. Snowgoose with Manfred
Hasse released a nice stripey of 60 kgs. Neptune had a stripey and a sail
and Eclare had a fantastic day. Fishing with lucky Egon who is known to be a
billfish magnate they caught 1 black marlin, 3 striped marlin and 2
sailfish. Tina made Joachim Pander and Jutta Bohn’s dream come true with a
striped marlin and they lost another 3!
The 13th produced sailfish on all the boats and a striped marlin on Eclare.
Neptune was not out today but the boat moved down to Ngomeni for the week.
They are going to venture out to the North Kenya Banks on the 14th and 15th
and then got out for an overnight trip on the 16th and 17th. Eclare is out
on an overnight trip on the night of the 14th. Therefore watch this space
next week as we will hopefully have some exciting news for you. I can tell
you that early news from Neptune is good!!!!
It seems that
Kenya has found their next forte in sport. For many decades Kenya has shined
in long distance running. The Beijing Olympics were no exception with Kenya
winning the majority of medals in the long distance events. Well Kenya is
surprising the big wigs in the world of rugby as they continue to shock in
the IRB Sevens series. For years Kenya has done ok in sevens and has been a
regular participant. However this year they have upset the two leaders in
sevens at the moment, South Africa last week in New Zealand and New Zealand
this week in the USA. They reached the semis last week only to be beaten by
England and are in the quarters this week after relegating New Zealand to
runners up in the group. This may be their chance to win a title which would
be huge, not only for Kenyan rugby but for our sport in general. Fingers
crossed for this evening then as they take on USA in the quarter finals.
I hope you all
have a good week.
Adrian
Kingfisher Fishing Report ending 6th February
2009
Dear All
We have come to the end of another week. Although it has been slightly
quieter for our boats the fishing is still sensational. Marlin are
plentiful out on the rips with stripeys being the predominant ones at
the moment. Whilst most boats are still plying the rips in search of
marlin the fishing closer in of Malindi is still fantastic. The great
hordes of sailfish are now being joined by black tip shark and an
abundance of smaller game fish. This is typical of this time of year
when stacks of white bait congregate of Mambrui\Malindi. The shark and
other pelagics feast on these balls of bait and get into such a frenzy
that you can drive through the middle of them. They are often joined by
humped back whales and a few other species of whales. As it is often
calm at this time of year you can normally see the frenzy starting from
miles away with acres of white water as the helpless white bait get
devoured. On arrival at the scene it is shear pandemonium as the whales
continue to engulf the bait right under the boat and then your lures are
attacked by anything from shark to rainbow runner. I can remember one
year we were catching six or seven black tip shark a day up to 100 kgs
as well as a real mixed bag of smaller fish. Yellow fin tuna, trevally,
wahoo and even marlin can be found in these bait balls. You just never
know what you are going to find!
Anyway before I get to carried away lets get back to this past week.
Although I have said it was a bit quieter, the fishing was not poor by
any means. Malachite really showed up the bigger boats on Saturday when
she was our top boat, releasing a black marlin of 60 kegs and three
sailfish. She was fished by Mr Giannetto from Italy. Malachite is fast
becoming increasingly popular amongst fishermen. Snark had an action
packed day as well with 2 sailfish, a black tip shark, a Wahoo and some
baitfish.
On the 2nd all
our boats were out and although they all caught fish, there were no
spectacular results. On the 3rd Eclare
fishing with Richard Segers and Arie had a really good day with a black
marlin of 110 kgs and 3 sailfish. These two gentlemen had that amazing
24 hours a few years back when they caught the big mako which adorns the
fishing club. The mako had bitten a large piece out of a 650 lb blue
marlin that they had been fighting for three hours. As they boated the
marlin the mako continued to swim around the boat looking for the rest
of the marlin. Luckily they had a wahoo which they had caught earlier in
the day and chucking a piece of it out they hooked the mako. Six hours
later they boated the 700 lb mako as well as a 250 lb tiger which came
up to the boat to see what all the commotion was about. This has got to
be one of the most incredible fishing stories of all times and a prime
example of making the most of opportunities that avail themselves.
Needless to say after a fish like that they visit us every year for a
few days fishing. The other boats all had sailfish and smaller fish but
no marlin.
On the 4th both
Eclare and Neptune had a striped marlin each whilst Tina had three
sailfish. Neptune was out with Richard Segers whilst Eclare had Martin
Colins from Northern Ireland and Tina was fishing with Jim McLanaghan
from Scotland. Snark was also out with Werner Wirtz from Austria. These
are all repeat clients who have been fishing with Kingfisher for many,
many years. This is a special time of year for us as all these familiar
faces have now become friends. The 5th was
a good day for most boats with Neptune releasing a striped marlin out on
the rips. The other boats stayed closer in with both Snowgoose and Snark
releasing 8 sailfish and Tina and Eclare releasing 5 each. The 6th produced
another striped marlin for Neptune whilst Snark had a brilliant day with
18 sailfish. Snark was fishing with a group of young Austrians and this
was their last day so what a way to cap it off.
Just for all of you haven’t been able to make it out this year the
weather here is superb, lovely hot days with not a cloud in the sky! The
weather in Europe looks terrible, just looking at the news here on TV is
enough to make one shiver. My nephew Andrew is on a rugby tour with
Pembroke House school in the UK at the moment. It is definitely not the
best timing for these young guys who for some have never been to Europe
before. At least they can blame the weather if they lose! Andrew has now
fulfilled his wish of seeing snow, more than his uncle has done.
Ta
Adrian
Kingfisher Fishing Report ending 30th January
2009
Dear All
This past week saw the end of the Belgian Big Game Fishing Tournament
which was mentioned in last weeks update. All fishermen who took part
were delighted with the fishing, and that’s not surprising as six boats
caught a total of 7 marlin and 130 sailfish in four days fishing. This
amounted to over 4 tons of fish, the majority of which were released.
Snark emerged the top boat and being the slowest boat of the six
competing boats Adi and his crew really did themselves proud. The prize
giving was held at the Coconut Village where the anglers had spent the
week. All those who attended were very impressed with the layout and
general atmosphere of the evening. Snarks crew were awarded a trophy and
cash prize for their efforts. All in all the competitors were over the
moon and we hope they will return next year.
On the 24th Neptune had an incredible
days fishing with Guy Raeymacker and a friend from Belgium. Guy has been
fishing with us for as long as I can remember, but this year his long
time fishing partner Jurgen Ludsteck from Germany couldn’t make it. They
caught 2 black marlin, a stripey and 3 sailfish.
Neptune returned from their overnight trip from the South Mlima on the
26th.
Peter Hofman, a regular angler from Switzerland and his friend Ronald
had an extremely exciting trip. They left at 3 pm on the 25th and
released a striped marlin that evening. The night was full of action and
they ended up with 6 broadbill, 5 were released and one was boated. The
fish they boated is being claimed as a German record and weighed in at a
whopping 88.6 kg. The next morning as they put the marlin lures back in
the water another striped marlin was caught and released. It is so good
to see that there are still a large number of broadbill around. A few
days later Tarka and Unreel also did an overnight trip and Unreel caught
5 broadbill and Tarka 1.
On the 27th January another regular angler Gordon Elder fishing with Robert Wright had a fun day on Snow goose. They ended up with 13 sailfish, 2 dorado and a wahoo. Tina also had a good day with 10 sailfish and Eclare released a striped marlin on the rips.
Malachite is busy at the moment and is fishing most days. For those of
you who are not familiar with Malachite she is a 23 ft open center
console boat designed for reef fishing. However, she does venture out
into the deep sea when it is calm and out does her bigger compatriots at
times. David Poter from the UK is here at the moment and is fishing 3
days on Malachite. He was based in Kenya in the Kings African Rifles
many years ago and like so many still has Kenya in his heart. He loves
going out with Abudi on Malachite where he can spend hours practicing
his Swahili, which according to Mum is very impressive after so many
years away. He has done two days already and caught 4 sailfish and a
mixed bag of smaller fish.
On the 28th Neptune was out with Guy
Raeymaecker again and they had another amazing day. They spent an hour
and a half in the morning jigging on the bottom and managed to catch 7
Giant Trevally and 2 Grouper. They then went out to the rips and
released a sailfish and a blue marlin of 80 kgs. What a day ! Eclare was
out with Gordon Elder and ended up with a nice Black marlin of 150 kgs
and 3 sailfish. Although she went out to the rips looking for marlin
they got the black on the way out.
Although we were busy on the 29th and
30th the
fishing took a real turn for the worst. Why this happens we are not to
sure but I am sure it is weather related. It has been extremely calm
with a serious lack of wind which has been keeping the fish down. I am
sure it will improve over this coming week. Let’s hope we have lots to
tell you in the next update.
Take care
Adrian
Kingfisher
Fishing Report ending 16th January 2009
Dear All
It has been a busy week
for us with most days seeing at least three boats fishing. The weather,
although proving unpredictable at times with some over cast days has been
ideal for fishing. The wind is blowing consistently from the north which is
perfect for marlin fishing on the rips. The rest of the country has had
quite a bit of rain in the last few days but the coast is still dry. It is
unusual for the country to receive rain in February which is historically
one of our driest months. This
may explain why we have had overcast mornings and a cold wind blowing in the
evenings.
On Thursday the 8th
Snow Goose out with a young Russian gentleman had a good day with 8 sailfish
and Tina out on a short day had a good mixed bag of 3 sailfish, 2 kingfish,
10 yellowfin tuna and 4 wahoo.
On the 9th Eclare
fishing with Anton Klok from
We only had two boats
out on the 12th, Eclare and Snark both with the Grubbler group from
On the 16th the
same group fished on Eclare, Tina and Snow Goose. Eclare and Tina stayed
closer in with Eclare finishing on 22 sailfish and Tina 10. Snow Goose went
out for marlin which they didn’t find but they did get 5 sailfish. Snark and
Neptune were also out today. Snark with some clients from
Take care
Kingfisher Fishing Report
ending 07th January 2009
Dear All
Step aside the majestic sailfish and enter
the illusive marlin. Whilst the sailfish fishing continues to be
outstanding it seems that the marlin will not be outdone by this season
and they have made an early appearance in numbers. Early January
normally sees the start of our main marlin season out on the rips,
however this year they have appeared from mid December. Last season was
considered as one of the best marlin seasons ever but by the way they
have jumped out of the starting blocks it seems this one will be even
better!
The
incredible sailfish numbers that we have experienced for most of the
season have continued into early January. Although boats aren’t
recording double figures every day there are still plenty of fish of
Malindi and Watamu. With the amount of marlin around it also means that
boats aren’t targeting sailfish as they were earlier in the season.
Yesterday, the 9th January one Watamu boat
had 21 sailfish of Malindi.
Since our
last news report on the 17th December there have been so many
outstanding days that it is difficult to fit them all in to this update.
On the 19th December Snow Goose fishing with Andy Mansfield ventured off
Malindi to fish for sailfish. By mid day they had 11 fish and Andy
having caught double figures the day before as well decided to have a
shot at a marlin. They moved out in to the deeper water where they
managed to catch two yellowfin tuna which they put out live. With lady
luck on their side up popped a black marlin of approximately 120 kgs
which took one of the yellowfin and after a short fight was tagged and
released. On the same day
On the 20th
December Kjetil Stigen from
Since the
competition most boats have been going out to the rips every day and the
fishing has just been getting better and better. There have been some
phenomenal days out there. Fishing cannot be more exciting when you
could raise a black, blue ,striped marlin or sailfish at any time. There
are very few places in the world if any where you have a chance to catch
any of the above in one day and then a broadbill at night. Simba proved
this once again on the 30th December. They started the day of with a
sailfish in the morning quickly followed by a nice blue. They then added
a stripey and capped it all of with a black marlin in the afternoon. All
this super grand slam needed to become a fantasy slam was a broadbill
but with all the excitement in the day the team ran out of energy to
continue in to the night. On a 5 hour day on the 2nd January Tina had 3
sailfish and a black marlin with some clients from
Malindi and Watamu were very busy over the
festive season which was really good to see. The annual migration of
upcountry residents took place as well as a fair number of visitors from
overseas. Unfortunately there is a significant drop in visitors this
month and once again there are a number of boats sitting on moorings
every day when they should be out fishing. It is especially sad to see
when the fishing is so good.
Have a good week.
Kingfisher Fishing Report
17thDecember 2008
Dear All,
Awesome! Brilliant!
Fantastic! Unbelievable! These are just some of the words that spring to
mind when describing the fishing off Malindi at the moment. If anything
the fishing has got even better since our last update of 27th November.
We must ask ourselves why the fishing has been so good for so
long?? Sailfish numbers such as these have not been witnessed here for
many years. The fishing is world class and giving places such as
We have had a
report from
Although our boats
didn’t fish as many days as we would have liked in November the end
month stats make some incredible reading. Our five boats caught a total
of 559 sailfish in 82 boat days giving an average of 7 sailfish per boat
per day.
In the last update
I mentioned that Neptune had ventured out to the
On the 24th
November
December has
started where November left of with high sailfish numbers every day.
There have been quite a few Black Marlin seen amongst the sailfish as
well. Snowgoose had eight sailfish and a Black Marlin of 65 kg on the
4th December fishing with Pieter Portmus and Peter Procee from
The Popes trophy
was fished on the 13th December. As I said in the last update this is a
tournament in memory of my brother Alister. Once again it was a huge
success and supported by many people. We would like to thank all of
those who supported us in each and every way. There were a total of nine
teams fishing on all of our boats as well as Unreel, Alleycat, Seyyida
and White Mischief. A special thank you must go out to all those
skippers who allowed us to use their boats. Although we didn’t raise as
much money as last year 130,000 ksh was raised to go to the trust for
Alisters children. Eclare fished by the Driftwood Dribblers made up of
Justin Larby, Anthony Cheffings, Rob Ward and Richard Edwards was the
top boat. They had 19 sailfish. Second was Tina fished by the Angling
Angels ladies team with 17 sailfish and third was Alley cat with 14
sailfish. All the boats caught lots of fish with the lowest placed team
catching seven sailfish. This would normally be the winning score for
any competition! Lots of fun was had by all.
The weather is exceptional down in Malindi at the moment, not too hot or
windy as it can be at this time of the year. Calm seas also make fishing
a lot more pleasurable and with the amount of fish around there is never
a dull moment on the water. The town is starting to fill up a bit more
now and hotels and restaurants are re opening after being closed since
the beginning of the season. Bookings are still poor until the end of
the month but we hope to pick up some off the street. If any of you are
down from up country over the festive season and would like to go out
please contact us as we do have boats available.
On behalf of us all
at Kingfisher I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very
happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. We hope to see more of you here
next year and let’s hope the economy strengthens.
written by
Adrian Paul
Kingfisher Fishing Report - 4th -
27th November 2008
Three weeks ago when our last news update was released one would have thought that there was no way the fishing could get any better! Well it has and incredibly it has continuously been fantastic with no mediocre let alone poor days reported in the three weeks. I can quite honestly say that we have never experienced such amazing sailfish fishing over such a long period in Malindi\Watamu. I had a conversation with a skipper the other day and he was disappointed as he had just had in his book two poor days. On asking what he had caught he told me he had twelve sailfish one day and seven the other. Most years four in one day is very good fishing but due to the exceptional numbers we have been seeing since late September the bar has been raised some what! Although November has been a lot busier than October it is a shame that on most days there have been many boats sitting on their moorings. With fishing that may never be seen again this is sad to see. As you can imagine it is painful for skippers who have endured many a day seeing nothing to be sitting at home with this kind of fishing. For the last few years we have held up to six competitions in November alone. This year we are down to two and both have been held already, with as I am sure you can imagine phenomenal results.
The first was a tournament held by
the Big Game Fishing Club Deutschland. Seven boats took part in a three day
IGFA tournament. As most of you know IGFA (International game fish
association) rules in short mean that only one angler can handle the rod and
therefore the crew are not allowed to hook the fish. A total of 149 sailfish
were caught in the three days at an average of 7 fish per boat per day. The
winning team was team Sailfisher made up of R.Pils, W.Ingenfeld and H.P
Albrecht. The top boat was Neptune with 36 sailfish.
Last week Mr Blessing and his son who came through
Tightlines, an agency in Holland fished on Snark for three days. During
their first two days they caught 32 sailfish and so decided to try something
different on their last day. They ventured off to the canyons and caught a
spinner shark of 70 kgs, 31 yellowfin tuna and 15 rainbow runner. Not a bad
three days fishing by any means and it just shows that it is not only
sailfish that are plentiful at the moment. The last week has also seen a
visit from two of our most loyal fly fishermen. Now is that perfect timing
or what? They couldn't have come at a better time for action from sailfish
on fly! For those of you who have tried for sail on a fly you will know that
you need numbers of fish coming in to the teasers as many don't come in the
whole distance. With the amount of fish around as there is at the moment it
is perfect for fly-fishing. Con Jooste has had two great days so far on
Eclare with 6 sail on fly and a black marlin conventionally on Saturday and
another 6 sail on fly and one conventionally on Sunday. Con finished his
five days with a total of 28 sailfish on fly - this must be a first for
Kenya.
Billy Lynch from Nairobi and 2 friends beginners flew
down for the weekend and stayed at the Driftwood Beach club using the
package rate. On Saturday they got 4 sail on fly and on Sunday 3 on fly
before flying back to Nairobi in the evening. I could think of worse ways to
spend a weekend! In our last update we mentioned Karl Sherer and Jurgen
Herbrandt having fished 4 days and catching 1 black marlin and 28 sailfish.
They went on to fish another 4 days and ended up with 64 sailfish. 8
billfish a day over 8 days fishing is not something that happens to often.
The pirate incidents of the Somali coast and allegedly
our coast over the past month or so have shocked us all. Let's face it, if
they are able to take over one of the biggest super tankers in the world
with ease what hope have smaller vessels got. I would just like to point out
that the incident of the Kenya coast was actually 450 miles out and in
international waters and up to now there have been no sightings or reports
of any pirates in our waters. Lets hope that the ships which are currently
being held by the pirates are released very soon and some how these hold ups
stop.
Christmas is fast approaching and once again it is time
for the Pope's trophy which will be held on the 13th December. For those of
you who have not heard of the Popes Trophy it is a fun one day competition
held in memory of Alister Paul. It is not only a good time for all his
friends to get together and remember him but is also an opportunity to raise
some funds for his three children. It is always a fun day and we would like
to encourage those of you who may be able to get away for the weekend to
come with a team or to join a team. I would also like to take this
opportunity to let those of you who have supported the Popes trophy in the
past know what Alister and Debbies children are up to and what your support
has helped them achieve. Stephanie who is now 17 is about to leave St Annnes
College in South Africa where she has done amazingly well. She has been
accepted to one of the top Universities, Onderstepoort Pretoria in South
Africa where she will study to become a vet starting in January. Shannen who
is 15 is currently at St Annes where she like her sister is doing very well
and still making up her mind as to what course to take. Andrew is 12 and
still at Pembroke House school where he excels in most sports although
spends quite a bit of his time injured due to the enthusiasm and commitment
he puts into everything he does. Needless to say Alister would be very proud
of all three of his children.
Have a good week.
Angus Paul
Kingfisher Update.
4th October – 4th November
Dear All
Firstly I must apologize for sending out this
update so late. Three weeks have gone by since we sent out our last news
flash and there has been no shortage of excitement since then.
The news flash was written on the day of the
Churchill Cup light line tournament on the 17th October. The fishing was
outstanding as indeed it had been from the beginning of the week. Sailfish
were everywhere and for those of you who are keen to do some light line
fishing these fish are fantastic on light tackle. The tournament was won by
Tarka with Seahorse second and
The 18th October saw the first day of the
Malindi Festival two day tournament with eleven boats taking part. Once
again the sailfish were co-operating fully and it was none stop action
throughout the day. The second day was not quite as chaotic with a change in
wind putting the fish down.
The fishing prior to the Festival as was
mentioned briefly in the news flash was quite incredible to. On Neptunes
amazing day of 19 sailfish on the 16th she was fished by the Rien Oliver
party from
Since the Festival we haven’t quite seen the
same numbers but all in all the fishing continues to be brilliant. Karl
Sherer and Jurgen Herbrand from
Marc and Bernd Neufeldt are with us once
again. Marc and Bernd are the shark specialists and normally fish eleven or
twelve days solely fishing for tiger or bull shark. Although they did catch
one tiger on their second day and had four other strikes in total the shark
fishing was slower than normal. The last couple of days were spent up north
where they got eight sail in two days.
Bookings are picking up slightly now and
November should be a lot busier than October. The weather has been brilliant
as it normally is at this time of the year. We have had quite a lot of rain
at the coast but once it rains it is followed by sunshine. The rest of the
country is experiencing good rain which is a god send as it is badly needed,
especially in the north where water levels were very low after a prolonged
drought.
Our Government declared Thursday 6th November
a public holiday in recognition of Barack Obama’s election victory in the
states. I don’t know of any other country which did this but I wish we would
show the same jubilation when our own president is elected!
Have a good week.
Angus Paul
Kingfisher Update.
4th September – 4th October
Dear Friends,
It is just over one
month since our last report, and I am happy to say the fishing has continued
to be quite outstanding. In our last news flash we reported 90 Black Marlin
being caught between Malindi and Watamu. This amazing run has continued into
September, and the number is now well over one hundred.
Although fish have
been plentiful, fishermen have been hard to come by with the boats sitting
at their moorings most of the time. Most of the fishing this month has been
done by Neptune and to a lesser degree Tina.
Peter Holdsworth and
Johnny O’Brien ex Nairobi, fished with me for five days early September. On
their first day out on the 6th Peter had a Black Marlin of around
70 kgs. The next day out they had 6 sailfish, 5 of these were caught in one
strike after having a big pack up, every lure had a sailfish behind it. Very
exciting! On the 9th Johnny caught his first Black Marlin. Being
Johnny he didn’t want to do anything by ones and he ended the day catching 2
.
In their five days they had 3
Black Marlin, 6 sailfish, 2 giant trevally, 8 wahoo (biggest 30 kg),10
kingfish,
2 yellowfin tuna, 4
long tail tuna, 2 big eye trevally, 1 baracudda, 1 dorado, 1 garfish and
over a 100 kawakawa/frigate mackerel. 12 different species in five days is
not bad at all by any standards.
Philipp Schulz our
new Malindi resident from South Africa fished two days with us. The first
day was the 16th on Eclare. He had a super day catching nine
different species and over twenty five fish including a sailfish, and a nice
giant trevally. The next day was on Neptune, and they topped off their two
fantastic days with a Black Marlin of over a 100 kgs.
On the 18th
Neptune fished with Peter Hofman and ended up catching two Black Marlin.
Both fish were tagged and released and were estimated between 80 and 85 kgs.
At this point Peter had fished seven days of this season and had
caught an incredible ten Black Marlin. Peter fished another day with us on
the 22nd and got two nice yellowfin tuna on live baits of 47 and
45 kgs plus a mixed bag of other fish.
Tina has managed to
get out a few times this month. On the 19th they did a long day
and got a nice Black of 147 kg, they had to boat this fish as a bull shark
took a section out of the tail area. They also caught a nice grouper and 2
Giant Trevally. The next day they were out on a short day and got a sailfish
and a wahoo.
Kees and Monique Kik
came out on their honeymoon and fished on Neptune. It was a pleasure to see
a couple both enjoying fishing so much and so keen. They started their
fishing off with a bang catching a Black of 80kg on the 24th.
On the 29th of September for the first time Neptune and
Tina went up north and fished the Mambrui area. Up to this date we had only
been fishing south of Malindi on the banks, canyons and boiling pot area. It
is always with much trepidation that one ventures up North the first time in
the season as you never know what you may find! We were pleasantly surprised
to find a lot of fish. Neptune came back with a sailfish, 22 yellowfin( the
biggest just over 22 kgs), a kingfish and 2 dorado. Tina with Brian Wheeler
from Bahrain who had taken up the offer of the Driftwood package came back
with 2 sailfish, 13 yellowfin (4 of over 20 kg) and 4 dorado. Mambrui was
fishing at its best with lots of white bait which is very encouraging for
the future. Kees and Monique ended their fishing with a bang on the 3rd
of October. They caught 1 Black Marlin, 5 sailfish, 13 yellowfin (4 of over
20 kg) and 3 dorado. This brought their total in a weeks fishing to 1984 kg
of fish.
Brian Wheeler also
ended his fishing on a high. On the 4th of October he had a Black
Marlin around 70 kg, 3 sailfish, 8 yellowfin and 1 barracuda.
October is a very
special month .The wind swings round to the east calming the sea right down
and the outside temperature is perfect before warming up in late November.
Large amounts of white bait as we are already witnessing move their way down
the coast. Following these vast shoals are all the pelagic predators,
feasting on this rich bounty of the oceans. At this time of year it is
common to see pods of up to twenty sailfish circling a ball of white bait.
Each fish patiently waits its turn to rush in to the middle of the bait
ball, hurriedly swallow its fair share and then return to its position in
the circle. Within minutes what started as a large ball is reduced to
nothing as the sailfish quickly polish the white bait of. Sights such as
these are most often seen in the mornings when it is flat calm with no wind.
Although one can see fish all around it is very difficult to entice the fish
away from the bait balls and in to your spread. Very infuriating! However as
soon as the wind picks up at mid day and the bait disperses it is all action
stations as the sailfish become more co-operative. Whales are also very
prolific at this time of year and it is rare not to see them breaching or
gorging themselves on plankton right next to the boat. Just the presence of
the white bait provides so much to see and there is never a dull moment on
the sea.
All the signs are
there for this season to be another good one. Let us hope that the Malindi
Festival on the 18th and 19th will be a big success
and we look forward to seeing those of you who will be joining us for it.
Otherwise all is well
in Malindi and as of yet our banks seem to be holding it together unlike the
rest of the world !
Just to remind you
all that the Driftwood package runs up until the 15th December so
if you would like to sample some of this amazing fishing now is your chance.
Angus Paul
