Kingfisher Boats
P.O. Box 29
Malindi
Kenya
Tel: +254-42-20123
Email: kingfisher@swiftmalindi.com
Subject: Kingfisher Weekly report ending 21.03.04
Weather, typical March weather, calm, hot, humid with variable winds, although now at the end of the week the wind seems to have set into the south. Current still running south - I believe on the NKB and Rips but water still a little green. Lovely blue clear water off Ngomeni and Watamu with water temperatures varying between 79 and 83 deg. It rained Friday at sea off Ngomeni - Mambrui and Malindi got a few drops Sunday morning. We need rain badly. So dry here. New moon was on Saturday, so dark nights for the next few days.
March has always been recognized as a fun fishing month. With so many
different species of fish about and calm seas, ideal conditions for
Dad to take the family fishing, and the kids love it. This year March
has been pretty good, plenty of wahoo, kingfish, dorado, tuna, bonito
etc. plus of course it has been a brilliant month for Marlin, sailfish,
and broadbill, which is the fish which our overseas visitors strive
to catch. So I hope more fishermen will visit us in March next year.
Monday. Neptune and Eclare both had marlin today. Neptune a stripey
and Eclare a Black plus wahoo and smaller fish. Tina had a sailfish
and a shark plus smaller fish, and Malachite came back with 5 yellowfin
and a dorado. Further south B'nest had 2 stripeys and also lost a few.
Pussycat lost 3 Black marlin in a row one after the other.
Tuesday. Neptune went to the NKB for an overnight. Eclare did not do
much good today with 3 wahoo and a dorado. Tina one sailfish plus wahoo
and tuna. Snark did well today with a Black marlin 7 kingfish, 9 yellowfin,
2 blacktip shark and smaller fish. They were fishing Mambrui Ngomeni
area. Out on the Rips White Bear had a stripey and 2 sailfish, Alleycat
the same a stripey and 2 sailfish. Seahorse got a Black marlin.
Wednesday. Another lovely day but very hot. Eclare had 30 yellowfin
of 8 to 10 kg each - keeps one busy, but Tina not much a few tuna and
a couple of dorado, Snark about the same. Neptune back from the NKB
were they saw and lost so many fish. One stripey was lost in the afternoon
before nightfall, then during the night 4 good broadbill strikes all
came to nothing. This morning they lost 4 stripeys in a row then bingo
- a Black marlin and later 4 sailfish and most amazing of all 2 skipjack
tuna, a rare fish indeed these days due no doubt to the purse seine.
A good trip with very many fish seen and lost.
Thursday. Neptune fishing out of Ngomeni rerurned with a striped marlin,
wahoo and some red snapper. Eclare out of Malindi had a haul of kingfish,
wahoo, dorado, baracudda, tuna and bonito. Snark also had a bag full
of small fish. Tarka doing an overnight on the Rips had a big Black
come up in the afternoon and miss a lure, probably on purpose, they
never saw it again, but the night was good with 6 broadbill one of which
was 84 kg and took 3 hours on 50 lb line.
Friday. Neptune the only boat out today fished back to Malindi from
Ngomeni and boated 2 Black marlin on the way together with 6 kingfish,
dorado and bonito. This must have pleased Tine and Ronald.
Saturday. Only Eclare out fishing she only got small fish.
Sunday. Eclare and Neptune both out of Malindi. Both boats fishing in
the Canyons area. Eclare had quite a lot of tuna, kingfish and wahoo.
Fishing on Neptune today were two Americans Peter Damp and his friend
from Michigan, it is very unusual for us to have American fishermen
and we hope they will spread the word when they get back home. They
caught plenty of tune etc.plus 1 sailfish and they hooked a Black marlin
which they brought to the boat and the leader touched the rod tip. Subsequently
the fish went off and managed to throw the hook. There is a school of
thought which says that if the leader makes contact with the rod tip,
that is a caught fish. Others say not so. The fish must be tagged or
properly released. In order for an escaped fish to qualify as a caught
fish KASA states that the leader must be in the hand prior to the fish
slipping the hook. This raises the question: if a crew member had grabbed
the trace and popped it, would the fish be a caught fish. Am I getting
into deep water here? I really am undecided on which way to jump, but
talking to Angus later he said there was no way that a crew member could
have wired that fish, it was to strong and wild, still jumping. So another
good fishing week goes by. It is interesting to note that one of the
Black marlin was caught on a Halco lure and another was caught with
a South African imitation of this lure. I know of only one or two marlin
that have been caught on Rapala like lures on our boats in all the years
that we have been fishing.
In the commercial field: the trawlers are back this week after 3 months
off and perhaps just coincidence - a large turtle is found dead on Malindi
beach. The set nets are not getting any tuna now but do catch a few
of the smaller kingfish (barega) , but only a few, as ring nets have
moved from Sail Rock area to Ngomeni and in one net took out 4 tons
of Barega. I will not comment on these nets just now, but they are causing
a volatile situation in the fishing community.
I drove up to Camp in Tsavo East on Friday with 3 Dutch guys who were
pleasant company. The peace and quiet of camp life even for one night
was refreshing but the pleasure of visiting Tsavo was severely offset
by the appalling state of the Maligned Ala Gate road. The combination
of rocks, stones, holes and massive corrugations is designed to wreck
your car, and it is a little worrying if you leave the Park in the early
afternoon and just hope your car will make it. In spite of the road
it was great to be in the Park and to see the wildlife completely free.
The Dutch really enjoyed the trip particularly the peace and quiet which
is a rare commodity these days.
Talk to you again next week.
HP
Kingfisher Boats
P.O. Box 29
Malindi
Kenya
Tel: +254-42-20123
Email: kingfisher@swiftmalindi.com
Website: www.kenyasportfishing.net
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