April Newsletter No.6: 20/4/2009 courtesy of Captain Andy's
Strong winds blow after Easter
The south wind has started to blow really hard after the weekend, but luckily the Saturday held fine for the Watamu Easter competition, although it started to get rough in the afternoon, and the boats came in for a 2pm finish as many of the family competitors were young.
Geoff Bell skippering his own boat Tamu led the field with a sailfish, caught by 13 year old Cameron who also won the Boys prize, seven dorado a wahoo and a skipjack. Alleycat made second place fishing Brad Fuller and friends, fourteen yellowfin tuna, four dorado and three bonito keeping the anglers busy, while third place went to the team on White Dove, the Taylor family with Severine Devally and 8 year old Leon Crose, who won the prize for the largest fish, a sailfish, caught by a boy under 12. Clare Taylor's sail won the largest fish by a lady, and Joey Taylor the under 12 girl's prize, while Jodie Thomas caught a giant trevally for the over 12 girl's prize.
Great prizes were sponsored by Ocean Sports Resort, Capt Andy's and Geoff Bell, and with ten boats competing it was a most enjoyable family day. The Sunday was calm again in the morning, and Hugo Simmonetti with a sailfish on Matamu was the winner in the Kilifi Easter Frolic competition, although the wind was blowing hard by afternoon. Otherwise only dorado were caught, but fun fishing for all.
The fishing season is coming to a close now, with most boats coming out of the water for servicing, and we cannot expect a lot of action now till July – let's hope that the coming season is as good as the one now closing.
Last week I mentioned skipper Callum Looman's score for marlin this season as 106, mostly black marlin and striped with some blues, the best ever for the north coast, while one has to look back to the 1998/99 season at Shimoni where the striped marlin run was incredible, and skippers Khadi on White Otter and Simon Hemphill on Kamara both beat the hundred mark with Pat Hemphill on Broadbill almost there on 96. Perhaps next season both the south and north coast will click together for this coming year – Kenya has some of the best sport fishing in the world and the figures to prove it. Let's hope the tourists keep coming as we recover from a slow season.
This will be the last article for this season – interesting to note that this completes ten years in this series, thanks to the encouragement and sponsorship of Capt Andy's. Interesting to note, my first caption in Sept 1999 was 'Fantastic fishing' while the editor preferred 'Overnight trip yields good catch' – three boats ran to the North Kenya Banks for 23 broadbill swordfish, a blue marlin and 64 yellowfin tuna over 20kgs! Still 'fantastic fishing' ten years on!
Mass Migration of Stingrays...........Read More
Comments from Simon Hemphill, Chairman of the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers .......Read More
February 2009 Newsletter - No 4
February 2009 Newsletter - No 3
February 2009 Newsletter - No 2
February 2009 Newsletter - No 1
January 2009 Newsletter - No 1
January 2009 Newsletter - No 2
January 2009 Newsletter - No 3
Howard & Sue
Howard Lawrence-Brown Deep Sea Fishing
Howard & Sue
Howard Lawrence-Brown Deep Sea Fishing