Up until around 1990, it was common to see huge sharks of various types cruising on the surface, particularly on calm days. Large Tiger sharks, Makos and Hammerheads were often sighted.

In fact during the early days when it was the norm to fish with dead baits, these sharks were often a major problem to us.

One could sometimes spend several hours catching marlin bait, only to have a shark come after it as soon as you put it out ! We were primarily after marlin, so if these precious baits were taken by a shark, it meant one had to then head back inshore to try and catch more bait. Not an option we favoured ! (more…)

Not long after the episode of the big Mako, My wife Maia and I had the incredible luck to be able to join two of our great friends, Terry and Jean Mathews, for a 9 day live-aboard trip out of Cairns, in North Queensland. This is almost certainly the best destination in the World for big Black Marlin, and I greatly wanted to see from the experts, just how to handle really big fish. I was not disappointed ! (more…)

When we started fishing way back in 1963, the only decent sized fish taken off the Kenya Coast was a 460 lbs black marlin caught by Douglas Hinde and his brother after an epic battle off Mtwapa. Most people simply trolled along the reefs for edible fish for the table, and hardly anyone went far offshore.

Occasionally something large was hooked, but due to inexperience, and inferior tackle, it normally resulted in a screaming run followed by a broken line, and many sad tales were recounted around the bar afterwards.

I regret to say I was no different, and in those days I only had a smallish sailfish gaff on board and knew very little about handling big fish if and when one would be brought to the boat.

I well remember the first time this did happen….. (more…)

I think every true fisherman must have read Hemingway’s “The old man and the sea”, and will have remembered Santiago’s battle with that huge marlin.

Well, right here in Shimoni, there is another Santiago, only his name is Suleimani. (more…)

This is an emotive and controversial subject, and one that I have often pondered. The way a fish takes off at high speed when feeling the hook suggests that it does, or is this just a reaction to the restraining influence of the line ?

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We sold the farm in 1962 as the land was to be taken over for African settlement.

Many of our neighbours opted to emigrate, but my wife, Maia and I were Kenya born, and loved this Country too much to move. we decide to try something different, possibly in Tourism.

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I think I must be the oldest, still active, skipper on this Coast, with around 46 years of professional charter work behind me.

As a kid, I was always interested in all kinds of fishing, particularly fly fishing for trout, in the small river not far from the farm where I was born, at a place called Londiani, in the Kenya highlands.

The river ran through virgin forest, and was stocked with rainbow trout. It was a lovely peaceful place full of wildlife, birds and butterflies. Often, while fishing, one could see a bushbuck or duiker come down to the river to drink, or a troop of the mountain colobus swing through the treetops.

The trout were small, but occasionally, if one was lucky, a good two or three pounder would come to the fly. It was the perfect way to spend an evening.

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