Despite a slow start there has been some really exciting fishing culminating in a total of 2 black marlin, 39 striped marlin and 11 sailfish from just 4 boats in 11 days. There are packs of small striped marlin that make for some really crazy times. These fish are really aggressive in the strikes and once they arrive in to the spread take really hard. Not all the stripies are small, there are some better size ones too as well as a few decent blacks. Noticeable however has been the scarcity of dorado and other smaller game fishes but I’m sure they will come in soon. There were some nice dorado up to about 15-kg though.

Wednesday 20th January – only Broadbill and White Otter out today, fishing was somewhat disappointing after the great marlin fishing the previous day (see last update) and only a couple were seen but not caught. Broadbill caught the only billfish, a sailfish.

Thursday 21st January – just Kamara II and White Otter out, conditions looked good but only Kamara II had any marlin strikes neither of which hooked up. Otherwise we tagged 1 sailfish and Otter tagged 2.

Friday 22nd January – today was our final day for our guests from Sweden and Kamara II fished them south to Tanga in Northern Tanzania, about 30 nautical miles from Shimoni where they would disembark. The wind was quite strong off the land in the morning and as we fished south the water became very dirty. This was most likely the inshore water being pushed out by the strong wind and ebbing tide. We didn’t see any billfish and entered Tanga Port around 1.30pm. Clearing customs and immigration was interesting since nobody was in the office when we got there. A government employee found the phone numbers and had to beg the immigration lady to come to her office to clear us in. Absolutely unbelievable, and then the customs officer didn’t have the correct paperwork necessary to fill out our clearance papers to leave. The guests were to stay at Ushongu Bay south of Tanga and Mike their guide was there to meet them. Eventually the guests were cleared and we were finally cleared to leave at 3pm.

When we entered Tanga the wind had shifted in to the NE and by the time we were leaving again the wind was pumping so we came up the inside passage. White Otter had tagged 2 striped marlin at 2pm and Eligio Battaia’s boat, Inca had got a striped marlin and a black marlin on their way down from Mombasa. We had sub-chartered Inca for a group starting on Saturday and have always found her to be a good boat. Eligio is a very good fisherman and knows these waters really well. It was pretty rough in the evening and because I wanted to get home in daylight we were having to push it a bit. We picked up our mooring at 6pm, just 3 hours from leaving the customs shed.

Saturday 23rd January – today marked the start of a new group of anglers from South Africa and Zimbabwe, 6 anglers fishing 2 to a boat. White Otter was also out today. The guys were still rather jaded in the morning having arrived in Shimoni at 1.30am so keeping awake was a bit of an effort, but they did pretty well it must be said. There was a strong NW first up and we all headed straight out in search of marlin and quite a few were seen. Marc Ager fishing on Kamara II with Colin Mostert had a good day tagging a small stripey in the morning and then a nice 200-lb black marlin on 30-lb line in the afternoon whilst Colin caught his first marlin, a stripey. They had another 4 marlin strikes that didn’t connect up during the day. White Otter also had a good day with 3 striped marlin including a quadruple strike from which they caught 2. In addition Inca tagged a sailfish.

Sunday 24th January – all 4 boats out again today Broadbill, Kamara II, White Otter and Inca. Errol Preston and Johan fishing on Inca had an incredible week’s fishing that really got going today. At 10am they had a triple strike from 2 striped marlin and a sailfish successfully tagging 1 marlin and the sail. These mixed strikes are not that common but do happen from time to time. They ended up with 4 striped marlin and a sailfish for the day, a fantastic day’s fishing. Marc Ager and Leith Bray caught a striped marlin each from Kamara II.

Monday 25th January – the same 4 boats out again today and there was a thick bank of cloud out to the east as we headed out, which usually signifies a strong wind later in the day. The cloud did clear by midday and there was a very nice sea running with a brisk northeaster. Inca hit another big pack of marlin; Eligio said that he thought there were at least 5 in the pack. They managed to tag 3 of these, not a bad way to start your day before 9am. However they only added a sailfish to their tally after that but still a pretty good day. Kamara II rose her first marlin at 7.30am very close in to the drop off. But just after 1pm we had one of those big packs hit us, right close in to the wake tugging at the teasers and pulling lines down out of the outriggers. We managed to hook 4, a 5th one took a 30 in the wake but the double line was cut most likely by one of the other fish. Leith Bray and Colin Mostert were hooked up and the crew also had a rod each. Incredibly the fish separated nicely and never became tangled. I had to leave the helm to run down to clear the spare lines and teasers; it was real pandemonium but great fun. Leith managed to get his up first, the smallest of the pack of about 70-lb only then took over Hamisi’s fish whilst the latter traced and tagged the first marlin. Leith then brought Hamisi’s fish in, which was close by and then took on the other crew’s fish. Colin’s fish, the first to take had gone a long way away whilst we were trying to get the other ones hooked up but finally we managed to get all 4 marlin. The 3 fish were all around the 100-lb mark so not the really small ones that have made up most of the packs thus far. White Otter had also had a triple strike from marlin but none of them hooked up so they ended up with just 1 sail.

Tuesday 26th January – all 4 boats out, sunny but a strong NE and quite rough conditions. Just heading out at 7.30am on the outer drop off Kamara II hooked up with a nice black marlin of around 250-lb that started jumping like crazy. The angler in his panic managed to knock the drag off in to freespool with the inevitable backlash. We turned the boat towards the fish to take the pressure off of the line but unfortunately the hook came out with the slack line, which is one better than a popped line. Inca also lost a black marlin early in the day that took out a lot of line and popped off. All in all there were fewer marlin seen today with only Kamara II returning with any flags, 2 striped marlin. The 2nd of these took just as we were coming in to the green water after 3pm and nobody at home knew we had it until we pulled in to the mooring with an extra green flag!

Wednesday 27th January – same 4 boats out and still pretty rough especially in the rips. Pat and his beloved Broadbill had been going through a really lean period not able to link up with any marlin. So many of the marlin are in packs and if you are lucky to hit a pack then you can suddenly get 3 or 4 at a time but if you steer between these packs it can be a long day. Marc Ager and Leith Bray fishing on Broadbill managed to finally break the jinx and tag a stripey each. Inca continued on a roll and caught another 3 marlin today and Kamara II caught 2 sailfish and a marlin. Like yesterday this marlin was last thing in the day right in close to the drop off.

Thursday 28th January – the final day for the group, Errol and Johan had decided to fish with Inca back to Mombasa rather than spend another night in Shimoni and have to take a taxi in the following day. They did tag 1 striped marlin although complained of it being very rough. The Ager brothers were fishing on Kamara II and caught a stripey each whilst Colin and Leith were fishing with Pat and also each caught a marlin.

All in all this group of 6 anglers had caught 1 black marlin, 28 striped marlin and 5 sailfish in 6 days fishing.

Friday 29th January Рonly Broadbill and Kamara II out today in the day although White Otter did go out night fishing. It was much calmer today and the rips were only barely showing. Mark Lempri̩re from Guernsey caught a nice striped marlin of around 160-lb and it was nice to see a big one after all the babies of the past few weeks. Broadbill also caught a striped marlin today.

White Otter found the night very rough and came in early; they didn’t get any strikes. The moon was very bright for much of the night and I have never had much success on the bright nights.

Saturday 30th January – White Otter after fishing last night was back out again today along with Broadbill and Kamara II. Carlos Rivero from Holland was starting his week with Pat and took 2 striped marlin. Kamara II went round to Funzi Keys to collect Peter Riedener from Switzerland, aged 70. Peter didn’t want to go out until 8am and then be back for lunch at 2pm. He had quite a bit of experience having fished in the Marlin World Cup in Mauritius on more than 1 occasion  but had never used 30-lb line before. He was a bit skeptical about it for marlin but I persuaded him to give it a try. He caught 2 striped marlin, both on 30-lb line and loved it returning with a big smile on his face. It was however very rough again today and in the morning really overcast. White Otter lost a nice black marlin that they estimated at over 300-lb and a striped marlin that bust the line. They also had a quadruple strike from marlin, had 2 of them on for a while but they both came off.

Kamara II has had a good run with 17 marlin in just 8 days, not quite their record that stands at 18 in 6 days. Signs are that the fishing should continue to be hot and there are certainly a lot of marlin there.