Greetings,

Although I send out news updates during the season I thought it might be fun to put together a review of the whole season. We are now getting the boats ready for the new season servicing engines, repainting, servicing tackle and rectifying any problems that might have occurred during the season. I am happy to report that Kamara II engine troubles of 2008 were not repeated and hopefully now that we know what caused the problems we can prevent any reoccurrence. Although the problems resulted from a manufacturing defect Caterpillar has refused to accept any responsibility. I have since heard of at least five other boats powered by the same CAT model that experienced the same problems in some cases with terminal consequences.

Fishing was slow in the early part of the season with few days fished in August and September. Ari Steyn from South Africa tagged a striped marlin from Broadbill on 8^th September but with so few days fished its difficult to be sure what was out there. September always used to be high season back in the 1970’s and 80’s when anglers would come in search of big yellowfin tunas and blue marlin. Incidentally our biggest black marlin was taken on 1^st September 1984 so it wasn’t only the blues plus it was prime time for mako sharks. Although there has been a serious increase in commercial fishing activity in the Indian Ocean since 1984 I don’t think that the lack of big tuna can be blamed entirely on the purse seiners but very likely there was a shift in the currents. But, having said that if you are not out there how will you ever know whether the fish are there or not? I am convinced that they will be back, both the big tuna and the big marlin and wouldn’t it be great if it was to be this year.

One thing that we must remember is that there will always be good years and bad years. The old guys are always regaling us with tales of the good old days but when you study the statistics you note that there were peaks and troughs even then. These are natural cycles that may be caused by a number of different factors that may include movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, el Niño, la Niña, current movements, Indian Ocean Dipole activity etc. For example the early to mid 1970s were horrendous, Broadbill in her first season in 1972 was the top marlin boat with just 18 marlin and in Malindi there were virtually no sailfish!

These days October – November has become a time for safaris away from the Pemba Channel especially now that Pemba Island is a no go area. That is really sad but the Zanzibar-Pemba authorise have made it unaffordable. They have increased the annual fishing licence fee from $500 to US$3,000 per boat, and added a $10 per person daily park fee plus $50 anchoring fee plus a tax that amounts to 25% of your turn-over per day. Very sad because those trips were great fun but now we go to northern Kenya, which is perhaps even more beautiful. Anchorages like Kiwayu are stunning, still totally undeveloped and wild plus the fishing is usually pretty good. For those that would rather stay on shore there are some great options.

The Latham Open Tournament run by the Dar es Salaam Yacht Club in Tanzania was held on 10^th / 11^th October 2008 and Kamara II was chartered to fish it by a team from Rohlig-Grindrog Tanzania. It’s a long trip taking two days there and back, (about 160nm south) and usually ends up being a full week away. Sadly the fishing was very poor again this year with very few big yellowfin or dog-tooth tuna but there were a couple of black marlin released by Kamara II and White Otter. This year the Latham Open will be on Friday 25^th and Saturday 26^th September 2010 and both boats are presently available.

Soon after returning to Shimoni it was a quick turnaround then off again to Malindi, 100nm north. There we picked up Gary and Darren Baynton from the UK for their annual safari to northern Kenya. We started off by night fishing for swordfish on the North Kenya Banks, which turned out to be very successful. We had quite a few strikes throughout the night successfully releasing four with the last strike at 5.30am. There were a couple of rain storms moving in signalling a change in the weather and fishing in the morning was not too hot with just one 24.5-kg yellowfin. We dropped anchor off the Peponi Hotel and had a bit of a rest and a nice meal before carrying on north the following morning.

We spent a night in Manda Bay followed by four nights in the north of Kiwayu Island then back to Manda Bay, Peponi and finally back to Malindi after 9 days. The fishing was not as good as it had been the past couple of years, the water was rather dirty and the sailfish pretty shy. There were however quite a few yellowfin offering good sport with the poppers.

It was in November that the fishing really picked up momentum with sailfish appearing all along the coast in larger numbers than ever seen before. There were also a few striped marlin around in the Pemba Channel plus a few reasonable yellowfin and wahoo. Kamara II moved back north to Malindi mid-November to fish the final half of the month there. During the first week we fished Victor Loppies and John Vlak from the Netherlands, Vic having last fished with us back in the 1980’s during the years when my family owned and ran the Pemba Channel Fishing Club. Vic was particularly keen to try his luck at popping for GTs on the Malindi Banks, which I had had good success with in November 2006. But, it depends on the presence of frigate mackerel schools boiling on the surface drawing the GTs up to the top so that almost every time a popper was cast over the school and worked back through it a violent strike from big GTs would result. Unfortunately this time around there was very little action on the banks at all and we couldn’t get any success with the poppers. We also tried drifting for tiger sharks in the canyon the following week but seemingly the tigers didn’t come this year as nobody was getting more than the very occasional strike.

But, the sailfish action was absolutely outstanding, really world class with some boats scoring 25 or more fairly frequently. Fishing is such a wonderful sport but sometimes when the fishing is really, really good we sacrifice quality for numbers. Sailfish can be very difficult to hook, much harder than a marlin but once on are usually fairly easy to land. It’s the hook-up that requires the skill and once on so long as you keep your line tight chance of losing the fish fairly remote. I told all my guys not to try and compete with the other boats in terms of numbers just enjoy the experience. If you want to catch a billfish with me then you are going to have to hook it yourself and we’ll do our best to teach you how. When a fish is hooked by the crew and handed over to you that’s what we call a “Committee fish”.

Vic and John managed 43 sailfish in their 7 days, which included a day popping on the banks. We were experiencing some problems in raising the sails after the initial successful days and it was not until we speeded up following advice from a fellow skipper, Peter Darnborough of “Alley Cat”; thanks Pete. Normally one has to fish much slower for sail but this year we needed to go at marlin speeds in order to raise them. Bartjan Kerklaan and his son Nick also from the Netherlands fished the second week taking 42 sails in 6 days, which included a day drifting for tiger sharks in the canyon.

The sailfish were not restricted to Malindi however and the Shimoni boats were experiencing some good days whilst we were away. Two of the club boats made a couple of trips to the sea mountain, not a lot of action but they did get broadbill most trips. Broadbill fished by Robert Moroni and colleagues took four sails on 22^nd November and White Otter had five on 24^th and six on 26^th. Kamara II got back to Shimoni 1^st December to begin charters from Shimoni the following day.

The fishing in December was very good for sailfish and marlin as well as dorado. The sail were mostly in close by Funzi and Msambweni with the marlin further offshore so one was able to target the sail first thing then move out to look for marlin. Ken Dodgson, who first fished with us together with the late Harry Dutfield was fishing with John Levick. Old Harry was a wonderful man who fished with us for many years until he was 90 years old actually catching a marlin on his 90^th birthday. He was a very good angler and all of his fish were caught by the rules and always outfished his much younger fishing buddies. Ken and John had a couple of very good days including on 9^th fishing from Broadbill two striped marlin and a sailfish, and on their last day on Kamara II two striped marlin and four sailfish. Fishing at the same time were Stuart and his son Zach Bowen-Davies who on 9^th did a day/night trip aboard Kamara II with Zach catching the biggest yellowfin tuna of the season that weighed in at 58.1-kg. This fish took a Pakula lumo sprocket on the short rigger just as it was getting dark. We had four broadbill strikes in the night with none of them hooking up and during the day lost a stripey with a couple other strikes from both sail and marlin. That night there was a full moon so it was interesting that we still had strikes but then broadbill can hardly afford to wait until the dark nights. I believe the problem may be more that on a bright night the cyalume light sticks don’t show up as well to draw attention to the lures.

The good fishing continued in December to the end of the year with lots of sailfish, some striped marlin and even a few nice black marlin around. John Papagrigorakis from Greece staying at the Funzi Keys caught one of these estimated at about 250-lb on one of Pat’s own lures; they also had four sails that day.

Summary December: 1 black marlin; 10 striped marlin; and 34 sailfish in 26 fishing trips.

In January, the blue marlin started to make an appearance with Eirik Trondsen tagging one estimated at 280-lb and Ole Ambur both from Norway one of 180-lb on 4^th January from Kamara II along with two sailfish. Rafael Akhmadullin from Russia then caught one of 150-lb two days later from Broadbill on 30 and on 12^th Yvgeny Karyakin also from Russia caught a 180-lb blue from Kamara II. The Pemba Channel has historically been the best area in Africa for striped marlin but this season for whatever reason, most likely food related they stayed in the north producing the most outstanding fishing that part of the country has ever experienced.

Summary for January: 1 black marlin; 6 blue marlin; 13 striped marlin; and 47 sailfish in 38 boat days.

February produced much of the same but the marlin were hard work to find although there were still some great days. Réne Baand from Denmark fishing on Kamara II caught three striped marlin and a sailfish on 2^nd February. During the middle of the month a large number of decent sized yellowfin tuna appeared in the area we affectionately refer to as the “Tunny area” off the north-west of Pemba Island. It was a spectacular sight to see these fish leaping clear of the water as they chased squids and flying fish. This was what we used to see in September – October, and I’m sure will do again. As soon as the tuna appeared so we began to see some nice blues and blacks and even better catching a few. On 8^th February Jan Juel Baand caught a nice 250-lb black marlin on 30-lb line from Broadbill. The following day regular, John Carr-Hartley and 10-yr old son, Mark fishing together with Gary Keevil from Botswana scored a grand slam of a blue marlin, striped marlin, sailfish along with a 25-kg yellowfin on Broadbill.

John, who has been fishing with us for many years and never caught a blue marlin now caught two in as many days. The first as part of the grand slam was a beautiful 350-lb fish on 50 and the stripey he caught that day was also a 5:1 on 30 so a special grand slam. The following day on Kamara II John landed a 365-lb blue on 50 that sadly could not be revived and had to be boated. In Africa no fish is wasted so that everything landed is eaten and over a season only about 1 or 2% of all billfish are boated. That second blue destroyed the fighting chair and fortunately John is not a big guy as I had to hold the chair in place throughout the fight. The pedestal was aluminium and had been welded a few times but was now beyond it. You will be pleased to note that we have a new stainless steel pedestal that will take some breaking! I was contemplating removing the chair altogether and fitting a rocket launcher instead for stand-up fishing but John persuaded me otherwise.

Young Mark deserves special mention because for a 10-yr old he did amazingly well and its always such a pleasure to take youngsters out especially when they are as keen as Mark. He never complained, and never gave up and made us all very proud as he subdued striped marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna and big dorado, well done mate.

Fishing at the same time were other regulars Jonina Fourie and Leon du Toit from South Africa. Jonina caught her first blue marlin, about 150-lb on Kamara II on 9^th and Leon lost a big fish estimated at 350-400 lb the following day on 50 after about 20 mins. Pat says that he thinks this fish was wrapped in the leader and very likely dead and trying to haul a dead fish up from the depths, especially sideways is a very hard ask. As a skipper it is always very rewarding to see someone develop their skills each time they fish with us and both Jonina and Leon have come a long way since they first fished with us. As you develop the techniques the fights become easier, less straining on the body and you enjoy the experience that much more.

The third week of February was very disappointing as the sea became calm and the winds variable and it looked as though the monsoon was changing. Deon Franken picked up a 180-lb black marlin on 30 aboard Kamara II on 21^st but that was the only highlight that week. In previous years this week has often been the pick of the season so one can never tell in advance how its going to be. Later in the month and in to early March we were to do some night fishing with some success. On 25^th Kamara II set off on an extended combo with Charlie McCrow and Lindsay Brown from the UK and we got two broadbill and three sailfish. We had about a half dozen strikes in the night but unfortunately no marlin in the day time.

Summary for February: 2 broadbill; 2 black marlin; 3 blue marlin; 13 striped marlin; and 38 sailfish in 51 days fished.

In March there were only charters in the first week with one broadbill on the night of 2^nd for Leonard Wood and another on night 5^th caught by Albertus van Brakel both from South Africa. On that second trip, an extended combo we also had a sail, a 22-kg yellowfin quite a few dorado, big eye trevally and smaller tuna. In between the two night trips they had a day on Broadbill catching three sails one for each of them, Albertus, Conrad Durand and Leonard.

Season statistics:

{BKM – black marlin; BLM – blue marlin; MLS – striped marlin; SWO – swordfish; SAI – sailfish}

* Shuwari also released a shortbill spearfish

As you will see from the table it was Pat and Broadbill who came out top on marlin this time around. We’ll see what happens this coming season!

Prices:

We are pleased to advise you that we plan to make no changes to our fishing rates for this season and Betty’s Camp will also be maintaining their rates as have Avenue Motors for the transfers. Hence fishing rates will remain as follows:

Please contact us for a quote regarding fishing away from Shimoni such as Latham, Malindi and for North Kenya safaris.

African Billfish Foundation (ABF) – I should like to thank all of you that have joined the ABF as members. Your support is very much appreciated and without it the very necessary tagging programme would not be sustainable. The ABF now has a new website, the URL of which is www.africanbillfish.org where you can find all the information you may need about tagging plus there is a forum where you can ask questions, make suggestions or simply contribute to a debate.

Kenya Association of Sea Anglers (KASA) – this is the governing body for saltwater sport fishing in Kenya and for my sins I am the chairman. We published the “Rainbow Runner” magazine in 2008 and should have the next edition out in August. If you are fishing with us we’ll give you a complimentary copy or you can purchase a copy at many of the book stores, Captain Andy’s Fishing Supply and others but ask your skipper. In the magazine you will find the updated Kenya fishing records, the ABF tagging report, interesting articles and the KASA code-of-ethics. We are also developing a new website that should be available very soon at www.sportfishingkenya.or.ke

We hope to see as many of you as possible during the 2008/09 fishing season in Shimoni or on a North Kenya fishing safari. Bookings are already coming in at a rapid pace so if you are interested in making a booking please don’t leave it too late. We wish you all the best for the coming season whatever you do or wherever you go and please stay in touch.

Tight lines!

Best wishes,

Pat, Maia, Simon, Tina, Lyndsay, Chris and all our wonderful staff

Sea Adventures Ltd,

Email: hemphill@bigame.com

Website: http://www.bigame.com

Tel: +254 (0)722 796 198 (Simon) or (0)722 479 864 (Maia)