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Sea
Adventures Ltd would like to wish everyone a very Happy
New Year !
The
Kenyan elections have passed by very peacefully and with
a landslide victory to the opposition. All Kenyans are
filled with a great sense of hope and we believe that
this will mark a turning point for the better in our
history.
The
fishing since Christmas has continued to improve with
large numbers of striped marlin moving in. On Saturday
28th December two Shimoni boats found a lot of marlin
and for a few hours they were getting strike after strike
but not hooking up. Simon was out the same day but fishing
further to the north and had to make use of Kamara II's
power to get to where the other boats were but by then
the fish had gone off the boil. We saw two striped marlin
tailing but neither would eat. One of the other boats
finally caught a small blue marlin they estimated at
180-lb. The following day was very rough as a result
of a cyclone in the Mauritius area about 2,000 miles
away. There were two striped marlin tagged out of quite
a few strikes.
On
Monday 30 December Simon took out regular visitor from
Nairobi, Paresh Haria on Kamara II. The day started poorly
with very hazy, humid conditions but at noon the sun
broke through the haze and the wind picked up. We had
a double header hooking up with the one on 30- lb outfit,
which Paresh brought alongside to be tagged and released
after a photo session estimated at 115-lb. We were still
putting lines out when another fish took a small lure
on a 30-lb off the outrigger and this again was tagged
estimated at 135-lb. Within the hour Paresh was hooked
up again to a very nice stripey again on 30- lb. This
fish, also tagged and released was estimated at 160-lb,
a 5:1 on 30.
The
prospects look very good and there is still a lot of
availability within the next couple of months.
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We
had no fishing from 4th to 9th but started on Friday
10th with a group from the Red Sea Fishing Company in
Holland fishing on Kamara II. The weather has been very
rough and a visiting boat had reported seeing no marlin
on the days immediately before Friday. However we tagged
and released the first black marlin for Kamara II caught
by Cap Driel on a 50-lb line. I estimated this fish at
about 90- kg. Cap also tagged a sailfish on a 30-LB line
the same day. We saw two striped marlin tailing but neither
would take. On Saturday another member of the group,
Erik played another small black for 10 minutes before
it jumped and threw the hook. We saw 4 striped marlin
as well but these were not taking properly or not at
all. At the last minute we tagged a 27-kg sail caught
by Cap again. Then on Sunday Jan van der Haar released
a black marlin of about 80-kg on 50-LB line. We saw three
striped marlin on the way home one of which took a lure
but failed to hook up. The other two refused to take
even a small bonito.
The
conditions look to be improving so may be the striped
marlin will start taking. There are lots of dorado, mostly
averaging 5-7 kg plus a few barracuda and today we also
saw some small tunas, a very encouraging sign.
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Since
my last report we have been subjected to some rather
strange weather and green water. The marlin have still
been there in good numbers but often hard to persuade
them to eat. The situation has been such that if you
cannot spot fins you don't catch fish, but luckily we
have some real eagle-eyed crews who spot the smallest
fin from more than 100m. Over the last few days the wind
has dropped, the sea calmed and the current accelerated
north bringing with it cleaner blue water.
On
13th January Stephen Calle caught two striped marlin
and his fishing partner Guido Van de Steen both from
Belgium released a sailfish from Kamara II. We saw three
other marlin that day, which would not follow. On 14th
- 16th fishing was poor despite seeing three marlin each
day but the sea was calm and rather dirty green with
few flying fish. There are many tiny kawakawas both close
in and further out and Guido caught a nice 18-kg wahoo
on a cd-14 rapala whilst bait fishing.
On
17th Broadbill tagged and released two striped marlin
for Dutch visitors Mr. Niemarkt and Mr. Van der Berge
both caught on 30-lb line. Eric Onderwater also from
Holland released a stripey from Kamara II and three other
marlin were also seen. Broadbill had a strike from a
nice black marlin on a 30-LB line estimated at 300-lb,
which unfortunately jumped and threw the lure almost
immediately. 13 marlin were seen by 4 boats as well as
a huge school of pilot whales.
On
18th no marlin were caught although seen but we also
had the privilege of seeing no less than 4 sun fish (Mola
mola) and 5 huge manta rays.
On
19th Bartjan Kerklaan tagged a strriped marlin on Kamara
II and Simba from Watamu boated one marlin and lost another
after 5 minutes. Inca also lost a marlin and 11 marlin
were seen by the three boats out. On 20th Cap Driel released
a striped marlin on Kamara II to add to his black and
sail caught earlier in the week. We saw 6 other marlin
that day.
It
is not uncommon to see packs of 4 or more marlin finning
together and when they start to really take those here
will have a ball.
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18th
Feb cont ..
This
episode should be screened in about 4 weeks time so if
you have access to DST or MNet keep a look-out for it.
There is some really great footage there.
For
the last 10 days to the middle of February 2003 the marlin
fishing has been very slow as a result of the cyclone
to the east of Madagascar. However there have been large
numbers of kingfish (narrow barred mackerel) together
with some wahoo, lots of dorado and a few yellowfin tuna
to 16-kg. Running a rapala along the drop off has almost
guaranteed a good number of kingfish. A very nice black
marlin was lost on a sailfish rig in just 40m of water
early one morning and quite a few sailfish are starting
to be seen in the same area. Further out there are lots
of squid, frigate mackerel, dorado, flying fish and some
yellowfin tunas in sub-surface schools. With so much
food and beautiful cobalt blue water the marlin have
got to turn on very soon. Conditions looked much better
today, Saturday 15 February.
We
still have availability in March if you are looking for
a marlin holiday. Early March is traditionally the time
for big marlin. E-mail
me go to our bookings page to
make a reservation.
Tight
Lines!
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Meanwhile
- two Dutchmen have a wonderful introduction to big game
fishing :-
Marcel
Dekkers and Dinand Rouwenhorst both from Holland came
to Sea Adventures Ltd through our Dutch agents, Red Sea
Fishing having done no big game fishing at all.
After
4 days of fishing they were well and truly hooked so
took an extra day that they will not forget in a hurry.
On
day 1 fishing with Simon on the KAMARA II both Dinand
and Marcel each tagged their first marlin, and both on
30-lb line. Marcel's fish was estimated at around 130-lb
but Dinand's was a beauty of about 165-lb hence a 5:1.
Not bad to get a 5:1 (a fish 5 X the breaking strength
of the line being used) on your first attempt. On day
2 Dinand tagged his second stripey also from KAMARA II,
a bit smaller and on 50-lb line. They also had some kingfish
and plenty of dorado all new species for them. Day's
3 and 4 were a bit quiet although they still added a
wahoo to their list. Then on day 5 on KAMARA II again
Marcel started off the day very well with his first sailfish
of about 60-lb on 30-LB line. The middle part of the
day was a bit quiet despite lots of Dorado and then on
the way home the best bit of all.
There
were schools of frigate mackerel along the drop off and
out to the 1,000-ft contour. I swung the boat around
one of these schools and a black marlin estimated at
250-lb came in very fast on the moldcraft wide range
softhead trolled on the centre outrigger. It knocked
that down then chased a small lure being wound in to
the boat right in to the wake where it saw another big
softhead. It pounced on this and we had a hook up. Dinand
was in the chair on the 50-LB Shimano tiagra curved butt
setup and the fish went like a bat out of hell. After
just 20-minutes it was brought to the boat and tagged
for a very happy boy and another 5:1.
Following
their visit I had the pleasure of taking out fishing,
a great friend of mine and experienced angler, Ray Matiba,
We ended up with 2 sailfish and a striped marlin. We
also rose a black marlin, which would not take. That
would have given us a grand slam but it was not to be.
The
conditions look absolutely great with loads of feed close
in along the drop-off. These are mostly frigate mackerel
that are being chased by sailfish and black marlin plus
wahoo, kingfish and Dorado Further out the water is that
beautiful cobalt blue the Pemba Channel is renowned for
and there are plenty of flying fish, squids and Dorado
The rips are showing and the wind is still blowing from
the correct direction although the current is not moving
much.
There
is AVAILABILITY in March and it is only a matter of time
before a big marlin is hit under the current conditions.
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