The Pemba Channel is lifting with fish ! On Thursday 26th June 2003 at 06:30 KAMARA II left her mooring and headed out to sea with Peter Kern of Betty's Tented Camp and Daniel Kohler from Switzerland on board. Daniel had never done any big game fishing before so Peter had given him some lessons at the Betty's Camp swimming pool the night before. As Daniel said, they did not catch very much there!

We headed out fast at 15 knots to the edge of the drop off before throttling back to a fast trolling speed and continuing on towards Pemba Island. We had been getting fresh reports of large numbers of yellowfin tuna by the Ras Kigomacha Lighthouse so were keen to head over that way. There was only a light chop and at that point seemed little chance of rain.

As we motored across we had a visit from a dorado, which thought better of taking and pushed off. Once we reached the other side of the Pemba Channel where the bottom rises up sharply as an escarpment we began to see small yellowfin tunas and skipjack tunas jumping almost everywhere. We caught these fairly regularly all through the morning while we headed south to the lighthouse. But once there there appeared nothing moving, no fish jumping or birds flying around.

The rain clouds started to develop over the island and as the first storm came over us the port outrigger line snapped out of the clip and Peter was hard and fast to his first big tuna. This was a fish of around 21-kg and gave the angler quite a good work out. As we circled around another fish struck and Daniel got a taste of what big game fishing is all about. He did very well and in a short time had a nice 22-kg tuna in the boat. As the day wore on the strikes from the smaller fish were coming fairly frequently and there was no time to get bored. As we turned for home suddenly all the lines and teasers began to get struck. Out of the 7 lines in the water we hooked up and boated 6 small yellowfins. Very soon after more tunas started striking the lures again. This time they were bigger fish but only the one hooked up and Peter whipped that in now becoming quite good at this. As we put the lines out again both of the outriggers were struck and both anglers were in the fight. Peter's fish came relatively easily but Daniel had found a tough opponent this time. It turned out to be the biggest of the day at 25-kg so he was a very happy angler. All in all they had 195-kg of fish including the 5 big ones and KAMARA II came powering back in to Shimoni at 19 knots with her 5 white flags flying proudly from the starboard outrigger.

The numbers of small tunas I find very encouraging as it not only means some recruitment to the fishery but also that there ought to be some big predators around. Thus far we have not raised any marlins in June but with so much food there should be some there. It all spells very well for the forthcoming season.

If you are interested in some good fun action fishing then why not give us a call. The big predators like large blue and black marlin will be there I am sure as well as mako sharks. And with so much food these fish ought to be really fat !

FANTASTIC FISHING IN JUNE !!!!

Yes, fishing in June - read on to get a taste of what is to come. The fish, both big and small are already here and taking, and there is variety.

Once a week the boats are taken out for a short run to charge up the batteries and to make sure that everything is running as it should. Yesterday, 9th June Pat and Simon decided to do a little recce out in to the Pemba Channel to see what, if anything was there. For some time we have been receiving reports from the locals travelling between Pemba Island and the mainland of large numbers of big yellowfin tuna. Data from the commercial fleets in the Western Indian Ocean indicate that the best tuna months off the East African coast are actually May and June and not September / October as we have always thought.

When we arrived in the area to the NW of Pemba Island where the tunas tend to congregate it was surprisingly calm and sunny for the month of June and there were some birds flying about, which was a good sign. There was even a wedge-tailed shearwater, which are never far from the fish. Plus we saw
a very big pod of spinner dolphin that entertained us for at least half an hour. However up until midday we had only picked up 5 small yellowfin tuna and 1 dorado so we decided to head for home. The wind had now picked up but was still only slightly choppy and in "Kamara II" very comfortable.

As we began to leave Hamisi spotted the birds and then the big splashes underneath. We turned back and were soon hard and fast to two nice tunas. In just 1.5 hours we had 4 yellowfin tuna between
21.8 and 35.8 kg, two more dorado and a skipjack tuna. We lost another nice tuna on the trace when the hook on the rapala came away from the lure plus one other that simply let go after five minutes. When we
left the area the fish were still up on the surface and there were fish jumping in all directions.

Also of great interest is that all the fish had full stomachs with a variety of food items including sardines, squid and prawns. This is a fantastic sign plus with so many smaller tunas there as well there must be
some big predators following the schools, such as big black and blue marlin and mako sharks.

"KAMARA II" is available for charter any time and the prospects look very good. There is always the chance of very rough weather in June and July but this boat copes pretty well with most seas. After all she was designed for the seas off Cape Town and our seas never get that bad. I am sure that in a few years time we will be looking back and asking ourselves why it was that we never fished at this time of the year.

FUN FISHING IN APRIL

During April although the billfish had finally moved off there was some wonderful light tackle fishing, particularly for dorado. There were loads of these beautiful creatures all over the Pemba Channel and one did not have to go far to find them. The average weight was around 10-kg and multiple strikes were the order of the day. On the right tackle these fish can easily give one as much fun as a marlin on heavier gear with the added benefit that they do not go deep. They have to be one of the most beautiful fish in the sea with their blues, greens and golds in a variety of colour combinations always leaping out of the water when hooked.

But dorado were not the only fish about and there were wahoo, kingfish (narrow barred mackerel), trevallys including the very attractive golden trevally, yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, rainbow runner and more.

It was interesting to note two schools of yellowfin tuna 20-kg+ but they stayed only very briefly on the surface and the weed was making fishing rather difficult.

Boats are still available and the weather is mostly still good with the occasional wet and windy day. If you are coming to Kenya give us a call and try your luck.

The Parente family returned to fish on 4th March with young Cedric Garcia making an amazing catch. He caught an estimated 260-lb black marlin on 30 -lb line in only 15 minutes whilst fishing from KAMARA II and it was only his first marlin. We had seen this fish finning and it came straight in and took one of Pat's homemade lures run behind a bird on a 30-lb line. On hookup it jumped once and never made any fast runs but rather did virtually nothing. We rapidly cleared the other 7 lines and 4 teasers and Cedric gradually and very smoothly drew the fish ever closer to the boat The decky, 'Small' took the leader and expertly worked the fish within range of the tag without spooking it. I placed the tag in the shoulder and still the fish did little. May be it had just had a big meal?

KAMARA II has taken her first broadbill swordfish leaving only the blue marlin of the six species of Billfish still outstanding. Keith Sanders and Al Klei each caught a broadbill with Al also tagging a small black marlin on 30-lb line earlier in the day.

The NE wind is still blowing and there are still marlin about. Boats are available ...

3rd March 2003 ..

Just when the monsoon appears to be coming to an end the NE wind starts to blow again with a vengeance. All the last week of February was mirror calm and rather hot but now we are back to great marlin conditions.

Right at the end of February Ken Wheeler and son-in-law, Paul Savidge managed a marlin each on KAMARA II. Paul tagged a striped marlin on 30-lb line and Ken a very spectacular black marlin of about 220-lb on 50-lb line. There have been loads of frigate mackerels close in off Shimoni along the drop-off with some black marlin and sailfish in there feeding on them. Even the striped marlin are not so far out now since all the food is so close to shore.

Yesterday 2nd of March the wind was blowing quite strongly from the NE and this appears to be continuing. Fishing with a French group led by Serge Parente plus two sons and some friends were fishing on the BROADBILL with Pat and the KAMARA II with Simon. Straight away in the morning we found some dorados and small yellowfin tunas of about 5-kg each. We live rigged two on Kamara II and 1 on Broadbill and trolled these for 3 hours to no avail. But it was most encouraging to see these tunas here as I am sure that the big marlin will not be far behind. We then switched to lures and were rewarded with some striped marlin. Garcia Antoine on BROADBILL released his first marlin on 30- lb line estimated at 110-lb. Shortly afterwards Jesus Nortes Ruiz tagged his first ever marlin also on a 30-lb line estimated at 130-lb fishing on KAMARA II. As we were heading back home another striped marlin came in and took a lure on a 30 and this was tagged by Robin Parente on KAMARA II. I think that this was Robin's first marlin, too just going to show that it is not necessary for you to have any previous experience to catch a marlin. If you have never done any marlin fishing, fear not as we are experienced teachers in our profession.

These latest marlin looked to be fresh run fish so we could be in for another run and may be those big mamas will be here soon, too! Boats are available as from Saturday 8th March 2003 !