24th December 2003

Fantastic Marlin Fishing!

We have just completed two very exciting safaris to Pemba Island with some great fishing and great company. Regular visitor, Ko os Pretoria from Cape Town returned for another 8-day live aboard safari on" Kamara II" together with his brother, Isaac and friends Barry Vent er and Clare Roselle all from British Columbia, Canada. The first few days were quite rough with strong northerly winds but the fish were up and taking. During the middle of the the safari the sea became a little too calm and the marlin were not quite so aggressive but then the last few days were good again.

Over the 8 days we caught a total of 10 striped marlin and 3 sailfish or 1.625 billfish per day. We lost 4 other marlin and 6 strikes that did not hook-up, some of these were just knock downs but still it gives a hook- up rate of 70%, which we feel is pretty impressive on artificial's. We saw 15 other marlin including two blacks that did not strike. The sailfish having been quite prolific during November did not appear until day 5 when we had a double header on the N. Pemba drop off including a beauty in excess of 40-kg caught by Ko os on 30-lb line. We tagged 3 sailfish, had 3 other strikes and saw 5 that would not come in to the spread. In addition we had a couple of good wahoo of 19.5 and 19-kg plus we saw 4 big tiger sharks that we did not offer a bait to.

Every evening after fishing Ko os and party would take their fly rods and go up the creek in the rubber duck and without fail they always came back with dinner, small trevallies and snappers. These were prepared on the bra ai by Ko os who is an expert on cooking fish.

Over the same period Pat on "Broadbill" brought Halyard Muller (not the rugby player!) his father and his girlfriend over to Pemba. Halyard is determined to catch a marlin on fly. Last year he cast to one but it would not take the fly so this time he came better prepared and with
the increased number of fish the chances were good. He fished for 5 days and cast the fly to 12 marlin, 3 of them took the fly. On the first one he under-estimated the strength of a marlin and this together with a mad adrenalin rush that gets us all the fish pulled the rod right out of his hand in to the sea. Fortunately he pulled the rod back but the fish was gone. He then hooked another that he fought for just short of 2 hours. Just when it looked as though he might land it, the shooting head was on the reel, that the screws securing the reel to the reel seat just stripped out of the aluminium housing and the reel came detached from the rod. He was using a "Stealth" reel and we all came to the conclusion that this reel is a heap of C#! The maximum drag was insufficient so Halyard had to use his gloved hand throughout resulting in uneven drag. On the final day a pack of 5 or 6 marlin rose to the teasers and Halyard hooked up with another. This one he fought for 2.5 hours bringing the fish very close to the boat but finally the tippet gave way. Next time around, hopefully with better equipment Halyard will get one. He has gained some invaluable experience in fighting marlin on fly tackle as has Pat it has to be said.

With so many marlin around the outlook for the rest of the season is looking very rose. After all it is only the beginning of the season!

Why not make a booking now for January 2004 where there is still plenty of space. We have free space in February, too so contact us to make your reservation. Despite any travel advisories to the contrary Kenya is a safe place to visit, and to live in - I should know !

17th December 2003

Maria Hemphill reports :-

Simon went over to Pemba on Kamara 2 on Saturday 13th Dec with Ko os Pretoria and three friends and they have had some good fishing. Saturday was rough and not much around but they managed to tag one Striped Marlin, the only marlin seen. On Sunday they had a ball - it was very rough and the N.E. blowing hard but there were a lot of marlin around. They were seeing packs of 8 and 10. They tagged three stripey's and lost a fourth.

Yesterday, Monday, they did not see quite so many, the wind was still blowing well, but the sea not quite so rough, but was a bit dirty over by Pemba. They moved towards Centre Channel and tagged another nice stripey of about 140 lbs on 30 lb line and lost another. These marlin are all big, none of them under 140 lbs, one was estimated at 160 lbs, two at 150 lbs, then one was 145 and another one of 140. They are being taken on 30lb and 50 lb tackle, and all tagged and released.

7th December 2003

THE MONSOON HAS CHANGED & THE MARLIN HAVE ARRIVED !

The marlin are here and already we have had a triple header plus there are lots of sailfish!

During the last week the wind has swung in to the northeast and almost immediately marlin began to appear. The first real day of northeast was Thursday 27th November when Simon was returning from Malindi with Kamara II keeping close to the reef to avoid the fast north flowing current. They tagged a sailfish estimated at 32-kg that took at 10 knots but saw little else on the journey. Another boat fishing out of Shimoni tagged a striped marlin in the Pemba Channel signifying the start of the marlin season.

The following morning Kamara II fished by Patrick & Leone Holdback from Denmark set out on a day/night/day charter of 34 hours. In the early morning there was some very heavy rain cutting visibility down to a maximum of about 200m, which is when it is nice to have radar. Patrick hooked a sailfish on a 30-lb line in the middle of the rain and it was duly tagged and released estimated at 30-kg. The remainder of the day was a little disappointing and the water had turned green with the rain. In the late evening we headed up to the north of Pemba Island and at 7pm set out three lines for broadbill. 30 minutes later we had our first strike and Patrick fought the fish for about 25 minutes before the 50-lb line bust. It appeared to be a very strong fish and we were all very disappointed to lose it. Unfortunately that was the only strike that we had all night apart from a bigeyes trevally. The morning was very calm but the water was again a deep azure blue. The wind picked up a little by 9am and the rips started to show and soon after we saw a marlin tailing. This one would not raise to the lures but we saw another boat drop a marlin next to us. We had a strike soon after but it did not connect and never followed back. Then at midday as I aimed to join a rip there were two sharp hand claps from below that signifies a billfish has entered the pattern and is guaranteed to send the adrenalin levels in to overdrive. I spun round to see a striped marlin trying to eat the port teaser and I hurriedly started pulling it out of the way when a second marlin grabbed the starboard teaser. I was trying to handle both teasers at the same time rushing from one side of the fly bridge to the other. By this stage one was already hooked up on a small Legend Lure given to me by Rowdy Hays and within a very short time all three were hooked up, two on 50-lb outfits and one on 30-lb. Unfortunately we lost one of the fish on 50 after 5 minutes but managed to tag Patrick's fish on 50 estimated at 130-lb. Leone's fish on 30 was taking a long time and it became obvious that this fish was foul-hooked. She played it beautifully and finally after 1 hour 50 minutes we took the trace and placed the tag and it was only then that the fish really started jumping giving a wonderful display on the leader before finally releasing itself. Her fish was a beauty estimated at 150-lb, a 5:1 on 30-lb line not bad for a first billfish.

The following day Patrick and Leone fished with Pat on Broadbill with Leone tagging her first sailfish in the morning. There are a lot of sailfish in the Pemba Channel this season with some big packs. Patrick lost a marlin in the middle of the day, which just came off after about 10 minutes.

Availability - we have space on the big boats between Christmas and New year a time that has always proved to be very good. In January there is availability from 10th to end of the month and still some space in February. Kamara 1 is also available at the cheaper rates and despite her lack of speed is no less successful.

20th November 2003

Throughout November there have been much larger numbers of sailfish than usual all along the coast line including off Funzi. Mostly they are being very difficult to raise in to the pattern since they are feeding on very small white bait. There are big schools of dorado and yellowfin tuna as well as of skipjack tunas all the way from Hale Point to Mamba Shundo just south of the Tanzania border.

Kamara II was on charter during the first week of the month for the African Billfish Cup operated jointly by Red Sea Fishing from Holland and Kingfisher Boats, Malindi. This is an annual tournament and the second time that Sea Adventures boats had been invited to take part. There were plenty of sailfish although not taking well and Kamara II tagged sailfish most days. On one day the team decided to try their luck for sharks so we moved to the canyon off Atom. We released two tiger sharks one estimated at 150-kg caught by Andre de Viet and the other of 300-kg caught by Jan Choker, both on 80-lb line.

Since returning to Shimoni Hugo Buys and party from South Africa fished on Broadbill and Kamara II for 3 days. This party were staying at the Betty's Tented Camp and confirmed to me that they had had excellent service and very good food. If you are a party of 6 or 8 it is worth considering a very reasonable option of exclusive use of the camp. On day three the party fishing on Kamara II were unlucky not to get a 300-lb black marlin that took a CD-14 rapalas on a 50-lb line in just 30m of water right on the edge of the Kitugamwe Reef. Unfortunately this fish came forward and crossed over the line breaking free but not before giving a spectacular display. Having never seen a marlin before they all now understand what all the hype is about.

Peter Harris and his wife from South Africa are fishing with Pat over at Pemba Island. Peter tagged a 170-lb black marlin on 30-lb line on the edge of the Me sale Island Reef yesterday for his first ever marlin. They will be fishing tonight for broadbill swordfish.

The wind is starting to swing in to the NE so perhaps the striped marlin will come in early this season. The mornings are typically very calm but in the afternoons the wind is starting to blow nicely from the ideal direction.

There is still plenty of availability and remember that until 15th December rates are still low season.

31st October 2003.

The fishing has been good throughout October with the striped marlin making an appearance early in the month. Marlin were being seen most days out although number of trips were down. Mark Emptier from the Channel Islands caught his first striped marlin of 130-lb on Kamara II fishing with Pat (Simon was away in the UK so Pat took the opportunity to play with Kamara II) on a 50-lb line and another visitor took a 120 po under on 30-lb line from Broadbill. Sailfish have also been seen sometimes in quite good numbers but feeding on very small white bait and not being too co-operative.

The big yellowfin tunas are still very much in evidence although the food source seems to have shifted slightly from the mantis shrimps to brown swimming crabs for the time being. These tunas are all along the coast line quite close to shore. Pat took a party of Japanese anglers out to Pemba for 6 days only using casting rods. They were casting huge poppers with unbelievable results. To start with over at Pemba things were a bit quiet although a couple of big giant trevally were hooked and lost. They moved back over to the mainland and fished the Kitugamwe and Shundo reefs with great success. Mr. Amaze caught the biggest tuna of 70-kg, this one actually by deep jigging and he brought the fish up in very quick time. They had 6 other smaller ones of 25-32 kg either on the poppers or on deep jigging. The following day they had 7 more but most exciting on that gear, although not ordinary spinning gear.

As well as the tuna they had a 25-kg kingfish (narrow-barred mackerel), a 25-kg wahoo and some snappers and smaller trevallies. There is a lot of mixed bag action off Funzi as well and all augers well for the billfish season. We still have vacancies in early or late December and in January.

26th August 2003

TUNA SOUP, WAHOO, MARLIN !

I have just returned from a safari with Kamara II to Pemba and Zanzibar where we had some wonderful fishing. We had been chartered to fish the Dornier family from Munich who were staying at the very luxurious Mnemba Resort situated on Mnemba Island to NE of Zanzibar. The island is stunningly beautiful and the resort very nice but everything is rather spoilt by the management who are most un welcoming.

The area around the Even Bank just north of Zanzibar and around Mnemba Island itself was lifting with fish. The mantis shrimps were swarming around the Even with the tunas hovering them up in military like progressions. It was not just yellowfin tunas but also dog- tooth tunas, skipjack tuna, frigate mackerel and rainbow runners that were there. I was surprised that there were no wahoo there but may be they are still all in the Shimoni/Pemba area. We saw at least half a dozen humpback whales there also feeding on the shrimps.

We caught a good number of yellowfin tuna to 34-kg and a dog-tooth tuna of 10,5-kg. Then on our departure from Zanzibar with just myself and the two crew we boated a lovely 160-kg black marlin that took a marlin lure on 50-lb line only 30 minutes out from the Ras Nungwi anchorage. The fish was caught by Hamisi (big) after only 45 min. but unfortunately we were unable to revive it and so had to boat it.

Once back in Pemba we fished the drop off near the Ras Kigomacha Lighthouse and found schools of wahoo. They were hitting us in packs, very destructive on tackle but we caught 11, the biggest weighed in at 23,5-kg but most between 15-20 kg. There were lots of small tunas along the escarpment edge, a very good sign that should mean marlin must be there although we did not actually raise any.

There are millions of big yellowfin tuna down on the reefs to the south of Shimoni as well as wahoo in similar numbers to over near Pemba. Up on the shallower water there were lots of Job and other species and overall there is just an amazing abundance of fish.

If you are interested in good action fishing then now is the time to book.

Previous - 9th August 2003

Great Tuna Action !

I was out fishing yesterday with a French angler on "Kamara II". I decided to give the off-shore reefs to the south of Shimoni a shot and see if the yellowfin tuna were not congregating in that area again this year. It seems that yet again the mantis shrimps are still here in swarms. In fact yesterday I saw more than I think I have ever seen before almost turning the water brown there are so many. The yellowfin were indeed there just porpoising along like a huge attacking army covering an area of about 2 or 3 miles. They can be very difficult to catch when they are feeding on the shrimps and you have to approach them with care generally using extremely long lines. On the whole if the fish detects the boat nearby they will not feed.

But from the time we arrived at 8.15am to 2pm the action was non-stop and my usual cup of coffee and sandwiches at 9am had to be delayed until about 12.30pm. We ended up with 13 yellowfin tuna mostly about 20-25 kg on 30's and 50's and the angler was quite exhausted by the end of it. We must have lost about the same number again either just coming off or the hooks on the rapalas and halcos straightening out. We also had 2 nice wahoo of 21,5-kg and 16-kg plus a couple of rainbow runners all for 320-kg.

He was a very happy angler especially when he learnt that the fish belonged to him, the punter. We sold them on his behalf and the proceeds paid for nearly half the charter so he has booked 2 more trips. These fish will stay around for a while so if you are looking for some great action fishing Shimoni is the place to come to.

20th July 2003

As we prepare for the coming 2003/4 season here is a summary of the 2002/03 :-

It was just over a year ago that we brought Kamara II up from South Africa and already her first season in Shimoni is over. It was one big learning curve for Simon and the two Hamisi's who had to determine amongst other things the optimum trolling speed and how far back to run the lures. It was a fascinating year in more ways than one and a dream start for the new team who consistently raised and caught marlin whilst the other Kenya boats were struggling. Yet again our boats were the top marlin boats in Kenya with Simon being the top skipper for the 3rd consecutive season this time with Kamara II with Pat and Broadbill in 2nd place. Simon also received the "Captain's Award" from The Billfish Foundation as the top skipper for striped marlin releases in the Indian Ocean during 2002.

The mantis shrimps were yet again all along the East African coast in great swarms for a record third year providing a never-ending food source for a wide variety of game fishes. This did make the fish harder to catch but this phenomenon also meant huge numbers of fish, particularly yellowfin tuna plus we should remember no food, no fish. The game fishes are all pelagic and food is a most important factor in their lives so they will always go where the food is plentiful. Last season was also said to be an El Niño year and although not as severe as the one in 1998 many of the conditions were very similar. If last season was an El Niño then this coming season should be a La Niña and if this can be anything like that in 1998/99 then the fishing could be amazing.

In May/June there were reports from the locals of good numbers of decent sized yellowfin tunas in the Pemba Channel and boats making the journey from Pemba Island to Shimoni were bringing in fish up to 50-kg. Unfortunately we had no business at the time and maintenance jobs kept us from exploring. On 6th August Dion Woodborne, a vet from Cape Town caught Kamara II's first billfish, the rarest of the six species found in the Pemba Channel, a shortbill spearfish of 18,2-kg on 15-kg line. This fish has been accepted as both an All Africa and a Kenya line class record. In August we did see the yellowfin over by Pemba early in the month but from the middle onwards they had moved in close to the two reefs on the border with Tanzania, Kitugamwe and Shundo. In the middle of the month the Rousseau family caught a good mixed bag of 111-kg with Pat on Broadbill including wahoo, trevallies, kingfish, barracuda, snappers and tunas.

In mid-September the McMullan family did a 4-day safari to Pemba with Pat on Broadbill. They had a good fun trip visiting the different anchorages including the very beautiful beach on the north at Vuma Wimbi. There are usually very few people there, even locals and the sand is absolutely white, but this spot is only accessible during the SE monsoon. Unfortunately during the latter half of September the water in the channel turned green and the current became static but the tunas were at the reefs throughout.

In late October I took Paolo Meschini and three friends to Pemba but most unusually due to the mantis shrimps the fishing was best on the mainland side. Normally one expects the fishing to be better over by Pemba Island from August to October but with the shrimps concentrating near the reefs to the south the fish naturally enough followed the food. The fishing towards the end of October, often in heavy rain was very exciting. The Meschini party caught some very nice tuna with the biggest weighing in at 47,4-kg caught from Broadbill while Vaun Cummins fishing on Kamara II with wife Sarah and friend Greg caught our biggest yellowfin tuna of the season at 67-kg on 29th October.

In mid-November David and Kim Stuart together with some friends from Hong Kong chartered all three boats for a Pemba Island safari. The big yellowfin tunas were still concentrated between Kitugamwe and Shundo, but on the outside of Pemba very close in to Ras Kiuyu we came across a wonderful rip with deep blue water and a variety of species including sailfish, yellowfin, wahoo, dorado, kingfish and barracuda.

We did make a trip out to the seamount but quite frankly it was very disappointing. For the first time ever the mountain appeared dead with only a few small yellowfin tuna and virtually no flying fish. During the night we trolled slowly back towards Pemba for broadbill but only Kamara had a strike that came off after a short fight.

At the end of November Kamara II was sub-chartered by Kingfisher boats in Malindi for the CADSAS tournament. Fishing was very hard with very few sailfish but a surprising number of giant trevally. "Sea Horse" with nine trevallies all tagged won the tournament.

The NE wind began to blow in early December and a few striped marlin were seen soon after. Two nights were fished for broadbill in early December resulting in 9 strikes and out of this 4 broadbill were tagged and released. This goes to show that this is a good time for targeting broadbill so if you are interested in this species worth looking at December. Raymond Matiba fishing on Kamara II released an estimated 250-lb hammerhead shark on 50-lb line, Kamara II's first 5:1 and first shark. Regular visitor Koos Pretorius from Cape Town with two friends did a record 8-day Pemba Safari on Kamara II in mid-December. This was the longest safari that we had ever attempted but the incredible fuel capacity and large amount of space made it possible and Kamara II could most likely do up to 10 days without refuelling. Catching that first marlin was proving most frustrating, we had strikes, we had fish on that just would not stay hooked.

Finally Koos managed to get the first marlin for Kamara II, a striped marlin that took a pakula pacemaker lure on a 50-lb line. It was a very happy moment for us all and Koos who had been on the original safari up from Cape Town was delighted to be the first.

At the same time as Koos' safari, Pat took Helgardt and Liezel Muller, also from South Africa for a 4-day safari to Pemba on "Broadbill". The Muller's are fly fishers and had come with some lovely equipment to help them catch a billfish on fly. Success takes a lot of dedication and practice to gain the skills necessary to not only hook a billfish on fly but also to present the fly to the fish. Although a couple of marlin were raised to the transom on the teasers they did not take the fly, but I am very pleased to note that they will be returning in 2003 to give it another shot.

Just before Christmas Pat took Mr. & Mrs Nunn, staying at Funzi Keys Resort out on "Broadbill" and had an amazing day. They caught no fewer than 4 striped marlin, lost one and saw one other. This was the best day of the season. Towards the end of December there were a lot of marlin concentrated in to a small area to the NW of Pemba Island. Paresh Haria fishing alone on Kamara II on 30th December caught 3 striped marlin, all on 30-lb line out of a possible 4 with the biggest estimated at 72-kg.

The good fishing continued in to early January with Charlie Acworth and Mbugua Ngugi tagging 2 striped marlin on Kamara II on 3rd. During January/February there was a noticeable increase in the number of black marlin that are normally seen here. On 10th January Cap Driel from Holland caught Kamara II's first black marlin estimated at 90-kg as well as tagging a sailfish. Then Jan van der Haar fishing with Cap also released a black marlin estimated at 80-kg on Kamara II on 12th January. There were quite a number of striped marlin seen finning but they were not easy to persuade to take and the weather was overcast and very rough.

On 13th January Stephen Calle from Belgium tagged 2 striped marlin and fishing partner Guido Van de Steen released a sailfish from Kamara II. Guido also had a nice 18-kg wahoo whilst bait fishing and set a new Belgian record for a needlefish. On 17th Broadbill tagged 2 stripies for Dutch visitors Mr. Niemarkt and Mr. Van der Berge both on 30-lb line and Eric Onderwater released one from Kamara II. Broadbill had a strike from a 300-lb black marlin that jumped and threw the hook as they were heading out from the bait patch.

On 23rd January Andy Nielsen from Denmark hooked up in to what appeared to be a very big broadbill on a 50-lb line whilst night fishing on Kamara II. The fish took out a lot of line and we were forced to back down hard continually. After 45 minutes we managed to get the fish close to the boat but with the lights on the fish refused to come any closer. Finally we turned out the lights and worked just by torchlight so as not to spook the fish. Unfortunately the line snagged on the metal flap over the exhaust pipe and snapped. It was a terrible way to lose a fish and something that we will definitely learn from.

A few days later Andy returned for a day's fishing and his fishing partner John Nis Pedersen caught a very frisky 300-lb black marlin on 50-lb line that we tagged after only 5 minutes. It gave a great show on the leader and new decky, Hamisi (Small) handled it very well.

In early February Ari Bert of African Fishing Safaris from South Africa visited us to film one of his shows accompanied by cameraman, Kobus Welgamoed and Durban fishing guide, Sudesh Pursad. On the first day fishing on Kamara II Ari tagged a striped marlin on 30-lb line for some great footage. I was very impressed at the lengths to which Kobus would go in order to get those shots and he was actually trapezing off the radar arch to film from outside the boat. We saw 6 other marlin that day with only 1 of them knocking a lure down. The following day they fished on Broadbill and tried their luck for a big black using live bait. With no luck they reverted to pulling plastic and saw 3 stripies but unfortunately none stuck. On the third day it was back to Kamara II and the pressure was really on as they had not got enough footage to make a show. With a lot of small tunas and dorado off Funzi we tried to catch just something. We found a whale shark and Kobus got some lovely underwater shots before heading out to look for a marlin. We had a double header of a sailfish and a stripey tagging both before tagging a second stripey. The show was broadcast in early March on Supersport television.

The second week of February was disappointing with cyclonic conditions and few fish being seen. The fishing began to pick up again after the middle of the month and Marcel Dekkers and Dinand Rouwenhorst from Holland both new to big game fishing were probably the most successful anglers of the season. Dinand tagged 2 stripes on the 16th with the first being the biggest at 165-lb on 30-lb line, not bad to get a 5:1 for your first billfish. On 17th Marcel tagged his first marlin, a stripey and then on 21st Dinand tagged an estimated 250-lb black marlin on 50-lb line in just 20-min from Kamara II. On 22nd Raymond Matiba returned for another well-earned break and tagged 1 striped marlin and 2 sailfish.

At the beginning of March Serge Parenté and party from France chartered both big boats and on 2nd March they tagged 1 stripey from Broadbill and 2 from Kamara II. On 4th March the party on Kamara II saw 6 marlin and 3 sail, most of which would not take but a black marlin that we saw finning took a 30-lb line and was tagged after just 15 min by young Cédric Garcia. We estimated this fish at 260-lb, a fantastic effort and the young man's first billfish. They also tagged a sailfish the same day. A few days later, Keith Sanders and Al Klei from Zimbabwe managed to get a lot of fishing in to only a short time. They were out on Kamara II for 33 hours with Al tagging a small black marlin on 30-lb line and each of them catching a broadbill during the night. Those were Kamara II's first broadbill but unfortunately we missed out on completing a full house with the blue marlin. Strangely enough we never saw one so looking hard in the tuna season of 2003.

The coming season of 2003/2004 promises to be a really good one being a La Niña year. In 1998/99 the last La Niña year the marlin fishing was absolutely outstanding and everyone is hoping that we might once again see such big numbers of marlin when "Broadbill" had 96 marlin and "Kamara" 104 for the season.

Thank you very much and we look forward to seeing many of you in the future.

Summary:

Previous news - 15th July 2003

Marlin already in July!

On Friday 4th July Simon took Kamara II out for a short run to charge the batteries accompanied by Alexander Stuart. The sea was very calm but there were not so many tunnies showing on the surface today. However we did get two nice yellowfin tuna, the biggest of 23,5 kg caught by Alexander on 15-kg line on the way home close to Shimoni plus 9 smaller ones.

But, of great excitement, we rose two MARLIN ! The first one rose to a Sea Tal lure trolled off the outrigger but was just there for a brief moment before dropping away out of sight. The other one took a pakula lure off the outrigger whilst we were stationary fighting Alexander's tunny. Sadly with no way on it would have been very difficult to hook up but the fish followed the lure up to the transom as it was retrieved. This one was definitely a black marlin but the first could have been either a black or a striped - it was overcast and the fish was deep in the water with only a portion of the dorsal showing.

As I had anticipated with so much bait fish there are marlin there to feed on them. I am certain that the big ones will be there, too

Boats for the next season are being planned so call now on +254 20 - 217 0208 or 217 0222 or +254 722 - 796198 or email us