Thursday 31st March 2005

FIRST BLUE MARLIN FOR KAMARA II

Yes, at long last Kamara II has caught her first blue marlin thanks to the angler Darren Baynton from the UK. Darren caught this fish with me whilst fishing out from the very nice resort, Fundu Lagoon on the southwest of Pemba Island. It was not a big fish but who cares, it was the first for the boat as well as being Darren's first ever marlin. Well done Daz, the first of many I hope. When Daz brought the marlin to the boatside Hamisi leant over the side to put the tag in and then threw his arms in the air with a shriek and started calling to me on the bridge, "Its a blue, its a blue!" I think Daz thought that we had all gone off our rockers as we embraced and bounced around the boat, after all it wasn't as if it was a big one! But once explained all became clear!

And what about the famous lure? It took a purple and black Legend Induna made by Roddy Hays on 50-lb line run off the centre rigger. This one of a new batch of lures that Roddy kindly sent me in mid-February and it is a beaut as all his lures are. Legend lures are in my mind the real rolls royce of marlin lures in terms of pure quality and fish catching ability.

So now Kamara II has completed the full swoop of all 6 species of billfish that are possible off the East African coast.

Otherwise the trip to south Pemba was rather disappointing fish wise although the weather didn't help when the rain storms started swooping in from the south. I expected to see more sails since there were still quite a lot in the north of the Pemba Channel and to find other gamefishes along the amazing drop-offs. The drop-offs are incredible going from 70m straight down over 250m but there didn't seem to be much there although I suspect that the area fishes better during the south monsoon.

Fundu Lagoon was very attractive and very welcoming to visiting boats. The only downside was that guests going out early did not seem to be able to get a cup of coffee or toast from the kitchen although the packed lunches were excellent.

The fishing from Shimoni during March was not good although there were a surprising number of sailfish around and quite a lot of dorado. There were a couple of striped marlin taken by Broadbill and sailfish most days.

Broadbill has now been taken out of service and Pat is making preparations to change the engines, a very big job. He has the experience from re- engining two previous boats so not entirely new ground but still there will be many sleepless nights ahead. Kamara II will remain in service and I am hoping to get in some fishing during May and June when in the last few years I have seen a lot of tuna.

The marlin tally so far in Kenya reads as follows:
Kamara II - 35
Broadbill - 22
Eclare - 21
Jasiri - 16

Then I believe that there are a couple of boats from Malindi and Watamu on 14 but the fishing season continues until 30th April 2005.

Wednesday 9th March 2005 - Apologies for not posting any updates to the fishing news for so long but we have all been so busy here. Fishing was great until mid February and then went a bit quiet but seems to be picking up again now and the NE wind is still blowing hard, which is good news. Simon is off to Fundu Lagoon for a week with a British couple so will be exciting to fish the southern end of Pemba Island for once. Here is a day by day report since beginning of February.

1st February 2005 - both boats out but only Broadbill had a striped marlin of 120-lb on 50 for Nils Olsen from Denmark. It was overcast and rough with a big swell and only 6 other marlin were seen by our 2 boats that day. 2nd Feb - 1 stripey on Broadbill for Barry Hannigan from the UK of 140-lb on 30 and they had 2 other marlin strikes plus 2 sailfish strikes. Stefan Wagnelius from Sweden tagged a stripey estimated at 115-lb on 50 from Kamara II with 2 other marlin seen and 1 lost. Again the conditions were rough.

3rd Feb - Very rough still although less swell but the water was rather greenish and no billfish were caught with only 1 marlin seen by Broadbill. Kamara II saw a huge pack of sailfish tailing in centre channel but had no success. 4th Feb - Only Kamara II was out saw 7 marlin tailing but only the one came in and knocked a rigger down rather half heartedly. It was less rough but the water still rather green and loads of seaweed everywhere that made fishing awkward. 5th Feb - Kamara II fished by Stefan Wagnelius and Jimmy Johansson had a great day tagging 3 striped marlin and saw 11 other marlin with only 2 strikes out of that plus 1 sailfish strike. Broadbill also tagged a stripey, a first for Russell Savin from the UK and saw 2 others. 6th feb - Only Kamara II had a sail but the 2 boats saw 16 marlin mostly tailing.

7th Feb - Broadbill had a wonderful start and a great introduction to marlin fishing for Francois Jooste from Botswana who tagged 2 stripes with a 3rd caught by Kobie Krjtzinger also a first. Kobie's marlin was estimated at 160- lb on 30 hence a 5:1 catch, not bad for a first marlin. They saw 5 other marlin that day. Kamara II fished by the other half of the Botswana group also tagged a stripey for Clive Evans, another first. It was very exciting when Clive was fighting his marlin a group of about 7 marlin swam down see towards us and Hamisi nearly turned himself inside out with excitement and frustration since the only line in the water was Clive's. Once that group passed another group followed and there was more animated excitement from the bridge. The conditions were overcast in the morning with some light rain early on then sunny and good NE wind in the afternoon. 8th Feb - Nothing caught and nothing seen, a real contrast to yesterday! 9th Feb - Michael Mckendrick tagged his first stripey from Kamara II estimated at 145-lb on 50 with John Carr-Hartley getting one on Broadbill. Our boats saw 19 other marlin plus 6 sails again mostly tailing and reluctant to come in to the spread. There have been loads of dead squid around since January and all the fish are gorged on them. It was very calm and sunny with the rips showing up nicely. 10th Feb - Broadbill: Clive joined Kobie in the 5:1 club with a 150-lb stripey on 30 and on Kamara II Francois did it again by catching 2 marlin with John a 3rd. There were 18 other marlin seen that day plus 5 sailies. The conditions were near perfect today with lovely blue water, rips and NE wind. 11th Feb - 2 marlin on Kamara II for Clive and John but unfortunately the others missed out. There were 13 other marlin and 4 sailies seen. Very nice conditions again.

12th Feb - A stripey for Michael on Broadbill and one for his dad, Doug fishing on Kamara II. There were only 4 other marlin seen although the conditions appeared to be similar. 13th Feb - no fishing 14th Feb - No billfish caught by either boat and only 1 marlin and 1 sail seen. It was very calm, sunny and rather oppressive becoming better in the afternoon. 15th Feb - Markus Meyer had a stripey and Rene Schultz, from Switzerland a sail on Kamara II and Trevor and Warren Spring a couple of sails from Broadbill. There were 5 other marlin and 4 sailies seen. It was very calm and hot with Westerly winds in the morning swinging in to the NE in the afternoon. 16th Feb - Only sails caught with 1 on Broadbill and 2 on Kamara II with only 1 marlin being seen plus 5 sails. Again hot, calm, oppressive with westerly wind in the morning and light NE in the afternoon. 17th Feb - Father and son, Nico and Colin Rusch from Holland caught their first billfish with a double header of sails followed up with a 5:1 striped marlin of 150-lb on 30 for Nico fishing from Broadbill. Kamara having been sold to David Williamson was back in Shimoni for a charter with Andy Dodds and Ian Kingsbeer from the UK. Andy reckons that Kamara is the most comfortable boat that he has ever fished on and was rather sad that we had sold her. Hopefully David will get lots of pleasure from her and many fish. Today Ian tagged a sail. There were very few billfish seen at all today. Kamara II fished by Markus and Rene went out night fishing and had 2 strikes resulting in 1 broadbill for Markus estimated at 40-kg. It was very calm with a good NE in the afternoon. 18th Feb - Kamara had 2 sails for Andy and Ian and Broadbill 1 for Nico. The conditions were better with NE and rips and 3 other marlin and 4 sail were seen.

19th Feb - Only a stripey on Broadbill for David Forster fishing out of Funzi Keys and very few fish seen. It was a calm featureless sea rather green in places. 20th Feb - Overcast and choppy with very few fish seen. 21st Feb - Similar but perhaps a little less rough. 22nd/23rd Feb - Kamara II was on an extended combo with two Dutch anglers, Martin van ter Meij and Leo Haak. It was very rough all day and all night and all the next day. Martin tagged a marlin of 125-lb on 50 and they had 3 sails but unfortunately no broadbill. 24th Feb - Only Broadbill out and only 1 marlin seen but not caught. 25th Feb - Just a sail on Broadbill with 2 marlin and 7 other sail seen. Still pretty rough. 26th Feb - A very nice stripey of 180-lb on 50 for David Diment fishing on Broadbill and 1 sail on Kamara II. Only 2 other marlin and 7 sails seen. Overcast and a bit calmer today. 27th Feb - Only Kamara II out but just 2 marlin seen. 28th Feb - Only Kamara II with 12 sail and 4 others seen but no marlin. Calm and sunny, NE. 1st March - Kamara II had a striped marlin and 3 sailfish. There were lots of sails on the drop off off Funzi and Msambweni seen jumping. 2nd March - A lot of sailfish seen off Funzi, about 20-30 in an hour jumping in quite a small area but difficult to raise. Nice conditions. 3rd March - no fishing 4th March - Only Broadbill out with 1 sail but saw about 15 others today out in the deep water beyond the 1,000-ft contour.

There are still some marlin about and David Williamson fishing on Kamara lost one on 20-lb line and another boat tagged one on 5th. The wind is still blowing from the NE so hopefully we will find some billfish to the south in the next week. Thus far Kamara II is again leading the marlin tally with 34, followed by Broadbill on 20 and the next Shimoni boat on 16. Until 15th February Kamara II had taken 31 marlin in 30 days of fishing since new year. Apart from the billfish there have been a lot of dorado (falusi) but not a lot else, which has been rather disappointing. An interesting point this season is the number of sun fish that we have seen, well in excess of 50 since new year. It is quite a sight to see these enormous ponderous fish trying to catch a dead squid and sometimes miss it! There have also been huge numbers of whale sharks around off Funzi and Msambweni and at one stage about 50 were reported off Msambweni in December.

We shall post another report once Kamara II returns from Fundu Lagoon.

Wednesday 2nd February 2005 - the period between 24th and 29th January was very poor and not one marlin was landed in this period. The sea was even calmer than before and the wind changeable often from the SW, which is always a disaster for the fishing here. But then on Sunday 30th January 2005 the wind was in the NE and blowing hard. For the first time we had proper "kaskazi" weather and the marlin rose to the occasion. Kamara II had 4 striped marlin out of 5 strikes including a double header of 2 fish in excess of 160-lb.

On Monday our boats were not out but the weather was back to being calm with a SW all morning. The boats that were out saw marlin but did not manage to catch any.

On Tuesday 1st February it was very rough and overcast with a big swell. Broadbill tagged one striped marlin for Nils Olsen from Denmark but there were a lot of marlin strikes that day. One boat must have had at least a dozen strikes but missed them all and another lost at least 3 but got nothing.

Wednesday 2nd February it was still very rough but at least the sun shone through the clouds. Perhaps there were fewer marlin seen in total but more caught with 1 on Broadbill for Barry Hannigan from the UK of 140 on 30 and 1 on Kamara II for Stefan Wegnelius from Sweden of 115-lb on one of Pat's home-made lures on 50. Only one other boat caught a marlin today.

There are a lot of marlin on the plateau to the NW of Pemba Is feeding on the squid, some monster flying fish and skipjack tuna. The presence of the skippies is very encouraging and we hope that they will stick around because for sure they will attract the blacks and blues. It is looking good for the coming weeks so lets hope that the marlin really come out to play.

Monday 24th January 2005 - Marlin fishing continues to be good at Shimoni since my last posting and for much of the time the weather has been unbelievably calm for January. I don't think that I can ever remember such a calm January and for sure we will pay for it later.

On 16th January Marcel Dekkers and Dinand Rouwenhorst from Holland added two more striped marlin and a sailfish to their tally fishing from Kamara II. The following day was one of those strange days when the wind didn't blow and hardly a marlin was seen and none caught, but on the 18th our Dutch lads had another stripey and a sail. On the 19th we had no charters and the wind switched completely round in to the SE and nothing much came up for any of the boats that were out. The wind only stayed in the SE for one day and on the 20th the Grandin party from France had a great day with Pat on Broadbill with 2 striped marlin and 2 sailfish. The 21st and 22nd have been the only reasonably rough days all month and the fish seem to have been very confused by the change although Kamara II did tag a stripey on 22nd for Alex Grinling from the UK. And then on 23rd the Matiba brothers of Raymond and Gitau, owners of the Alliance group of hotels caught 2 striped marlin and a sailfish from Kamara II. Kamara II in particular has had a good January thus far with 13 marlin and 4 sailfish in just 11 days fished. There are incredible quantities of food in the Pemba Channel this year and so we hope that the marlin and sailfish will hold up here through February and well in to March.

Monday 17th January 2005 - The marlin have arrived in the Pemba Channel for sure now and today close on 40 marlin were seen. Many of these were seen tailing or free jumping and were not keen to eat but there are always a few hungary ones. There is a considerable quantity of dead squid on the surface already and in places loads of large flying fish. This abundant food supply will help to hold the fish here so the chance of good fishing in the forthcoming weeks is good. It is not uncommon to see clouds of squid ink on the surface and then a marlin close by. Not only the marlin are feeding on the squid by the dolphins and sun fish of which I have already seen 7 this month alone. Considering that I did not see my first sun fish until the mid 1990's having fished her full time from 1981 it is quite something.

Broadbill, with some guests from the very exclusive Funzi Keys Resort yesterday succeeded in tagging and releasing one striped marlin and 2 sailfish. Today Kamara II was out with two Dutchmen, Marcel Dekkers and Dinand Rouwenhorst and they had a good start to their holiday with a striped marlin each and a sailfish for Marcel as well as a dorado each.

We have still quite a bit of availability in January so send us a mail to < hemphill@bigame.com> or give us a ring on 254-40-52204 or 722-796198.

Wednesday 11th January 2005 - 5 marlin in 4 days is not bad fishing in anybody's book and that is exactly what Sea Adventures have done in the past week. On the 5th January 2005 Rory Heron from the UK caught his first marlin, which was duly tagged and released. This fish took a sail lure with a strip in it on a 30-lb line. There were a few other marlin seen that day including one that took a lure on the 50 gave one jump and threw the hook. The following day Roberto Gambi, an experienced angler from Italy started fishing with some great success although on the first marlin at 8.30am he lost one that he ought to have had. It had taken one of Roddy Hays' small Legend lures on the 30 close in the wake and had swallowed it. Roberto fought the fish close to the boat and the fish made a last weary bid for freedom jumping out of the water but unfortunately he had just a little too much pressure on and the line popped. However, in the afternoon he tagged a very nice striped marlin estimated at 180-lb on one of Pat's home- made lures on 50. The following day Roberto released another nice striped marlin in the morning estimated at 170-lb on 50 and then on the way home a very spectacular black marlin that we estimated at 260-lb on the same lure of Pat's that had caught the stripey on the first day. The 8th was a bit slow but on the way home Roberto had a stripey of about 130-lb on 30-lb line. We were seeing about half a dozen marlin each day plus the occasional sailfish out in the deep.

Apart from the marlin there are quite a few small yellowfin tuna and dorado around to add some variety. In those 3 days I also saw 4 sun fish and 6 large manta rays, 4 of them together as well as lots of dolphin.

The weather has been mostly sunny with light northeast and very calm seas for this time of the year. The channel is gradually clearing and looking good, but despite the sometimes greenish water there are plenty of marlin there most likely feeding on squid since we are already seeing huge numbers of dead squid on the surface.

There are still vacancies in January and a few in February so if you have not booked your fishing contact me on <hemphill@bigame.com>.

Wednesday 5th January 2005
Sincere apologies to all the visitors of our website for the lack of news in December. I was away on two long safaris out of range of internet services and only got back in for a breather on New Year's Day.

Our very deepest condolences go to all the families across the eastern Indian Ocean states that have lost loved ones and property from the earthquake and tsunamis on boxing day. In Shimoni we were very fortunate to only get strange tidal surges where the tide changed from high to low tide and then back again several times in a space of only about 5 minutes for each change. We put out extra anchors just in case but no tsunamis made it this far although the northern parts of the country were more affected.

On 9th December Kamara began on a 5-day fishing safari with two nights in Pemba where their two French guests stayed at the Manta Reef Lodge, which is beautifully situated on the north-west of the island near the lighthouse. There were lots of small tunny around but not so many marlin and although the wind was blowing nicely from the north-east the marlin did not seem to have come in. On their last day, the 13th they lost a black marlin estimated at 250-lb on a lure that came off and the guests decided to opt for an extra day. Their decision paid off with a 400+ lb black marlin for Fabrice Chassaing that took a lure on 80 and was tagged and released.

Kamara 1 has been sold and has now gone north to Mtwapa where her new owner is based. She will be returning to Shimoni in February 2005 for a 9-day fishing booking that had been made before the sale. Hassan and Kadi are still running her in Mtwapa and will continue to do so until after our February booking.

In early December Broadbill, fished by Chris, Di and Denise Bannister together with Ernst Scholz from Arusha, Tanzania travelled south to Tanga to participate in the annual Tanga Fishing Tournament. The fishing was very slow and hard work but for the second year running Broadbill came out on top with 40.5-kg yellowfin tuna on 30-lb line and an 18.2-kg wahoo on 20-lb line together with some smaller stuff. There were no billfish landed although Broadbill had sailfish both the day before and the day after the tournament.

Soon after her return Broadbill was fishing with Peter Kern and some friends and had some bad luck. On the 14th, the day Kamara caught her black, Pat decided to fish with live bait and hooked a nice black marlin of 400+ lb but unfortunately it managed to disgorge the bait and hook. They did tag a sail that day as a consolation for Hugo Buff. The following day they again fished with live bait and this time hooked an even bigger black that appeared to be on solid jumping nicely but there was worse luck to come. The ring on the 300-lb ball bearing swivel opened and the fish was gone. Of all the sections of the terminal tackle that is one of the last things that you think of going. Hugo tagged a striped marlin on a 30-lb line estimated at 120-lb on the way home. He also had a small blue marlin of 90.1-kg a few days later on 30-lb line that unfortunately became tail wrapped and had to be planed up. This is the first blue that we have seen for some time so let us hope that they are coming back in.

In the meantime I had left with Kamara II on 11th December to meet Koos Pretorius, Deon de Klerk and Nicholas Smith in Dar es Salaam. The intention was to fish Mafia Island as well as Latham Island for 10 days before returning to Shimoni on Christmas Eve. It took us 2 days to reach Dar es Salaam although it is possible to do it in one day running fast. There were a lot of small fish in the Zanzibar Channel such as wahoo and yellowfin but we did not raise any sails. Mostly the channel is fairly shallow with lots of scattered reefs so not much chance of marlin other than the occasional small black. From Dar we motored out to Latham in mildly choppy seas where the guys had some great sport with their very light fly rods catching rainbow runners. The rods they were using were not much different from trout rods and the runners gave a great account of themselves. Since we still had a long way to go to Mafia we had to leave the north Latham bank and troll down the east on to the south bank looking for the tunny. Latham is a tiny rock in the middle of the ocean with a large sand bank
that is covered with sea birds particularly Booby, Noddy and Terns and sailors crossing the ocean from the east are advised to look out for the clouds of birds that will show the position of Latham way before the island becomes visible. The shallow bank is shaped rather like a rugby ball lying north-south. As we moved south the flocks of low-flying boobies indicated that the fish were well to the south. We finally found them about 10 nautical miles south of the island and had only time for a couple of passes before we had to motor hard for Mafia.

Mafia was stunning with incredibly blue water and loads of flying fish right in on to the reef on the east coast. We were a little disappointed in the lack of marlin although we did see 3 small blacks, one of which took a strip bait in just 25m of water but managed to throw the hook after a couple of spectacular jumps that woke us all up at 7am. But, the sailfish were incredible and we raised up to 20 most days. The highlight fishing-wise for all of us at Mafia was 65-kg dog-tooth tuna that Nicholas caught on a halco on the down rigger on 50-lb line off Ras Mkumbi lighthouse on the north. The north-east wind was really blowing most days and the seas were quite rough so it was nice to be in a big boat with a bit of power. The guys snorkeled twice on the edge of the reef of the north of the island and reported that it was absolutely stunning with big schools of bluefin and giant trevally as well as large snappers in visibility of up to 30m. The current is very strong there so one does need to be a good swimmer. We anchored most nights in the Chole Lagoon on the south except for our first night where we anchored off Ras Bueni on the NW where the La Lua Cheia Camp was reported to be. However in the NE monsoon this is not a good anchorage and I hardly slept at all that night as we rolled from side to side and the anchor rode strained audibly. The camp was also non-existent so I was very disappointed not to have been informed of that despite repeated communications with the 'owner'. Chole Lagoon is a fantastic anchorage although the entrance is a little frightening for the first few times plus you have to plan your fishing by the tides. The Mafia Island Lodge is now under new ownership and looking really good and there is also the Kinazi Resort and Pole Pole Resort so plenty of places to stay. Our final trip was amazing, we fished from Mafia up to Latham where we anchored for the night, the weather being very reasonable. We had a strike from a striped marlin on the way up and then some tunny when we got on to the bank. We put a live bait on for a while but it was chopped by a small shark. That night we were sitting on the sand bank watching the
sun setting behind Kamara II drinking single malt whisky, what can be better? The guys tried their hand at fly fishing off the island but it soon became apparent that their fly rods were not big enough. They were mostly using 9-wt fly rods and were all of the impression that they needed to use 14-wt rods next time. Both Koos and Nick were spooled by giant trevally just after dawn and Koos had a shark slam in to a bluefin trevally he was playing right at his feet. We ran back in to Dar Yacht Club in the afternoon of 22nd and we sat up in the club relaxing and reminiscing about this awesome trip, it is one that all of us will remember fondly for a very long time.

The crew and I returned to Shimoni on Christmas Eve suitably shattered and in need of a long sleep. But, on Boxing Day we had to refuel and restock the boat for another safari this time with Pieter and Elizabeth Harris from South Africa. After the earthquake and tsunamis the previous day the sea was pretty rough on 27th but there were quite a few marlin seen. Pieter had a very nice striped marlin on 28th, which we estimated at 180-lb on 50-lb line. The ground swell became very big and the northeast wind really howled. The fishing largely went off and any marlin that were seen were mostly not interested or took rather tentatively. Broadbill did strike lucky on 29th with a striped marlin of 150-lb on 30-lb line and a sailfish but otherwise fishing was hard work. Pieter fished new year's eve and that night with two strikes from marlin in the day time and one from a broadbill in the night.

The indications were that there are a lot of marlin in the area but that they have stayed down during this particularly rough weather and that as soon as conditions improve the fishing could well be awesome. We do still have vacancies in January plus a few in February so if you haven't made a booking and would like to go marlin fishing in the Pemba Channel please contact us at <hemphill@bigame.com>.

Monday 29 November 2004
Last week Broadbill and Kamara II made the 200 km journey to Malindi to take part in the 2004 CADSAS tournament. There were 47 anglers from Zimbabwe and South Africa fishing 15 boats for 4 days. There were plenty of sailfish but all the boats found them extremely hard to raise. They were seen free jumping all over the place but when you got there nothing would come up to the baits. The teams rotated about the boats and the winning team was the all girls team, the "Shag and Tag Team". Kamara II held her own catching sailfish each day with a best score of 4 sailfish tagged on the final day with the winning team. Kamara II was placed 4th in the boats category ahead of most of the home boats.

Whilst the other two boats were in Malindi Kamara 1 was fishing in the Pemba Channel with Mr. and Mrs. Mathieu from France. On day 1 they tagged just 1 sailfish and put in to Funzi for the night. On day 2 they fished across the channel towards Pemba Island tagging a striped marlin. The guests stayed at the Manta Reef Lodge on the NW of the island, which they reported was excellent with comfortable rooms and good food. The wind had started blowing from the NE for the first time and it is amazing that straight away a marlin was there. Day 3 was not so good with the water greenish and the wind swinging around the compass. The guests again stayed at Manta Reef Lodge. On day 4 they tagged another striped marlin as well as a sailfish and put in to Funzi. On day 5 they were unable to add to their tally and the sea had become very rough and the clouds demonstrating that there is a strong wind coming. There is a cyclone developing in the Arabian Gulf and we are experiencing the side effects.

Broadbill was fishing today with Mr & Mrs Schorn from Austria and the sea was very rough in the morning getting better in the afternoon. They saw 2 striped marlin tailing but they swam right through the lines and kept on going. But, the marlin are here ! We still have a few days free between Christmas and New Year as well as in January and February 2005.

15th November 2004
Since the Japanese parties have left attention has switched to sailfish off Funzi. I have seldom seen so many sailfish ever before in this area and in a short time you can see up to 50 fish. Unfortunately we have had very few charters but there is some really good fishing out there. The best sailfish was a nice 40-kg specimen for Piet Steenkamp returning to Kenya after 24 years living in the UK.

Kamara II has tagged her 100th marlin, a stripey for Tom Kenyatta, the grandson of the former President of Kenya. This was his first marlin and lets hope not the only one. The tuna are still present and schools of them are seen following the drop off off Funzi as well as over towards Pemba Island. The marlin should start to come in soon and if you are thinking about fishing the Pemba Channel in 2005, we still have some vacancies in January plus a few still left in
February.

Remember that in 2004 the best fishing was between Christmas 2003 and the middle of January 2004.

16th October 2004 - Over the past week we have had some excellent fishing for big yellowfin tuna. There have been schools and schools of these magnificent fish as well as smaller gamefish such as dorado, rainbow runner and bonito all mixed up together.

The conventional methods of trolling jigs and rapalas have not always been that successful in stimulating the masses of fish in to striking. But during this past week we have had the privilege of hosting two groups of Japanese anglers, some on their second visit to Sea Adventures, who have been fishing with heavy duty spinning tackle and large poppers that have really turned the fish on. The technique involves allowing the boat to drift up in to the school and then casting and retrieving poppers through the fish. Being able to cast a fair distance is a great advantage and of course possessing the skill in retrieving the poppers in an enticing manner is essential. The strikes that resulted were often spectacular as more than one tuna would attempt to take the popper at the same time. All the fish were between 20 and 40 kg so gave a really good fight on spinning tackle and in one case actually broke the rod.

The group led by Mr. Kimura fishing on Broadbill with Pat were the most successful with a best day of 13 big tuna plus a few smaller ones. They lost a number too through broken lines mostly through being a little over zealous with the drag. Their success came through being prepared to combine the popping with deep jigging when the tuna were not coming to the surface. In deep jigging a large, very heavy jig is free spooled to the bottom of the sea in about 300-400 ft then aggressively jigged back to the surface. As well as tuna they also caught a number of Amberjack up to 12-kg, a beautiful looking fish that we had previously not caught here. The second group led by Mr. Hamazaki, who last year caught a 70-kg tuna jigging were not keen in the jigging and had to rely on the fish coming to the surface.

On their final day we were only able to fish a half day since they had to leave early for the airport. We fished the area off Funzi for sailfish and saw a considerable number but very few would even show us the courtesy of looking at our baits. Mr. Kimura's party tried popping to the sailfish and on his first cast Shigeru Tomamori hooked a sailfish on a popper and brought it to the boat where it was tagged and released.

After the Japanese party Pat took out Annie Andrew and Roxanne Mitchell of Weekends Away travel company in South Africa. They found large numbers of yellowfin tuna over by Pemba Island showing that this season the fish are not limited to the reefs to the south. What has been so encouraging has been the incredible numbers of general bait fish close in and live baiting for big marlin could well result in something special.

We have plenty of availability remaining in October and November as well as early January or March plus there is limited availability in February so if you are interested in making a booking please contact us at hemphill@bigame.com. If you are in South Africa it is worth noting that there are now direct flights from Johannesburg to Mombasa with Kenya Airways.