After planning the trip around the New moon in Feb which is mid peak billfish season in kenya we headed off with very high expectations. The season has been a below par season so far, but the fishing (particularly marlin) had improved considerably int he 2 weeks preceeding our trip so things looked good. Boats got up to 4 marlin and 8 sails per day.
Things started badly with Kalula buggering up and saying we were not booked on our flight to JHB. Much fighting and a big fus on a sunday eveing eventually got us on the flight. At one stage it looked like we were not going to make it.
We arrived at watamu around mid day having savoured a few Tusker lagers on the taxi ride up. We set up tackle, did the groceries then headed to Mida creek for some light tackle fishing. It was very hot so the tuskers won on my side, but 2 pretty decent River snapper were caught, a few lost, so a great afternoon was had.
Tuesday am were were up bright and early and at the beach 1st light. We headed out having to find some small fish for strip baits for sails, but it was very quiet, eventually finding a small bonnie that died before we could live bait it and 3 small (2kg size) cuta. I was rigging wind ons, etc onto all the boats tackle, and stood up to make sure the double line pulled up even and the boat rolled unexpectadly and i stumbled and bumped my pip against the stainless stairs to the flybridge. Not a big knock, but my new Costa sunglasses with glass lenses took the hit and shattered the left lense. Bleak was an understatelmt. One expensive exercise that. Geez it was a long day in the sun with no glasses.
Strip sorted we went looking for bills out in the rips, and search we did. no baots were seeing anything. We eventually stried jigging for Ambers in 200m out int he rips area, but a few grouper and rosy job fish was all we found. We packed up and went home rather dejected. One boat had livies and got 2 blacks in the banks area and Tarka found a blue out deep, but no other bills seen by the fleet.
This same routine followed day after day, same results. Wed we had one sail knock the hong kong, come back again then fade. No one was seeing anything, game fish or bills.
We spent a lot of time jigging for AJ but they were missing. Not one hook up all week.
We spent 2 days jigging the 70m banks area and got 8gt's between 2 and 19kgs, one big eye king, one blue fin king and a rainbow runner.
We ran to malindi to see if any sails were up there and found smartie sized bonnies which we live baited, but nada. We saw a few free jumpers and got one up into the spread, it ate perfectly right on the transom hooked up and promptly fell off. Bugger. 2 other boats had the same happen.
Saturday (2nd last day) we went for broke and went deep after marlin. We had 2 dorado in the spread and I got one decent 10kg fish, the other never took. We jigged, we trolled we drank beer eventually.
We started 10min rotations on strikes for the run in to give everyone a shot at a fish, any fish. 2 min before my last rotation there was an explosion behind the pakula lumo sprocket. we all saw the splash but not the fish, almost immediately the hong kong pulsator wahoo express took off with a very decent marlin giving one jump. The guy took the rod on 50lb and a proper battle began. after about 15min it came fairly close then took off on a 400+m run directly into the sun giving a few great jumops but for us we could't see much. Stewart Simpson on El Jogi and Peter Darnbourough on Alleycat both saw it clearly near them and reconed it was a very good black. It went deep and sulked for ages. There were no headshakes, no runs just win a m, lose 2. After 1.45hrs with about 250m still out the hooks pulled. No bill chafe at all, so she had been foul hooked somewhere. We were rather gutted as it was our only shot all week. (at least my rigging held, which worried me when it came off). Alleycat got a 287kg black int he same area on live bait that died the next am, with all the guys there asking him if it had hook holes in its body due to locality, size and scarcity of fish.
Sunday our last day we fished shallow and got 1 small 5kg yft and 2 kings jigging before heading home rahter dejected. 6 long hard days fishing. It took me 4 days to catch anything, no hookups jigging, no strikes nothing.
Its the first time in 7 weeks I have been there that I have not seen a single flag flying in the fleet for something almost every day. 5 days in the week there were no flags for 20kg fish, sails marlin, shark etc. It was incredibly hard fishing.
There a re a few theories, one being that its the result of the Tanzanian ring netters that hit the area very hard for the last 3 odd years. they wipe out everything, especially ont he banks area where baitfish, hoo, tuna etc were prolific. There was no bait, therefore no predators. There are no birds around. The area has been fished hard by the dhow sailors for centuries, they take hrs to get to the reefs relying on wind. All these fishermen now have power boats, gps and fish finders. The snapper have been hard hit, and this possibly resulting in aj not being around to feed on them in the deep. Even the nr of these fishermen was way down on the past, they have apparently moved to the north kenya banks as there are more fish there.
The other reason could just be the rather unsettled weather all over this year has changed the currents and that next year it could be a bumper season. Who knows.
The other very sad thing is that in the last year, 22 hotels have closed between Kilifi and Malindi. The hotels in Watamu had guest, but very few. The local tradres selling their carvings along the beach are not there as no one to buy their things. Apparently Hemingways Hotel closes at the end of the season. There goes the end of an era. Only 3 of their 15 boats were put in the water for the season. The threat of terrorism, a president wanted by the ICC, threat of ebola and a sluggish world economy has hit there very hard.
I had a great holiday with great friends, many laughs, a few too many beers, but its was sad to see the decline in the tourism and its effect. The fishing was poor, but thats fishing. Will I be back, Definitely. My marlin is still out there waiting for me.
To rub salt into my wounds my mates went fishing here in the EL area on sunday and caught a 810lb blue marlin on stand up gear. Well someday my luck will change.
I will post a few pics when i get a chance.
