KILWA

The Tanzanian Big Game Fishing Odyssey

A 104 kg Yellowfin Tuna (229 lb), plus 10 others all over 50 kg each on the same day!!

A 37.6 kg Wahoo (83 lb), Black Marlin, Sharks, Broadbill, Yellowfin Tuna, Karambesi and Sailfish.

How does this grab you as a start to a fishing adventure?
This was how my fishing adventure started!


I had been invited down to fish in Southern Tanzania on an exploratory
trip out of Kiswere Haven. In fact we went further south to Lindi, which is about 30 miles north of the Mozambique border.

On day 1 out of Dar-es-Salaam we fished down to Mafia Island via Latham as I had 12 year old Lorian with me and he needed to be kept occupied and quiet! He caught a 15 kg kingfish and I got stuck into a 37,6 kg wahoo, which kept me quiet and occupied for 20 mins and nearly broke my back until I got into a harness. We also had the first big yellowfin tuna of the trip. This one weighed in at over 40 kg. That kept the young man quiet and occupied for the full 20 minutes! A truly excellent first yellowfin tuna for a 12 year old!

The next day between Mafia and Kilwa we did some serious reef-bashing which kept us all occupied for most of the day. We had a mixed bag of
29 fish – 8 Karambesi (Giant trevally, Caranx ignobilis), 7 rainbow runner, 8 yellowfin tuna, 2 kingfish and 4 wahoo. Two of the Karambesi that we lost managed to outwit us and get back to their holes. These were seriously large Karambesi and we would have liked to spend another day on the reef, but we had to move on.

After Kilwa we had a long dash to Lindi which took 36 hours against the current. Our return trip through these waters to Kiswere proved there are plenty of fish there, as we hit over 400 kgs of yellowfin in less than 4 hours.
Fishing along the continental shelf off Kiswere and Kilwa we had substantial fishing. In addition to the 400 kg caught off Kiswere we had strikes from Broadbill, Black Marlin, Yellowfin Tuna and Sharks.
This is an area to be explored.

THE BEST DAY, and all days were excellent, was out of Kilwa. Every fish landed was over 50 kg and there were 11 of them.

The biggest being a 104 kg (229 lb) Yellowfin Tuna. A HUGE FISH, which only took 20 minutes to get to the boat. Unfortunately we had to leave Kilwa sooner than we wanted as I had to get back to Dar-es-Salaam. From Mafia back to Dar we caught 24 yellowfin tuna all over 15 kg and one over 35 kg.
Living on board a fishing boat for any length of time can become very tedious and claustrophobic but we overcame all that – in style!
Each afternoon we would find a safe haven and make our way to totally deserted beaches, where our support vehicles had set up our fly-camp in some of the most spectacular spots you could wish for. After a sizzling hot shower and a short siesta we would have a walk along the beach or take a drive inland and come back to camp in the early evening for ice-cold drinks at sunset. Each evening after a superb dinner we would all sit around a huge campfire – made from all sorts and shapes of driftwood – on the beach. It wasn’t long though before we all made our way to bed and all is silent except for the sound of the sea and the sounds of the African night. We would wake early with the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the smell of freshly baked bread. Six-thirty again and off for another day’s fishing in the most exciting waters I have fished in a very long time”.
Captain Peter Ruysennars – The Pemba Channel Fishing Club