PEMBA'S LATEST NEWSLETTER

29 November, 2010
It is the time of the season that we start preparing regular reports and news on the fishing from the channel. It is a while since I provided any news, mainly due to the fact that White Otter went through a long refurbishing programme.

White Otter arrived back in Shimoni in late October from the first of her major refits. She now has a flying bridge, a hydraulic steering and a new state of the art GPS/fishfinder among other improvements.

So it was straight to down business. November fishing has been much much better than in previous years due to an early change in wind direction bringing in the marlin. Our regulars from Tanzania, Corrie and Charl caught and released the first sailfish and blue marlin of the season on our boats. The blue marlin was estimated at 300lbs on 50 lb line and was a very short, stocky, feisty fish. On its first searing run it overtook White Otter before changing direction and then jumping like a man possessed behind the boat having peeled off at least 600 meters of line before finally stopping. It took less than half an hour before the fish was traced and released in good condition. This was the first 5:1 of the season.

The month was also good for some first time big game fishermen. Gerard, from Holland, booked a couple of days and got some good practice on the first day with a nice big wahoo and numerous yellowfin tuna. Day two was to be his day hooking up with an estimated 180 lbs striped marlin on 30 lbs line. It took Gerard 2 hrs 30 minutes to land the stripey before tagging and releasing it. Not only was it his first ever marlin it was also a 5:1. On the way home he also managed one sailfish out of a double header, the other jumping the hook after 5 minutes. Great stuff for a first timer. Is there much more could you ask for?

The excellent fishing continued for father and son, both Davids’ also first timers in big game fishing but regular fishermen on the lakes and rivers in UK. Although fishing was somewhat slow on day one the first striped marlin was for David junior. Unfortunately the marlin managed to get caught in the props while being traced and had to be boated weighing in at 132 lbs, David’s biggest fish ever. The smaller fish were not playing!

The next day was far more active producing numerous billfish strikes. In all six strikes, three hookups, one lost marlin after throwing the hook on a long run and a double header of striped marlin being tagged and released. Father and son now both have had marlin. In addition a very nice wahoo was boated for the pot. Once again the small fish were not showing. Both returned home very happy fishermen and were now looking forward to catching a few different species of fish over the remaining days of their holiday.

The following day was very very slow indeed. The great thing about fishing is that no two days are ever same and that is what keeps us going. We tried to find smaller game fish and were on the hunt for dorado, wahoo, kingfish etc. For some reason or other the wind conditions were not quite right and small fish were very evasive. However, David senior did catch a 150 lbs striped marlin on the day, his biggest. It was a pretty good tally, four stripeys in three days, for first time big game fishermen.

It now became important for us to find a mixed bag as big fish was not the only fishing the two Davids’ were looking for. As luck would have it we started with a big bonito, followed by a reasonable sized wahoo on the way to the deep water. When we got towards centre channel we found a drifting net and that produced the mixed bag we were looking for. In all we caught 3 rainbow runner, 4 small yellowfin tuna, 1 dorado, 3 more wahoo and we released 3 baby shark. On the way home we managed to bag a 35 lbs wahoo. This was the first day of the trip that we did not raise or see a billfish. On the day a sailfish and a small blue marlin were tagged and released by another boat fishing the channel.

On the final day we started off by targeting sailfish. Shortly after 0730 we hooked up with a small sailfish and tagged and released it very soon thereafter. Half an hour later we hooked up with a much bigger sailfish but after a long searing run it managed to shake the hook, unfortunately. It was now time to move out to the deep water and look for marlin. We raised one very lethargic marlin that took a look at one of the baits and then disappeared. We had a strike from an unidentified billfish that never jumped but managed to shake the hook. In the end we caught 4 dorado, 2 wahoo and two yellowfin tuna. It was an excellent week for our guests and the week far exceeded their expectations having caught 8 different species. Well done the two of you.

I am pleased to report that bookings are very good for the marlin season. We have openings for the month of December for those wishing to make late bookings. January is almost full with only 1, 3 and 24 January available. February has some availability between 2 and 20 February but is filling fast and in March we have 5 to 7 and 11 and 12 March available before White Otter heads off to Watamu for a fishing expedition and her final refit in preparation for the 2011/2012 season.

Tight lines and from Pemba Channel Fishing Club we wish you all a great festive season and a happy, prosperous and, most importantly, a peaceful new year.


27 November, 2010
It is the time of the season that we start preparing regular reports and news on the fishing from the channel. It is a while since I provided any news, mainly due to the fact that White Otter went through a long refurbishing programme.

White Otter arrived back in Shimoni in late October from the first of her major refits. She now has a flying bridge, a hydraulic steering and a new state of the art GPS/fishfinder among other improvements.

So it was straight to down business. November fishing has been much much better than in previous years due to an early change in wind direction bringing in the marlin. Our regulars from Tanzania, Corrie and Charl caught and released the first sailfish and blue marlin of the season on our boats. The blue marlin was estimated at 300lbs on 50 lb line and was a very short, stocky, feisty fish. On its first searing run it overtook White Otter before changing direction and then jumping like a man possessed behind the boat having peeled off at least 600 meters of line before finally stopping. It took less than half an hour before the fish was traced and released in good condition. This was the first 5:1 of the season.

The month was also good for some first time big game fishermen. Gerard, from Holland, booked a couple of days and got some good practice on the first day with a nice big wahoo and numerous yellowfin tuna. Day two was to be his day hooking up with an estimated 180 lbs striped marlin on 30 lbs line. It took Gerard 2 hrs 30 minutes to land the stripey before tagging and releasing it. Not only was it his first ever marlin it was also a 5:1. On the way home he also managed one sailfish out of a double header, the other jumping the hook after 5 minutes. Great stuff for a first timer. Is there much more could you ask for?

The excellent fishing continued for father and son, both Davids’ also first timers in big game fishing but regular fishermen on the lakes and rivers in UK. Although fishing was somewhat slow on day one the first striped marlin was for David junior. Unfortunately the marlin managed to get caught in the props while being traced and had to be boated weighing in at 132 lbs, David’s biggest fish ever. The smaller fish were not playing!

The next day was far more active producing numerous billfish strikes. In all six strikes, three hookups, one lost marlin after throwing the hook on a long run and a double header of striped marlin being tagged and released. Father and son now both have had marlin. In addition a very nice wahoo was boated for the pot. Once again the small fish were not showing. Both returned home very happy fishermen and were now looking forward to catching a few different species of fish over the remaining days of their holiday.

The following day was very very slow indeed. The great thing about fishing is that no two days are ever same and that is what keeps us going. We tried to find smaller game fish and were on the hunt for dorado, wahoo, kingfish etc. For some reason or other the wind conditions were not quite right and small fish were very evasive. However, David senior did catch a 150 lbs striped marlin on the day, his biggest. It was a pretty good tally, four stripeys in three days, for first time big game fishermen.

It now became important for us to find a mixed bag as big fish was not the only fishing the two Davids’ were looking for. As luck would have it we started with a big bonito, followed by a reasonable sized wahoo on the way to the deep water. When we got towards centre channel we found a drifting net and that produced the mixed bag we were looking for. In all we caught 3 rainbow runner, 4 small yellowfin tuna, 1 dorado, 3 more wahoo and we released 3 baby shark. On the way home we managed to bag a 35 lbs wahoo. This was the first day of the trip that we did not raise or see a billfish. On the day a sailfish and a small blue marlin were tagged and released by another boat fishing the channel.

On the final day we started off by targeting sailfish. Shortly after 0730 we hooked up with a small sailfish and tagged and released it very soon thereafter. Half an hour later we hooked up with a much bigger sailfish but after a long searing run it managed to shake the hook, unfortunately. It was now time to move out to the deep water and look for marlin. We raised one very lethargic marlin that took a look at one of the baits and then disappeared. We had a strike from an unidentified billfish that never jumped but managed to shake the hook. In the end we caught 4 dorado, 2 wahoo and two yellowfin tuna. It was an excellent week for our guests and the week far exceeded their expectations having caught 8 different species. Well done the two of you.

I am pleased to report that bookings are very good for the marlin season. We have openings for the month of December for those wishing to make late bookings. January is almost full with only 1, 3 and 24 January available. February has some availability between 2 and 20 February but is filling fast and in March we have 5 to 7 and 11 and 12 March available before White Otter heads off to Watamu for a fishing expedition and her final refit in preparation for the 2011/2012 season.

Tight lines and from Pemba Channel Fishing Club we wish you all a great festive season and a happy, prosperous and, most importantly, a peaceful new year.


5 November, 2009
Peter is in Tanzania today to go and finalise the charter for the four week expedition of M Y Kisiwani to Mafia Island. The pharmaceutical company that charters M Y Kisiwani, the live-aboard dive boat, www.divingpemba.com, sent out 14 boxes which missed the flight on Monday. They arrived today, Thursday, so Capt Mkame and Steve have gone with White Otter to go and catch up with M Y Kisiwani and deliver the late boxes.

Steve was very enthusiastic as the wind has been blowing e-ne all day, which usually suggests MARLIN! They left here at 1530 on the high tide, will fish with conventional and poppers until the evening for Marlin and then change to BROADBILL rigs. It looks wonderful out there and the wind feels right.

Will let you know what happened when they get back

4 November 2009
Peter was out yesterday and had an unusual day. They had a strike in the morning from something Capt Mkame described as "a tuna with AIDS!" As it turned out, it was a long-tail tuna. Peter had never seen one before, so he called Mr Hemphill Snr; he did not recall a long-tail tuna ever being caught in the Pemba Channel. Peter then spoke to Peter Ready in Malindi and they do catch long-tail tuna in January and February, usually around the 2-3kg mark. This one was 13,5kg and only 1kg off the Kenya record. After all these years fishing in the Pemba Channel (+37 years) there are still exciting and new experiences in the ocean.

They had a mighty performance from two whales as well. It is quite late for the whales to still be in the Pemba Channel - usually they have all gone southwards by the end of October - these two breeched in tandem, the splash was fabulously huge, and then continued to play and perform for the next 20 minutes. The guests were thrilled.

On the way in, at the end of the day, they had another unusual experience. They were jigging over one of the reefs and caught a Giant Travally of approx 40 kg. A huge Caranx Ignobilis by any standard, which they released. It was struggling to get air, so one of the guests on board jumped into the water, righted the fish and swam with it for a couple of metres until it was strong enough and it took off a great speed back to his house.

28 October 2009
RAIN! It is bucketing down - no hot water, everything wet and soggy, seeds and shoots sprouting everywhere and we have planted another 100 indigenous trees. I will be taking another 400 trees down to 'the little house on the prarie' later this week.

Fishing? Harm and his family were out yesterday on White Otter and it rained and rained. They only managed two yellowfin tuna. Good for the pot but not for the soul!

20 October, 2009
Today is a public holiday here in Kenya.

It is still and sultry and the short rains are building up in the southern skies. We have had a long, hard drought throughout Kenya and many domestic and wild animals have died. On the drive into Mombasa from Shimoni there are now up to 300,000 head of Masai cattle (according to Kenya Wildlife Services here in Shimoni). Those Masai cattle owners that can afford it have been trucking the animals down here - as we were the only area that had had a little rain. It is stunning how quickly that many cattle can change the topography of the land. I believe there are heavy rains up-country now, so maybe they will all start moving back.

Peter was in Tanga, in Tanzania, for their competition over the week-end. Corrie and Charl, long-time fishermen here in the Pemba Channel, were fishing light line and dropped two marlin. Otherwise the fishing was not good over the week-end.

One boat will be going out again tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes.

Tight lines.

13 October, 2009
A very brief update this morning. Steve took Jasiri out with guests from Diani Beach yesterday. They had three marlin strikes, 2 sailfish hook-ups and the little fish. They managed to tag one marlin and gave the rest back to the ocean! We had rain on Saturday, and it seems to have livened the sea up a little although the wind came from all directions. We expect rain again on the week-end when Peter will be going down to Tanga, in Tanzania, to fish the Tanga Open with Corrie and Charl.

05 October 2009
Coloured Day for Lucky Anglers.


As the peuce dawn gently broke over a tranquil Pemba Channel Lodge, Shimoni, John Buckle, Mike Bowen, Richard Hartley and John Clark finished their fresh, fruit and coffee at breakfast and headed for the sparlking white, 10 metre Bertram called Jasiri in the yellow-peril dinghy “Nini Hi”. Captain Mohammed “Hawk-eyes” Baraza and his crew Hamadi and Cosmos had everything prepared and the sport fishing boat slipped its mooring and headed for the Pemba Channel in search of the ultimate in deep sea fishing quarry, Marlin.


At the ‘mlango’ they headed north to the “bait-patch” in the shallow, ‘green’ waters off Funzi and Chale Islands where the first strike of the day produced a fine, fresh Kawa-kawa Bonito for Richard, that gobbled a small 4-inch pink jig. With the early action unusually quiet with only a few terns to help the skipper find more bait-fish they headed for the cobalt-blue waters of the deep channel with some fresh tunny strips that would add extra flavour to the soft-head plastic lures that are commonly used to attract the big fish in any waters.


About mid-channel the excitement grew when “Hawk-eyes” spotted the neon-blue fins of a “Lit-up” Striped Marlin closing in on the 10-inch, pink, soft-head lure splashing its bubble-trail some 100 metres behind the port outrigger. It was John Clark’s turn at the rod and with Captain Baraza shouting a stream of instructions on what to do, what was happening and no doubt wishing one of his crew or himself had grabbed the rod first it was with great relief when the line started peeling from the reel as the fish made its grey-hound leaps across the ocean. The remaining lines quickly wound in and the angler in the chair with everyones adrenalin levels returning to near-normal the fight began. After its initial run and aerobatics the fish fought deep and hard making the angler sweat for every metre of line recovered to the reel. After a couple of bursts of energy from the fish near the boat it was eventually subsided after 25 minutes and an orange ABF (African Billfish Foundation) tag number ABF B 31727 was inserted into the fleshy shoulder of the beautiful fish that Baraza and crew estimated, conservatively at 130 lbs. Time was taken to revive the fish and snap a couple of photos on Mike’s mobile phone (since they had forgotton their normal cameras!) and the lures were set again in a “W” spread-formation in search of further action.


They had not long to wait when Cosmos spotted a brown shape finning ahead and they headed to intercept this next specimin. This time it was John Buckle’s turn to strike the fish and with expert positioning of Jasiri by the captain, the marlin spotted the baits and homed in on its chosen meal. Again the 10-inch pink soft-head. However, this time there were two of the pink lures in the spread and initially the fish, now identified as a Black Marlin chose the line nearest the boat. Well, no names, no pack-drill but Baraza was spewing forth a few wellchosen swaheli phrases (that everyone on board actually understood- including the wazungus) as the Black was missed on its initial pull on a huge orange & purple kona-head lure on the ‘flat-line’ …. With several pairs of eyes scanning the ocean the Black Marlin was spotted as it dropped back to investigate the other lures set out for its menu-da-jour. It selected the tasty morsel on the outside of the pattern and moments later, all was forgotten as John Buckle set the hook of the identical, pink soft-head (+strip) that was snatched from the same port outrigger that the Striped Marlin had taken! This fish fought deep and strong after its initial surface action and it was eventually tamed after 35 minutes of effort from the fighting chair by JB. Huge Cheshire-cat smiles lit up the crew’s faces and their pearly-white teeth shone brightly as they grinned at another excellent result of a day on the ocean and another sporting fish, weighing about 180 lbs now has an ID (ABF B 31726) and returned to the sea together with its little pale Ramourer (sucker-fish) that can be seen in the accompanying photograph.


With several hours still to fish before they had to return to the mooring fishing resumed and the crew reverted to the job in hand of maybe catching another Grand Slam of the 2009/10 season (three different species of Billfish). An object was spotted ahead on the surface and as Jasiri approached it was apparent that a Red Snapper weighing about three kilogrammes had probably been caught by a local fisherman and as it was hauled up another predatator had attacked it leaving a gash in its side. With its swim-bladder over-full of air it had no chance but to drift upwards where the crew, happy for a delicious meal at no extra effort accepted the bounty and lifted it into the boat on the gaff.


With Pemba Island dissappearing over the eastern horizon, Jasiri headed for Shimoni but it was not quite the end of the fishing as a pair of the Yellow, Gold and Green Dorados sped in at ninty degrees to the lures. A fine female fish about 6 kg was hooked and fought to the boat (yet again on the same pink lure tat had caught the two marlin!) and an accompanying male fish was very nearly teased into taking a small jig as it followed its hooked companion to the stern of Jasiri. To make a good day on a beautiful sea even better, a large pod of Bottlenosed Dolphins then frolicked in the bow wave as the fishermenn eventually recovered through the mlango at Shimoni but the many Hump-backed whales seen on the previous trip must have moved on as they were one notable omission from the sights of the day.


Back on shore over a sumptious lunch, cold beer and a chilled bottle of South African wine the stories were repeated and embelished for the “Reporter” and plans were made for another trip out on one of the Pemba Channel Lodge boats in the near future… who knows the outriggers of Jasiri, Shuwari or White Otter may be boasting more colourful flags indicating tagged fish. A dark-red, triangled flag with a white “T”, a Black flag for the tagged Black Marlin and a Green flag for the Striped Marlin.

(Fishingfundi)


24 September, 2009
As the 2009/2010 season kicks in I thought it appropriate to write a short report of what has happened since our last season.

We have not had many charters so far but I am pleased to report that the charters we have had have produced some remarkable fishing. In April we had a good Easter weekend with plenty of schooling yellowfin tuna and dorado as well as a sailfish and a small blue marlin.

We did not venture out in May and June as we were away. Sandra and I went off to South Africa to follow the British and Irish Lions tour. It was great fun and we were glad we went. Lots of good food, lots of great wine, some excellent company and we were happy to get back to Shimoni.

July to date has produced some very encouraging results. We had a small mako shark, the first for a long time, and a short-billed spearfish on the same day. Short-billed spearfish are not common in our waters but over the last couple of seasons a few more are being caught. The short-billed spearfish looks a bit like a wahoo, has no teeth and has a short bill. The bill is similar to that of sailfish and marlin.

The most encouraging signs of the early season are the number of striped marlin being caught. Nearly all boats fishing out of Shimoni have reported catching and releasing striped marlin this season with Jasiri topping the list. Less than a week ago I went out with my brother in law Jan on Jasiri. Jan was here for a while helping us getting the building site ready for our new cottages. We finished with the Architects last week and we should be up and running within the next six months. Jan and I had a triple header of stripeys but regrettably lost all of them. There have been a few strikes from black marlin too. It would seem that the marlin are plentiful as we receive regular reports of the depressing news about the numbers of marlin and sailfish being caught in nets off Southern Pemba and Northern Zanzibar.

We will report on a more regular basis as the season progresses and we look forward to some good marlin catches. Steve – the fishing fundi - and I will be going out on a weekly basis from the middle of October, just to gauge what’s out there and let you know what is happening.



12 March, 2009
BREAKING NEWS

From April 1st 2009 until the end of 2010 the fees for tourist visas will be reduced by 50%.

Children under 16 will be exempt from all Visa fees.


10 March, 2009
Cook logging in!

The month of March is living up to its reputation for producing the biggest striped marlin of the season. Today Jasiri tagged a striped marlin estimated at 115 kg (250lb) plus on 50 lb line. Could it have been on new Kenya and All Africa record – which is already held by the Pemba Channel Fishing Club? It was very close to the Kenya All Africa record displayed on the club wall which was caught on 27 March, 1999 but it was released and was also handled by two fishermen.

March is not over yet!!! The Striped Marlin are usually much bigger and much fatter at this time of the year, although not as prolific.

Our Russian guests also had a large sailfish off Jasiri. Peter goes out on White Otter tomorrow. Always a lucky boat.

I will get a photo of the huge Striped Marlin up on the newsletter page tomorrow. Log on then!


27 February, 2009
Since posting our last report on our news page some strange things have been happening with our weather. The wind has been changing direction every day and sometimes several times in a day. Whether this is as a result of global warming or the cyclones and weather fronts in Madagascar and Mozambique I am not able to say.

The only fishing not affected by the wind changes is the broadbill fishing as these fish are seemingly around at all times of the year and in both monsoons. Our broadbill trips this season have nearly all produced broadbill.

Fishing has been patchy with the best results being 5 sailfish on Jasiri on 14 February. Marlin fishing has been slow too with only 7 caught in the last couple of weeks. Dorado and wahoo have been plentiful and have kept the fishermen busy and the kitchen well stocked.

As I write this report at 1000 hrs on 27 February it seems like the wind is in the right direction for the first time in a while and all boats out fishing today are seeing marlin and sailfish. The conditions seem to be improving and a striped marlin was released by 0900. Let us hope conditions will settle for the remainder of the season. Traditionally we catch our largest marlin during March.


15 February, 2009
This came through the e-mail from Gordon Richards of SCBI, so I thought it was ok to publish! Cook

At a Senior Citizen's luncheon, an elderly gentleman and an elderly lady struck up a conversation and discovered that they both loved to fish. Since both of them were widowed, they decided to go fishing together the next day!
Early the next morning, the gentleman picked the lady up, and they headed to the river to his fishing boat and started out on their adventure. They were riding down the river when there was a fork in the river, and the gentleman asked the lady,
'Do you want to go up or down?’
All of a sudden the lady stripped off her shirt and pants and made mad passionate love to the man right there in the boat ! When they finished, the man couldn't believe what had just happened, but he had just experienced the best sex that he'd had in years. They fished for a while and continued on down the river, when soon they came upon another fork in the river. He again asked the lady,
'Up or down ?'
There she went again, stripped off her clothes, and made wild passionate love to him again. This really impressed the elderly gentleman, so he asked her to go fishing again the next day. She said yes and there they were the next day, riding in the boat when they came upon the fork in river, and the elderly gentleman asked,
'Up or down ?'
The woman replied,
'Down.'
A little puzzled and disappointed, the gentleman guided the boat down the river when he came upon another fork in the river and he asked the lady,
'Up or down ?'
She replied,
'Up.'
This really confused the gentleman so he asked,
'What's the deal? Yesterday, every time I asked you if you wanted to go up or down you made mad passionate love to me. Now today, nothing!'
She replied, 'Well, yesterday I wasn't wearing my hearing aid and I thought the choices were fuck or drown.'



10 February, 2009
BLUE MARLIN BONANZA

Blue marlin bouncing off the ocean today. Yesterday one caught of 350lbs on 50lb line and another smaller one and today a +/-400lb being fought right now on 50lb line and a big one tail-wrapped and died but they were unable to get it to the boat. Lots around. Come fishing! Lots of sail around too, great for fly and light tackle. See you soon.
Cook.



9 February 2009
Cook here again. Peter gone to Nairobi. Fishing has been hard and tough this week. Winds swirling, sea swirling, fish swirling. Peter and the 'orphans', Corrie and Charl, were supposed to do a day/night/day over the week-end but were defeated by the sea conditions. They went out Sunday and in strenuous seas did very well with 1 marlin and five sailfish.
I will give you a more detailed report later in the week.



03 February, 2009
Shimoni Sea Mountain Monster

Alburquerue, New Mexico-based angler, Alan Wright returned to the Pemba Channel Fishing Club (PCFC) in Shimoni, Kenya for the fourth time in search of some more superb fishing but with Broadbill Swordfish his top priority. Chatting in the bar on Saturday night with fellow angling visitors to Kenya, Richard & Lee it took almost no persuading to get the three guys to book two boats for the exciting 33-hour, overnight trips to the under-sea, Shimoni Sea Mountain that lies some 55 nm (100km) east of the mainland of East Africa. on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 January 2009.

The marlin fishing in the Pemba Channel had turned slightly sluggish over the past couple of days with just a couple of Striped Marlin and a Blue Marlin being tagged and some fine Dorado and the odd Wahoo adding to the tally. However, one major bonus was that the wind had swung around to blow erratically from the south and the sea was almost
flat calm which, if it maintained its direction would make the slow trolling or drifting far more comfortable than the usual, late January sea state normally allows. All three visitors to the PCFC had read the various articles posted on the web-site www.pembachannel.com and were interested not only in meeting the "Guest Skipper" but seeing
whether my reports bore any relation to the actual facts! Well here goes for another epistle from the good ship Shuwari – with news of partners-in-crime on the twin-ship Jasiri.

With Richard & Lee on the sister ship Jasiri, I joined Alan together with Baraza Mohamed, Cosmos and Rama as crew on Shuwari, a ten metre Bertram sport fishing boat with flying bridge and tuna tower for the 33-hour trip in search of more big fish. We left the moorings in the tranquil waters of Shimoni at 0630 loaded with three cold boxes each
containing food, drinks and bait as well as the last remaining 16 chemical light sticks available from Captain Andy's fishing tackle. The wake of Shuwari soon had small jigs darting along and the home-made, "champali-exciters" were fluttering along providing the required splatter of water to imitate the panic fleeing of a small flying fish. The sun rose above the line of grey cumulus clouds that threatened precipitation but probably only at sea. I actually I quite enjoy fishing in rain showers as I often find that the 'noise' it produces on the surface can raise fish and enhance the chance of a strike.

At the first radio call-up at 0800 the fishing was dour with only PCFC's White Otter having action with a big Wahoo that became a long-line-release at the trace when it managed to bite through the leader. However, at 0820 the first small Blue Marlin was tagged on 30lb line (and another lost) and a small Striped Marlin had also been tagged by a couple of other boats in the area, so there were some fish around. Our first fish was a small (4kg) Dorado that was welcome action and gave Alan a short warm-up and to hone his 'Stand-up' technique. With the promising news of bill-fish, we decided to persevere in the mid-channel for Marlin and Sailfish for at least a couple of hours before heading over the horizon to the sea-mountain.

The water looked ideal, cobalt-blue with a slight chop but almost zero
swell and no wave action that enabled us to easily identify the slight
'rips' that developed during the day. However, after a couple of
fruitless hours during which we saw almost no birds, weed-lines or
fins showing, we decided that at 11.00 we would head east if we hadn't
raised any bill-fish by then.

Sure enough at 1100, although we witnessed a Striped Marlin leaping behind a boat about one kilometre from us, we headed east again, following the GPS heading demands. There was a strong current that had been supplemented by the southerly winds and was now running at about three knots from the southeast, parallel to the coastline and we had to bear about ten degrees right to counter its vector and make our track more direct. Good signs started to appear (12 miles to the Sea-mount), nice rips, flocks of Terns and Sea Gulls and areas of sea that boiled with large shoals of bait fish. We quickly changed a couple of the strip baits for smaller Bonito jigs and almost immediately hooked up with a couple of Frigate Mackerel. One fell off but the other was boated and would make a perfect bait for later on as
we were trolling far to fast to live-bait at that time.

Another good two Dorado were caught and released as we had enough strip baits for the day and there were beams of joy over the crew's faces as flocks of birds and splashes of Bonito and Tuna greeted us on the arrival near the Sea-mount GPS position at South 04 degrees 37.94 minutes East 40 degrees 15.19 minutes. Again the little jigs did their stuff and soon we had two Skipjack/Oceanic Bonito bridle-rigged and swimming along as live-bait. One was about 100 feet below the surface on the down-rigger and the other was about 200 metres behind the boat on the 80 lb class rod in the 'shot-gun' position. The anglers on Jasiri caught a couple of similar fish and chased around the pinnacle location searching for bill-fish at trolling speed whilst I headed south with one engine in neutral and the other at idle. This would normally give the boat a ground-speed of about three knots but directly into the current we held station with perhaps a 0.2 knot ground-speed! At least we knew we were over the "Mlima". The down-rigged bait swam around without any sigh of distress but just at dusk, at 1905 the top-rod ratchet buzzed for a few seconds. Baraza
was at the helm and he lifted the rod to feel exactly what was happening. "Samaki na cheza" (the fish is playing) but then … nothing. Eventually, as we had the fresh squid baits ready with the light-sticks the long-line was retrieved and the still lively fish examined. Sure enough it showed signs of a bill-fish scrape along its flanks where a Broadbill had tried to eat it but probably found it too large and had to reject it. Surprisingly both the Skippys were still fine and, after removing the bridles they were released and swam away strongly!

It was going to be a dark night lit only by star-light as the new-moon had yet to be sighted. The sea sparkled with phosphorescence in the wake and the light-sticks glowed like eerie green sea-monsters, occasionally breaking the surface and shining brightly and were almost hypnotic in the way they seemed to drift left, right, apart and closer
as the boat gently weaved into the southerly current. About 20.00 hours we saw the spot-lights of Jasiri light up the area about half a kilometre away and after they extinguished about 20 minutes later we heard over the radio that Lee had just tagged and released a small Broadbill Swordfish of about 60 lbs. We continued hovering over a position just east of the GPS position but without any strikes and again noticed the lights come on Jasiri about 22.10 hours. This time they were on a little longer and we were delighted to hear that Richard had also caught his first Broadbill Swordfish and this had been estimated about 120 lbs by Hamadi, the quiet Captain of Jasiri before being tagged and released.

Cosmos and I had shared the helm up until about 2300 hours and then Eagle-eyes Baraza Mohamed took over for the midnight watch. I heard the phfizz of the odd Red-Bull can being popped as I tried to get some shut-eye but by 0100 I decided it was only fair that I gave Baraza a break. We sat together chatting about fishing and the Raytheon GPS,
and why couldn't I get it to dim further than zero? Baraza was half way through trying to change the screen to red-light from the too-bright green, when the line snapped out of the port out-rigger. The ratchet started its music and immediately Baraza nudged the starboard engine forward to help set the hook. Alan had been dozing but was still wearing the waist-belt of his "Smitty Belt" and he snapped into action, quickly clipped on the drop-down rod plate and
adjusted the clips to hold the reel at a comfortable distance from his waist. The engines returned to idle and the remaining three lines were quickly reeled in and stored away in the cabin whilst the fight ensued.

It was a strong fish and the 50 lb (24kg) line was peeling off the Shimano Tiagra 50-Wide at an alarming rate. I was at the helm, Baraza was beside Alan advising him of what was happening whilst Cosmos prepared the tag-stick with a new tag and Rama held the flash-light pointed at the rod tip to give me an idea where the fish was dragging us and enable me to keep Alan pointing off the stern-quarter where he was firmly braced against the gunwale. After twenty
minutes with very little line gained back from the fish Alan was calling for sips of cold water as sweat drenched his shirt. The fish had gone very deep and we actually wondered if it might be a big shark or perhaps a very large Yellow-fin Tuna. Then the angle of the line started to lessen as it came towards the surface and I was able to start gently reversing in the direction that Baraza pointed.

As the fight-time reached 55 minutes Alan joked that his contract didn't allow for playing fish for more than one hour and he started to take his mind off the "burn" that is felt in your arms by discussing the wonderful stars above and the glow of marine invertebrates glowing in the sea. Large Cuttlefish about 500mm long, attracted to our lights caused a hazard to the line as they could possible cut us off with their sharp beaks and Baraza smacked the water with a gaff to frighten off some of those that were nearest the danger area. Alan continued with his water refreshment breaks every 15 minutes or so, pausing to get his breath, flex his aching muscles and prepare for a
long time on the deck. After 70 minutes the glow of the fish was visible near the surface about 100 metres away and we reversed towards it with Alan winding as quickly as possible. The trace was tantalisingly close but as I changed from reverse, through idle and into forward motion to keep the line from going under the propellers the fish spooked and line again stripped from the reel as the fish dived deep. This became the trend as Alan sweated with the effort
that was made relatively easy because of the calm sea, but difficult because of the strength of the fish. Eventually after two hours and nine minutes, with the boats engines in idle the trace was within grasping distance and Baraza and Cosmos held on as they tried to manoeuvre the fish into a position to get a tag in safely. I leaned over to watch the action as the Broadbill decided to switch sides of the boat and dragged both crewmen from one side to the other. The bill was enormous, about six inches across at the mouth and probably about five feet long, the body length looked longer than the span of my outstretched arms, with a deep-fat body, huge eyes and a tall dorsal fin and tail. This Broadbill was the largest that either Captain Baraza or I have seen in Kenyan waters and was probably in
excess of 110 kilograms. Unfortunately for Alan, we failed to get a tag into it as the Mustad 12/0 J-hook opened slightly and the fish escaped back into the sparkling depths of the Sea Mountain. Phew, what a monster and congratulations to Alan for a superb fight on 24 kg tackle using excellent "Stand-up" technique.

We re-set the spread, chatted about big fish, records and 5:1s before the exhaustion caught up with Alan and he dozed off. Meanwhile, I had to increase the trolling speed as the 129 minute fight had dragged us north in the strong current and we ended up some 15 nm away from the Mlima and we desperately wanted to get back to the mountain and see if the Big-eye Tuna and other bait fish would appear at dawn and herald another good day's fishing.

Captain Hamadi on Jasiri had watched our lights move away north but he was having problems understanding us on his radio and so was unaware that we had all succeeded in catching a Broady. Dawn didn't really break as the horizon was blanketed in thick, grey, angry clouds that soared high into the atmosphere. These "Cu-Nimbs" were full of rain,
lightning and peals of rolling thunder and everyone was aware that our stainless steel outriggers and carbon fibre rods might well be attractive conduits for the bolts of lightning and so we headed away from the approaching squalls. Several well-defined sea-spout/twisters developed between storm clouds and we were happy that the general wind was a light southerly and the sea state remained flat and oily!

Action started again with Dorados eagerly slashing at our lures and several good fish about 8 kg were boated. At 1045 hours a Black Marlin knocked a strip-bait from the out-rigger at South 04 degrees 39.85 minutes East 39 degrees, 58.43 minutes but then abandoned that lure and locked onto a Williamson Rubber Bonito that was in the shot-gun position. Twice it seemed that it was hooked up as it stripped line from the Tiagra 80 Wide but then it was off and we discovered that the back half of the rubber lure had broken off just behind the hook. So much for catching several fish on one lure, this one became a casualty of the big fish we routinely catch in the Pemba Channel.

A couple of hours later we missed a Sailfish that crept up on a lure close to the boat and we also had strikes from a big Wahoo and two more Dorado. However, with the streaming current almost head-on we were going to get home well after 1600 hours unless we upped our speed and cut over the channel into the slightly shallower water near Diani. Both Jasiri and ourselves decided to call off the fishing as we approached the green water near Funzi Island and the Orange and White flags were duly raised on the out-riggers to proclaim to all on yet another of our successful trips to the Shimoni Sea Mountain.

Welcome Home!

P.S. My records are not fully up to date but the Kenyan Record I have on 24 kg for Broadbill Swordfish is a 76 kg fish caught by Russel Brumby and the All-tackle record is 116.5 kg caught by A. Van Collier so this fish, if killed and landed may well have eclipsed both these records – another plug for the sportsmanship of Alan Wright in wanting
to tag and release big fish.




19 January, 2009
Super Fantasy Slam of Six Different Billfish – Almost . . . !

Avid angler, Morne Basson flew from RSA to the island of Zanzibar, took a second short hop on a 'prop' aircraft to Pemba Island and then was collected from the northern tip of Pemba by the ten metre Bertram SFB (Sport Fishing Boat) Jasiri for the night transit to the "Marlin Capital" of Kenya at the Pemba Channel Fishing Club (PCFC), Shimoni for a few days game fishing for bill-fish and other sport fish in the Indian Ocean. His overnight trip was expertly skippered by Hamadi who delivered Morne to the Pemba Lodge in time for a delicious late dinner cooked by the chief chef, Mwinyi. Tales of big fish caught and lost were exchanged over a few cold "Tuskers" at the bar and it was with lots of confidence that Morne set his early morning alarm at 0545 for the first of his three days planned fishing.

Day one was on Jasiri again and with the boss of the PCFC, Peter Ruysenaars at the helm. Morne had a good first day's fishing catching not only essential bait in the form of Dorado but also managed a 70 lb Sailfish and a Blue Marlin that he tagged and released estimated at about 220 lb. The sea-state was a bit on the rough side but with a couple of days in hand the plan was to have a rest day between each fishing trip and hope that the Kaskazi wind (that blows hard from the north-east from mid-day onwards) would die down and the sea-state would calm down towards the end of the week.

The second day's fishing (10th Jan 2009) was on the sister Bertram boat of PCFC, Shuwari captained by the 'Guest Skipper' Steve Davidson. The day started well with a Suli-suli (Sailfish) of 30 kg at 0850 hours. With the sea looking a perfect, cobalt-blue with a slight chop and with the swell from the north-east (as expected) at 1005 hours a second Sailfish crept up behind the blue and white Island Sail lure with its strip of Dorado belly sewn to the 10/0 circle hook. This fish was 'window-shopping', the term by which we call a fish that is not really hungry, not 'lit-up', and not crash striking the bait. However, it was interested in our lures and followed the menu of the day that we were offering in our spread of baits for some five minutes or so. We 'teased' the fish by dropping the lure in free-spool behind the predator and then winding it fast past its nose before slowing it down again, jerking it erratically, like a wounded fish and eventually the Suli's pectoral fins turned a neon-blue as it slashed at the bait.

Free-spool…. Pause.. longer pause and then as the fish grabbed the bait and turned its head through over 90 degrees, the lever drag was advanced to the 'Strike' position and the hook set in the jaws and the fight was on. With modern light tackle the fight after hook-up favours the fisherman provided the angler has enough line on the reel and doesn't try to rush things, but this time there just happened to be a line of seaweed close by that had some significant chunks of floating 'bubble-weed' that was caught on the 10 kg line. With the fish a tad upset that it had a hook in its jaws and leaping in greyhound style across the ocean, the drag of the weed became excessive. Morne tried reducing the reel setting to nearly free-spool but it was to no avail and unfortunately we lost the lure, exciter and fish when the line popped. With the weed around, I returned the rod to the rack in the cabin and replaced it with a heavier 24 kg outfit of a Shimano Tiagra 50 wide on a matching Shimano rod.

The action slowed for over an hour until the drone of the Caterpillar engines was shattered at 1125 by a screaming ratchet of a Tiagra 50 as line was suddenly peeling off into the distance by a strong fish. We hadn't seen the strike and although there were some splashes in the wake some 150 metres back no-one was confident of the species. The fish continued to take line for a minute or more as the other lines were wound in and the teasers pulled from the water before Shuwari was eventually put into neutral to give Morne a chance to gain some line. With the fish diving deep and giving the fisherman a good work-out, Shuwari was gently reversed towards the fish to reduce the stress on the fish and the angler. Even as the leader was about to be wrapped by the 'Decky' we were uncertain of the species, perhaps a HUGE Wahoo, a small marlin or big sailfish? Wrong, it was none of those. It was in-fact a very rarely caught (in Kenyan waters) pelagic species called the Short-billed Spearfish. 12 years previously, whilst fishing on board Shuwari, we had caught a pair of these fish but this one was nearly twice the size of these previous fish. Being so rare, we were certain that this fish was a record but with our dedication to conservation and sportsmanship we agreed to tag and release the fish but only after we had briefly lifted it on board for a couple of snap photographs for posterity. It was estimated to be between 25 - 30 kg. (As it happens the All Africa Record on 24 kg is VACANT for Short-billed Spearfish and the Kenyan record is 18.8 kg)

The action for the day was far from over as at 1155 another Sailfish tried to get itself hooked but was missed and then a Wahoo had two attempts at our lures eventually cutting off a pink and white soft head that was causing a tempting bubble-tail behind the soft-bird exciter. As we headed back across the Pemba Channel towards Shimoni a Striped Marlin decided to examine our baits but unfortunately after knocking the long-line from the out-rigger clip, the marlin decided that it was not to its taste and disappeared into the depths of the choppy sea.

Morne's next day was taken up with a trip to the Kisiti Marine Park in a traditional dhow where dolphin were spotted and a wonderful days snorkelling was enjoyed albeit with scant regard for the ferocity of the African equatorial sun and so some Nivea Aftersun was required on back muscles that were starting to 'tighten-up'.

12 Jan 09. It was another trip with Morne on Shuwari, with a very early strike at 0645 in the green water by a 'toothy critter' that cut off a little rusty-brown tuna lure. At 0811 a little three kg Falusi (Dorado/Mahi mahi, Dolphin fish etc) was winched in on 24 kg line that would make good fresh strip baits and could also be used as a dead bait for a shark or big marlin. Morne's good fortune continued with a really great 42 kg Sailfish giving an excellent fight on 24 kg line at position South 4 degrees 35.5 mins, East 039 degrees 36.4 mins (for those of you who want to plot where we were fishing!)

At 1100 we had a Sailfish come window shopping and at 1120 a Stripy also came looking but both were not hooked up. Action quietened for a while until we fished a likely looking rip and were rewarded with a double strike of Sailfish. Line was peeling from both reels but unexplainably but dropped off within seconds of each other! A second Dorado, just a little larger than the first became our bar-bitings for the evening when it was caught at 1340 (after being filleted, chilled and put on ice in preparation for the Soy sauce, lemon juice and Wasabi paste) but the real excitement flowed when a marlin grabbed a bait on the long line behind the port out-rigger at 1415 hours. This was a feisty fish that leapt all over the place, trying to get slack line by charging towards the boat and then diving deep and using the strength of the current to make the fight more exhausting for the angler!

After about 25 minutes of well co-ordinated team-work the fish approached the boat and again decided to perform for the camera. (Unfortunately the action was only caught on an Mpeg file on Morne's camera but some photos of the play-back are included snapped on a mobile phone camera.) As the fish struggled to get free we realised that our initial impression that we had hooked a Blue Marlin was incorrect as the dorsal fin was quite short and the pectoral fins were permanently stiff out from the side of the body. These attributes are certain identification features that proved that we had caught and tagged a nice Black Marlin (estimated at 140 kg) and were only two types away from catching all six billfish available in the East African waters. What we needed now was the relatively common Striped Marlin and the 'Gladiator of the dark' a Broadbill Swordfish.

Morne was due to return to Pemba Island but with his enthusiasm and optimism infectious he was easily persuaded to take an extra couple of trips to possibly achieve in a week what many anglers never manage in a life-time and that is the Super Fantasy Slam (albeit not in one day). The wind continued to blow hard for the next couple of days and for a while Morne was anxious that he might return to the mooring without even a solitary flag to indicate the catch of a bill-fish. However, his positive thinking paid dividends and in the final hour of his first extra day he caught, tagged and released another good, aerobatic Sailfish that was also captured on video. A very large Hammerhead shark was also followed, offered one of our tasty Dorados as an Hors D'oeuvre but it wanted a bloodier morsel and swept its way majestically towards boiling areas of Bonito that were feeding on Whitebait and we were finding impossible to catch.

Broadbill Swordfish are generally caught on dark nights with either drifted squid baits or slowly trolled soft baits with chemical light-sticks to help attract the fish. The sea state dictated that drifting was out of the question and so it was decided to try a day-into-night trip of trolling baits, hoping to catch both a Striped Marlin and a Swordfish before the moon got up too high. Amazingly the first part was achieved when at about 1400 hours a great 220 lb Stripy duly played its role in the drama before being tagged and released but, as the afternoon wore on the sea-state was against the crew and angler and following an uncomfortable night bouncing from one wave to the next and getting the odd sea-shower from rouge waves the sixth billfish was to be left to a future date… but what an introduction to the variety and diversity of the waters off the Kenyan coast at Shimoni. Sailfish, Black, Blue and Striped Marlin and a Short-billed Spearfish - in the words of Arnold, "I'll be back".




11 January, 2009
Probable All Africa Record Fish Released

Morne Basson, an avid South African angler visiting the Pemba Channel Fishing Club, Shimoni, caught , tagged, photographed and released a potential All Africa Record Short Billed Spearfish whilst fishing aboard Shuwari on 10 January 2009. This very rare and seldom caught species (Tetrapturus angustirostris) is a pelagic, off shore, deep-water fish. They feed on or near the surface, mainly on small and medium sized fish and squids, including flying fish, needle fish and pilot fish. Available data indicates that the fish matures by the age of two and rarely lives past three years.

Morne caught his fish at 11.25 hours at South 4° 46.72’ East 039° 37.50’, midway between the mainland and the northern tip of Pemba Island. It took an 18cm (seven inch) purple and blue soft-head lure that had a strip of Dorado belly sewn to the 10/0 Mustad hook and he fought the fish for 16 minutes on 24 kilogram (50 lb) line before it was subdued at the boat and given an African Billfish Foundation tag # B31865. The crew estimated the weight of the fish at between 25 and 30 kilograms and it was significantly larger than any of the previous four Short Billed Spearfish that have been caught, surprisingly all on Shuwari, over the past 12 years. Visiting skipper, Steve Davidson who was aboard Shuwari in October 2006 when the first pair of Spearfish had been caught, identified the fish that had initially behaved like a small marlin, stripping about 300 metres of line from the reel and then diving deep without giving an aerial jumping display. Davidson is quoted “it gave a wonderful fight for the size of fish and it is a tribute to Morne’s sportsmanship that it was released.” To claim a world, continental or national record the fish must be killed and weighed on verifiable scales on land although it is rumored that the International Game Fish Association are considering starting a list of record fish that are released according to their estimated weight. (Short Billed Spearfish Kenya Record on 24 kg line is 18.8 kg.)




19 December, 2008
REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME - posted by Sandra, the cook.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male
and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male
reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late
November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers
till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man
in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.



15 December, 2008

Only a short line today to let you know there have been 11 marlin this week and 34 sailies. We will be out every day these next few weeks with up to four boats, so should have some interesting fishing with lots of marlin.



8 December, 2008
White Otter was out today and has had a superb deep sea fishing day with 1 sailfish, 1 striped marlin and 1 blue marlin. Great fishing for guests that are here at the Pemba Channel Fishing Club for the first time. This brings the total to seven marlin this week. This could be a very exciting season this year.

30 November, 2008
26 November was the start the last of our three sea mountain trips. This trip turned out to be the most successful of all.

The day started with a dorado for bait having missed half a dozen sailfish. We headed out earlier than usual towards the sea-mountain and soon tagged a double header of 35 kg sailfish. We caught and released another dorado before we had a visit from an inquisitive but disinterested marlin. Shortly after this we had a blind strike from a 80 kg striped marlin which we tagged and released. Half way to the sea mountain we hooked up with a small black marlin which unfortunately fell off quite quickly after it finished its jumping.

Things went a little quiet for a while before we boated a 25 kg yellowfin tuna, some of which Steve roasted for supper. On reaching the sea mountain we picked up a small yellowfin tuna which we live baited as we prepared for our night fishing for broadbill. The night fishing was very slow compared with the two previous trips. Unfortunately the one broadbill came to the boat almost dead and attempts to revive the 50 kg fish were not successful.

The rest of the night was uneventful which gave us time to appreciate and enjoy the night sky, which was brilliantly lit by the Milky Way and zillions of other stars, and the glow from the phosphorescence was quite ethereal.

The early morning bite on the sea mountain did not materialize so we made an early start for home. On leaving the mountain we did see a free-jumping marlin. Once we reached the North Pemba Banks, large schools of bait fish were showing on the fish finder. Not before long we had a visit from a 300 kg black marlin. It took one look at the 15 kg rig, lit up splendidly, thought twice about gobbling the bait, decided it wasn’t too tempting and disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Suddenly it was back. Once again, it lit up like a Christmas Tree, looked at everything in the spread and then left without even attempting to take anything on offer. Can you imagine playing a 700 lb marlin on 30 lb tackle!

The rest of the day was full of similar incidents. We found a tiger shark finning. It swam straight past our smelly bait. Same story for the second, unidentified, shark which went straight down without even looking at the bait. What is it with our baits?! We finally had a visit from a window-shopping sailfish.

The whole trip was very much a case of ‘what if . . . . . .’ All in all there was plenty of daytime action and a very pleasant 33 hours on the ocean. It was Mario’s first slam- two sailfish, one striped marlin and one broadbill. He and Moeder were thrilled to bits with the seafari.

The fishing out of Shimoni has been good during the week with White Otter picking up 6 saifish and a few dorado on one day and followed it up with 2 sailfish, some dorado and a few little bonito.

Sailfish have been around in HUGE numbers all along the coast.

November is an excellent time for sailfish fishing.
If there is anyone out there who would like to try sailfish on fly, now is the time to come.




24 November, 2008

Mountain Trip 19-20 November 2008
Steve Davidson - Guest Skipper

Another dawn broke gently over a tranquil Shimoni. The Pemba Channel Fishing Club (PCFC) / Lodge boats swayed gently at their moorings as the four red flags and the T-flag were removed from the starboard outrigger of Jasiri where they had boasted yesterdays successful jaunt out to the rich, clear waters just north of the 'mlango' (entrance) to Shimoni culminating in four tagged and released Sailfish. A light breakfast was taken at a leisurely pace as I sat on the pool steps with Sandra and contemplated the trip ahead.

It was 12 years, two months and 13 days since I had last been on one of the exciting trips to the Shimoni Mountain (as I had named it in my GPS) that lies 54nm (approx. 100 km) east of PCFC. On that previous sea safari we caught two Shortbilled Spearfish, a large Striped Marlin and an even larger Broadbill, not to mention the numerous Dorado, Skipjacks and, when we arrived on the Mountain, lots of Big Eye Tuna. We had also "dropped" a couple of Sailfish and a big Black Marlin which, had we managed to tag them, would have been the first ever recorded Grand Slam of five Billfish in one trip. Would this trip live up to the last? What was the weather like out there in November?

My client for the next 33 hours was a pleasant young man from the Netherlands called Mario who had come out to Kenya not only with his mother but also with six new "bent-butt" 80 and 130 outfits matched with Penn International reels and a whole bag of brand new trolling lures that looked ideal for the days ahead. Mario's desire was to catch a BIG fish (hence the heavy tackle) but he was also fisherman enough to know the fun of fighting a fish on lighter line and for this he had a seven foot Ken Thompson Steel Shaft Pro spinning rod and a Daiwa Boss fixed-spool spinning reel with 400m of 10kg line.

At 0645 hours the Caterpillar engines were gurgling away gently as we transferred from the dinghy to Jasiri, a ten metre sport fishing Bertram complete with flying bridge and 'Tuna Tower'. Captain Mohammed Baraza and crew, Cosmos and Hamadi had everything ship shape so with our arrival the mooring was slipped and we cruised serenely out to the crystal waters of the Indian Ocean. Our initial plan was to zigzag around the 'bait patch' area, pick up a few Bonito, (Kawa Kawa) and Yellow-fin Tuna and keep our eyes peeled for the packs of marauding Sailfish that had been active the day before. The plan came together as we first caught the Bonito and then out of the blue a Sail snatched at a tiny 3-inch lure with a small 4-0 O'Shaunassy hook that just happened to be on Mario's spinning tackle. The Suli-suli (Sailfish) performed its aerial ballet, made a searing run into the deep but was eventually tamed after 20 minutes of patient persuasion and Cosmos carefully pricked in an African Billfish Foundation tag (ABF #31858) and after a brief period of revival the beautiful creature swam strongly away into the azure blue.

Small flocks of birds (Terns) diving at Sardines tempted us further and further out to sea and occasionally one of the reels would scream into life announcing the strike of another fish. A 'smelly' Barracuda was tempted, fought and released and occasionally the shout from the bridge was a 'heads-up' that a shoal of the turquoise green and yellow Falusi (Dorado) was about to crash through the spread of lures (normally at right angles to the direction of travel) which always raises the adrenaline and often causes a spider's web of lines that need to be carefully juggles to separate the lines from 'burning each other off'. After the frenetic pace of the fishing near the shore the long transit to the spot somewhere over the horizon seemed to slow the action and we had to really concentrate to keep our eyes scanning the pattern of lures for the dark shape of a bill-fish gliding up behind one of our lures. Hourly, we would get a call from base requesting the Habari (News of the fishing) and between 0900 hours and 1100 the reply was "Jasiri Negative". This never tells the whole story because just before 1100 hours, the crew and myself had been embellishing tales of previous exploits as we watched the numbers tick down on the Navman GPS/Echo-sounder when Cosmos suddenly called, "Marlin!, Marlin!" He pointed into a roughish patch of water some 100 metres ahead of the boat in about the 10 o-clock position and sure enough we all saw the iridescent blue of the lit-up pectoral fins of a Striped Marlin as it banked in the water in preparation of an attack on our live bait Bonito and 'plastic' lures. The Stripy took a cursory glance at the plastic before focussing on the Oceanic Skipjack that was on the port outrigger line. It seemed to give the Skippy a gentle prod with its bill, sized up the meal and then, much to our immense disappointment, it sank slowly out of sight. We knew it was in the area and waited with baited breath to see if the Skippy on the down-rigger would be swallowed or perhaps it might enjoy scoffing the little Yellow-fin that was on the flat-line at the rear of the pattern? The eagle-eyed, Baraza spotted the dark form behind the long line and it was frustrating to see an excited fish following our lures for about five or six minutes without committing to a strike. However, eventually the marlin turned away and slipped back into the beautiful 'Cobalt-blue' waters much to everybody's disappointment.

During the next few hours it was generally quiet, punctuated by solitary strikes by big, bull Falusi, one of which we eventually decided to keep for the pot and I immediately cleaned, filleted, skinned and portioned the "chicken-of-the-sea" placing the fillets in a cool box ready for a delicious hot meal, cooked in the galley later that afternoon.

About 1400 hours I left the bridge to explore the delights of the delicious fare that had been prepared by Sandra and her kitchen staff and having chosen a roll with various meats and pickles I filled a gap that had been rumbling in my stomach! I had been 'below' for only about 10 minutes but on returning to the bridge it seemed that we had entered a different ocean! The wind had risen by ten knots and the calm sea had suddenly sprouted white-caps and was forming into a north-easterly chop. At this time of year the Kaskazi starts to blow during the afternoon and heralds the arrival of the traditional, trading dhows from the Arabian gulf. This wind also normally brings good fishing, but to be honest, I was rather hoping that the sea would remain calm because night fishing in a smallish boat is hard enough trying to control a big fish without the added complication and discomfort of three metre waves rocking us and slapping the side of the hull, showering us in salt water when we get caught broadside.

Unusually, (drawing on the experienced Baraza's knowledge) there were a significant number of large ships in the area. At any time we could count up to a dozen ships either on their way to or from Mombasa or just cruising to some other East African port.

Dusk turns rapidly to black night in the tropics and at 4 degrees south and 040 degrees east the brief sunset with pink and orange wispy clouds gave way to the too-bright glow of the echo-sounder and red glow of the compass light and the sparkling twinkle of the night sky with Venus being first to show. The water at the "Mountain" was barren on arrival. No sign of the expected birds and worse, not the frenetic action of the Big-eye Tuna smashing our lures but thoughts turned to Broadbill and getting the fresh squid baits set with a chemical light-stick at the top of the leader and another in the bait. We set a spread of four baits, one on each outrigger, a flat line and the nearest one on the downrigger at about 100 foot depth. I started with an 'expanding-square search' of the area around the centre of the mountain peak taking care on the turns that a wave didn't catch us broadside, especially in the 'rip' north-east of the mountain. On one of the southerly legs at about 2100 hours we had the first strike as the Penn International 80STW reel "grrrrrd" into life! Strikes by Broadbill tend to be prolonged affairs with an initial enquiry followed by silence. The line may be held in your hand to feel if there is anything still attached and most times you will feel tugs that prove that a fish is mouthing the bait before deciding to swallow the morsel and hunt for another. When this does happen the line starts peeling from the reel, the angler picks up the rod and sits in the fighting chair (unless he is using 'stand-up' tackle), the drag is pushed to the strike position and the hook set in the soft mouth of the Broadbill and the battle commences. Unfortunately on this first enquiry the fish let go after a short run but the position had been marked on the GPS and I concentrated on this area for the next half hour or so. Sure enough on a pass about 300 metres west of the original strike another fish took a fancy to the bait on the down-rigger and this time it seemed to have hooked itself on the take. Mario was in the chair with the rod even before the crew had time to jump down from the bridge and we could all feel the tension in the air as we hoped that Mario would catch his first Broadbill and that it would be worthy of his new, expensive bent-butt tackle. The remaining three lines were quickly reeled in and I took the port engine out of gear to minimise the forward speed but still retain directional control of Jasiri. Baraza barked the odd direction to me to assist Mario with fighting his fish and helped by indicating where the line was peeling away into the inky depths. This was obviously a good fish and giving Mario a great account of the quality and strength of the deep-sea gladiator. For 25 minutes the fish stayed deep, occasionally stripping line that Mario had just recovered and forcing him to work hard to bring the fish under control. Then suddenly, without reason or warning the line went slack and the fish was off. Huge disappointment all round but hope also that more fish would hit our lures during the rest of the night.

We had two more enquiries but without hook-ups before a solid strike just before midnight, followed by a slightly extended period of free-spooling ensured that Mario was back in the chair and I was back at the helm with one engine in gear. After a fight lasting 20 minutes Mario brought a fine fish to the leader. The bill alone was about five foot long and impressively broad at the base and after tagging the fish the 12-0 hook was removed, the razor sharp bill (or so it appears) was held by the gloved hand of Hamadi as we gently motored forward to increase the flow of oxygenated water through the gills and eventually it was hand-shakes all round as the bronze creature estimated at 70 kg blended into the depths away from the glow of our spotlights on the water.

During the rest of the night we found that transiting slightly west of the mountain we were getting more strikes but unfortunately even these were tentative and we failed to increase the tally of tagged fish that evening. Owing to the lack of birds on the mountain the previous afternoon we had decided to work our way south towards the northern tip of Pemba Island and hope to catch some bait-fish there and to live-bait for marlin or shark.

With Pemba light on the horizon and following the edge of the banks we cruised around in search of the expected shoals of Tuna. A good sized female Falusi about 15 kg struck out of a weed line and again had the decency to hit Mario's light outfit thereby increasing the enjoyment of the fight. A few more strikes during the morning brought us hope that we would hit into a large fish but things slowed down again and we criss-crossed expectantly into rips, beside thin weed lines and continued to search for diving birds and splashes of fish that might give us some much needed live bait to use for Mario's monster. It was to be a slow and frustrating morning. We did spot a huge Tiger Shark (over 500 kg) cruising near the surface and had out some perfect live-baits but paradoxically the shark ignored our offerings and avoided a conflict with Mario's heavy tackle!

A little later about mid afternoon the adrenaline flowed again as Baraza and I both spotted a big Black Marlin creeping up on one of our (by now dead) tuna baits. It knocked the line from the outrigger clip and the reel started to growl in its rachetty way, but only with the sudden drag of the water and the pull from the boat. Sadly this was yet another missed opportunity and what might have been only goes into the yarns of "if only" and "nearly but not quite". Fortunately this was not the end of the fishing for Mario because he had a day to recover before he swapped boats to fish on another of the PCFC Bertrams called Shuwari, on the second of three 33 hour marathon trips to the Mountain in search of his BIG fish.

Did the trip live up to my expectations? Well nearly! The fishing was sporadic and too quiet on the mountain but maybe that was because of the rough water or perhaps the dreaded "long-liners" have been raping the area at the mountain? However, if we had tagged every fish that we hooked we would have had a truly amazing trip. Two Sail, two Striped Marlin, about six or seven Broadbill Swordfish, a Black Marlin and maybe a huge Tiger Shark as well.

The weather was typical for a December/January day/night so was a bit rougher than I had expected for mid November. As for Pirates, they were obviously too busy hi-jacking more wealthy ships further up the coast so they left us well alone. The Thuraya satellite telephone worked fine (although for some reason it would send sms messages but didn't receive any even though they were sent). The boat stayed fully serviceable and there was no requirement to call for help on either the radio or the 'phone. I've another 66 hours of fishing with Mario to come so hopefully I'll be able to report on a more successful search of his elusive monster fish in the days ahead.




22 November 2008
Would you have it! The boys are out fishing again and the cook has to do the fishing story!! Two boats, Jasiri and Shuwari, left this morning for the sea mountain. The wind is not so strong today. When they went out on Thursday it was blowing in hard from the north-east and I was a little concerned it would be tough and tortuous, but they all came back thrilled to bits and totally enthusiastic and ready for today's trip.

It was a fishing trip of lost opportunites. They tagged and released a 70kg broadbill. That was the only one, although they had up to ten strikes. They also went round a very, very large tiger shark - probably about 600kg. It was not in the least bit interested in anything they had to offer, and each time they approached it just gently sank down and popped up again once they were past. Plenty of sailfish around and out on the mountain Steve reckons he saw the biggest one he has ever seen in his life. There are plenty of the smaller sailfish in and around Funzi Bay, and those not wanting to go for 36 hours out to the mountain can play closer to shore! On their way back they had a couple of strikes from striped marlin, but they too were lost opportunities. Regretably there were no tuna. That is regretably for the fishermen and even more so for me!

Today the conditions are perfect: There is a light wind, tonight will be very dark with no moon at all, they are not far enough out for the Somalis, excellent company on board and I will update you again tomorrow evening as to the state of affairs in the kitchen and whether there is any tuna for the pot!

They have already tagged sailfish and dropped the first marlin. 1300 hrs.

Best regards to you all and I hope to see you all back here again soon.

Sandra



14 November 2008

On every fishing trip this week striped marlin have been seen, one has been landed and they are showing interest. The wind has also been consistently blowing from the East, North East, no wonder there are marlin about. Look at this page next week after our first sea mountain trip in 6 years or more. A report will be posted on 21 November, 2008.



10 November 2008
UPDATE RE KENYAN IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
Pemba Channel Fishing Club has learnt that the Kenyan Immigration department has introduced new rules that require payment for visa fees in US Dollars only. Stg£ or Euro will no longer be accepted. To avoid problems you are advised to have $50 per person readily available on arrival into Kenya.

There is a Forex Bureau located in the arrivals area, in Nairobi, before the immigration desk to assist for those who may not have acquired $US before arrival.



5 November 2008

Peter will be doing three sea mountain trips this month on 19/20th November, 23/24 November and 26/27 November. There is availabilty on the 19/20 and 23/24 for a second boat. If anyone is interested in joining him for this very exciting, rarely done, excusion to the sea mountain, please contact him asap on info@pembachannel.com



News update Wednesday 15 October, 2008
All The Pemba Channel Fishing Club boats have returned safely from their trip to Dar-es-Salaam last week. Peter Ruysenaars and his team of Mohamed Baraza, skipper of boat Shuwari and Mkame Mkulu, skipper of the newly reconditioned and revamped White Otter, left Shimoni Kenya for Tanzania for the Latham Island Vodacom Deep Sea, big-game Fishing Tournament. White Otter has spent the last six months in dry dock having a major refurbishment. She is coming up for 50 and with some new ribs and a lot of tummy tucking she looks amazing for the old lady of the Indian Ocean. On her first day fishing since coming out of dry dock she released a black marlin. A sign of very good fishing for the coming season. Jasiri, skippered by Peter came 2nd in the tournament and White Otter, skippered by Mkame, came 3rd. The 1st overall was a Dar based boat. The Pemba Channel Fishing Club led all the Kenya boats. Congratulations.



NEWSLETTER 2006/2007
The start of the 2007/2008 season is upon us and it is therefore high time that we sent you a report of how the 2006/2007 season progressed.

The early part of our season, July to November, fishing out of Pemba Channel Lodge provided some excellent fishing for sailfish and smaller game fish. The big yellowfin tuna did not seem to find their way into the channel for whatever reason. We know they were in Kenyan waters because we had reports from other parts of our coast of good catches and good sized fish. There was still plenty of action to be had with the smaller yellowfin tuna but it would be really nice to see some of the 50 kg plus fish reappear in the channel. We have missed the big blue and black marlin in the last few years. As is often the case during September and October the odd striped marlin is caught before the North Easterlies set in. November produced some good mixed catches and there were signs of an early season wind change in late November.

With the early wind change December was a good start to the marlin season. We had some very exciting days with some good sized stripe marlin and lots of sailfish released. Bob Adams, on his first trip to The Pemba Channel Fishing Club, had a great 160lb stripey on 30lb line. He thoroughly enjoyed his stay with us we and we enjoyed his very amusing stories and recollections of previous fishing trips. Wessel and Corrie, two of our regular fishermen from Tanzania, each tagged good stripeys on 30 lb line. Wessel’s, 160lb and Corrie’s 150lb. Good 5:1’s and only three of the 10 we had last season. We were fortunate that there was also an early presence of biggish blue and black marlin. Keith McKenzie, fishing on Shuwari, lost a good sized black marlin after several hours because pressure had to be applied as he was due to fly out early that afternoon. Ironically the flight was delayed! However, Dougal O’Hare did release a very good Black of 350lb on 50lb line. Another excellent 5:1. In addition there was plenty of schooling yellowfin tuna up to the 15 kg bracket.

In early January the Channel started to produce some excellent fishing and what it is famous for, the great striped marlin pack attacks: 6, 8,10 stripeys behind the boat crashing everything being trailed, causing mayhem, pulling bridge teasers, crossing lines, dropping lures, coming back for more, raising hopes and disappearing leaving the fisherman bewildered and wondering what has happened. All this is very exciting and a privilege to see. I was very fortunate to pick up a 180lb stripey on 30lb line. It gave me grief for three hours in rough seas after a late New Years Eve party! It is a long time since I have actually been fishing and I now remember why I got hooked in the first place. It is such an exciting sport!

Mike Marriott with his wife Ruby were back again this year. Mike had almost given up on catching a marlin. We kept telling him to relax and ease up a bit and it wasn’t until his 18th day marlin fishing that he finally caught, tagged and released a 170lb stripey on 30lb line. A 5:1 to boot. After that, it was easy and the others just kept coming. Well done Mike.

One other good fish in January belonged to Wim Dingyan from Holland. On his first visit to The Pemba Channel Fishing Club he was happy to catch a 180lb Blue on 30lb line. Up North things were a little quiet and with reports of the excellent fishing out of Shimoni came the invasion of boats from Malindi and Watamu. Their visits to the Channel were most certainly worthwhile. They all returned home with no less than a couple of marlin per boat.

February, usually the very best month of the marlin season, lived up to its reputation. All boats in Shimoni were coming home with multiple flags flying daily. Of all the Shimoni based boats, Baraza on Shuwari had the best marlin day of the season with 3 stripeys and a black. Well done Mohammed. Although there were no really big marlin caught, there were numerous released in the 200 to 300lb bracket. It was nice to see that there were quite a few blue marlin again this season. Andrew Barnes and Gavin Delaney each caught good blues of over 250lbs on 50lb tackle. In the season 2005/2006 very close to 50% of the marlin caught were blue marlin, albeit on the small side. It was so welcoming to see so many blue marlin as we are told that blue marlin are on their way to extinction. Hopefully this is not the case.

Good marlin fishing continued till mid March. P Dumay released a good 250lb black on 50lb line. Well done Perry. March was also a good month for sailfish. The Pemba Channel is not known for its sailfish fishing but I must say that this has been one of our better sailfish seasons. We had a good run of sailfish in September and October too. This made up for the lack of big yellowfin tuna!!!

All in all the 2006/2007 season was a much better season and it was really good to see the large packs of stripeys again. With all the rain that we have been having, almost el nino all over again, we should have really excellent marlin fishing this season. My comments on this in our newsletter of 1997/1998 still apply.

I have one very interesting story to relate. While out fishing one very calm day towards the end of the season, approximately 10 miles out to sea, in the far distance we saw a commotion on the ocean and made in the direction of the commotion. When we were within 100 meters or so we noticed a turtle floundering on the ocean. The turtle was on its back and as we approached a huge mako shark, estimated at over 1000lbs, swallowed the turtle whole and disappeared into the depths of the ocean never to be seen again. Awesome!!! I have since been told that turtles are the favourite fodder of the mako.

In the old days the lodge and our fishing operations closed on 31 March and reopened on 1 August and we had absolutely no idea of what fishing could be like during the closed period. As we no longer close at all we have been taking bookings during the “closed season” and after a period of 5 or 6 years we are now able to report that there are fish about all year. We have caught sailfish, wahoo, giant trevally, barracuda, bonito, skipjack, rainbow runner, yellowfin tuna and have had strikes from black marlin. It is amazing what turns up along the reefs and in the deep. For the future, we are going to reduce our fishing and accommodation rates by 20% for the period April to July inclusive.

If there are any of you that would like to try fishing from Kilwa, Southern Tanzania, I will be going down there from early October through to the end of November. It is a wonderful destination and can be very exciting and the seas around Kilwa and the islands are truly special.


Our first three years in Kilwa produced excellent results with daily catches of 1,000 kg and more of yellowfin tuna ranging between 30 and 110 kg each. At times one would see up to 50 square acres of large yellowfin tuna feeding on the surface, an unbelievable sight. When the yellowfin tuna were not showing the reef fishing was unprecedented with wahoo over 35 kg, giant trevally up to 50 kg, dogtooth tuna over 50 kg etc etc. Let me know if any of you are interested.

All of us at Pemba Channel Lodge and The Pemba Channel Fishing Club thank you for you support and look forward to seeing you again next season.

Tight lines.

Peter Ruysenaars