 |
  |
|
PEMBA'S LATEST NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER 2006/2007The 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 Contact us: marlinpemba@ukonline.co.uk |
 |
||||
|
The Club can be contacted
through:
|
||||
|
Kenya
P 0 Box 84851, MOMBASA 80100 Tel +254 (0) 722 20 50 20/1 Fax +254 (0) 41 49 12 65 info@pembachannel.com |
|
Spain |
||
|
Original Design by Ivory Tower
Internet Solutions. Questions or problems regarding this web site should
be directed to digitalmedia@nqo.com
Copyright © 2001 Pemba Channel Fishing Club |
||||
|
||||
