May, June and early July are the off-season months in East Africa for the big-game fishing industry, which makes an early start around mid July, although seas can be rough at this time.
For the best action this early, the Watamu Banks is the prime area, and can be accessed from Malindi, and one or two boats which run from Watamu. By August, most of the boats start to operate, and catches of small black marlin, sailfish, sharks, as well as tuna, wahoo. giant trevally and kingfish, make a typical day.
Around mid August, the seas start to moderate, and the size of the marlin increase, and in September more tuna and wahoo begin to show.
Big tuna, over 20kg are found in the Rips off Watamu, and on the North Kenya Banks, out from Malindi. This latter venue is a forty-mile run and is usually combined with an overnight trip, fishing for broadbill swordfish, and incredible catches are often made.
September-October is the time when big tuna run in the Pemba Channel, though the run has been poor for the past couple of seasons, and black marlin and sailfish move into the southern areas, Kilifi, Mtwapa, Mombasa and Shimoni.
The last two seasons have been notable for a tremendous concentration of yellowfin tuna of all sizes, but including record fish over 200 lbs. They have been feeding on what appears to be a non-stop supply of mantis prawns, an event that last occurred twenty five years before. These fish have been in most areas all through the season, and the tuna are accompanied by numerous and very big sharks. Several sharks, silvertip and bull, have entered the world record lists recently here, and huge tiger sharks are also being caught, with many boats now tagging and releasing these fish.
The legendary sailfish run at Malindi shifts to a higher gear in November, peaking mid December and continuing into January and February, and these waters are easily accessed from Watamu. The latter area will produce striped marlin in the Rips at this time, and often black marlin on the Banks, where live bait finds the big fish in December through March.
December can be a peak month for striped marlin in the Pemba Channel, where the marlin season runs on through January to early March, and big blacks and blues are also found. Two to three day trips are made from Shimoni over to Pemba Island, where fantastic catches can be made in these little fished areas.
Mtwapa and Mombasa target all the marlin, and sailfish also, in December through March, and Kilifi boats generally fish the Rips at this time, mingling with the boats from Watamu and Malindi twenty miles offshore, where sailfish join the marlin from January to Mid- March.
Broadbill swordfish, which are targeted by trolling lures at night, are caught mainly around the North Kenya Bank and outside the Rips off Watamu, and marlin and sailfish are caught in these areas morning and evening en route on these overnight trips. Broadbill on fly is the latest, state-of-the-art, objective, Kenya being the first, and still the only, area in the world where such catches have been achieved.
And in all areas, for most of the season, one can catch small tuna species, Wahoo, kingfish, Dorado (dolphin-fish), giant trevally and sharks.
Tag and release is now the norm for billfish, and indeed for sharks and trevally as well, and tag returns from the Seychelles, Mauritius and close to Australia show the extent of the pelagic migration, and indicate how important it is to manage conservation on an ocean-wide basis.
A longer season, top quality boats, skippers and crews, great hotels and the best marine and wild-life parks in the world, make East Africa a top destination for all fishermen, tyro and pundit alike!