On Friday 23rd November 2012, a group of 50
South Africans arrived at Hemingways Resort for the 2012 Captain Morgan
Challenge. After the briefing that evening, everyone had an early night as the travelling
had taken it out of all of us.
After breakfast, the 7 boats put to sea and
headed to Malindi. Right off the bat, "White Bear" released a sailie
followed by "Ol Jogi", "Black Widow" and "Sea
Storm". I was fishing onboard "Instedda" with the Captain Morgan
team of Erwin Bursik, Greg Rae and Jaco Visser and Richard. By 8:30, the only
action we had was from 3 wahoo chops. With all the boats fishing a stone’s
throw apart, we could see all the action and were treated to a great display as
"Simba" hooked and released a 70kg Black Marlin on a rapala right next
to us.
In the next 2 hours, we raised 3 sails but
could not get a hook into any. "B's Nest" managed to connect and
released a sail. We were the only boat not on the board, but something had to
happen... and it finally did. A sail came on the left teaser and switched to
the flatline where it was promptly hooked up. Jaco was on strike and released a
feisty 20 odd kg sail. While the fish was being released, the skipper had let
out the bridge rod and as the rest of the baits went out, I saw a really nice fish
come in on the far bait. As I shouted, the skipper fed and hooked up. Greg was
on strike and after a 20minute fight, had a 37kg sail on the leader where it
was tagged. We were glad that every boat was on the board and by lines up, 14
sails and 1 marlin were tagged.
After a rest day, we
headed out to sea on “Black Widow”. It was an exceptionally quiet day without
raising a single sail. Out of desperation, we headed out into the deep where we
managed a 13kg wahoo (which was the biggest bycatch up until that stage). A
total of 3 sails were released for the day. 
Our next fishing day
was on Wednesday. We put to sea on “White Bear” and ran north to Malindi. There
were large shoals of bonnies and frigates with birds working the surface. All
the boats caught a few bonnies but failed to raise a sail. After the bait went
down, our crew rigged up with fresh strips and circled the area. Not long
after, a sail came up on the right long and took the strip. The fish was hooked
up and jumped about 5 times before throwing the bait. Half an hour later, a
movement behind the right long caught my eye. Moments later a fin appeared
behind the bait. I told Jackson, our skipper, that there was a sail on the bait
and as he turned to look, the fish came up and knocked the bait out the clip.
After following the bait for a bit, it came up again and the crew managed to
get a hook into it. The sail made a few great jumps and after backing up to it
for 15mins, it was tagged. After a quick photo session, we released Richards
first Sailfish. Great!
Things went quiet after
that and so we worked to the boiling pot where we found 4 dorado before the day
ended. Our sail was the only fish released by the fleet.
On Thursday, we were
treated to a bottom fishing trip out on “Bamara”. This is the owner of
Hemingways, Dicky Evens’, boat. Gary Cullen skippered us for the day and we had
some great fun catching Ruby Snapper and some really nice Soldiers. The boat
was nicknamed “Bamara’s house of pain” after having to fish in 700ft of water,
3 knot current and 35 degree heat! On the way home, we found a few dorado as an
added bonus.
In all, this trip to
Kenya was great fun. There were unfortunately very few fish around but the good
times we had and the friends we made, made up for that. Thanks to everyone who
made it possible.
By 6am we were on the pipeline
catching bait. This was for just in case there were a few dorado around. After
getting a few maasies, we headed off to the ledge. The water was not great, so
we headed deeper and found a beautiful colour line at 100m. I put out 4 rapalas
and a small surface lure and headed north along the line. The water temp was
over 25 degrees and the current was ripping! Several boats were already on the
line ahead of us, and they had seen a few dorado so we were feeling positive
that we would catch the first food fish on the boat. After about an hour, one
of the deep diving rapalas went away. Ray took the strike and brought a nice
bull dorado to the boat where I gaffed our first fish, hopefully of many. With
the pressure off, we continued trolling north. The further we went, the closer
the colour line moved in and as luck would have it, the water was clean on the
northern point of the ledge. As I crossed over the reef, the deep diver went
off again, but unfortunately, the hooks did not stick. On closer inspection,
you could see the deep teeth marks of what I suspect was a wahoo. Oh well, that
happens. I made a few turns without another pull so continued north. A short
while later, another rod went away with a dorado. Again Ray pulled the fish in
where it ended up in the hatch with the first. 
