Kenya Sea Fishing
KENYA 'TAG & RELEASE'
Fish are tagged to obtain information on their movements and growth. Both pieces of information can contribute to the more effective management of fish stocks.
"Billfish Fever in Malindi" – an interesting article!
The waters of the Kenyan coast are world-renowned for hosting some of the best big game deep-sea fishing.
What sets Kenya apart from other fishing destinations is the unique combination of underwater terrain, ocean currents and coastal winds..
Sea Fishing | Sea Fishing & Safari | Sybarite Castaway Sea Safari
Further, Kenya’s coastline has some world renowned tropical white sand beaches, framed by swaying coconut palms and indented by mangrove-lined creeks opening to the warm, inviting turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.
"With relaxed rustic beach lodges and unpretentious seafront accommodation available,
this makes for a perfect day off from fishing, or a great family ‘chic
beach retreat’ for an extended holiday..." see Sybarite Safaris
We use one of Kenya's oldest sea fishing family businesses, who we consider not only good friends but to be one of the best and most experienced on the African coast, as do many who understand big game sea fishing in the Indian Ocean.
AREA: Kenya - coastal fishing towns of Watamu & Malindi & the islands of Lamu & Kiwayu.
SEASON: All year-round offshore fishing, short off season from April to June (see Sea Fishing).
AVAILABILITY & ITINERARY OPTIONS
For further information, please give us a call on...+44 (0) 20 7233 7798
Alternatively, please leave us a time on our Contact Us page, and we will call you!
Sea Fishing (Marine Conservation 'Tag & Release)
All the fishing boats we use, support and practice the ‘Tag & Release’ recording system for billfish, shark and many of the game fish, to enhance local ecotourism and maintain Sustainable Marine Conservation in the Indian Ocean.
JULY, AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
The Kusi, the south-east monsoon blows when good mixed bag can be taken with species coming inshore to feed:
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Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus)
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Black Marlin (Istiompax indica)
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Barracuda - Blackfin barracuda (Sphyraena qenie)
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Giant Trevally (Caranx ignobilis)
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Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri)
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Kingfish - King Mackerel (Scomberomorus cavalla)
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Dorado - The Mahi-mahi / Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus)
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Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) - some of the best bait fishing.
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Sharks - often caught while fishing for other fish or while fighting a fish!
OCTOBER, NOVEMBER & DECEMBER
The main Sailfish / billfish season, runs from the end of September, when sailfish populations increase to late March. Besides Sailfish, many of the above fish species and still in play...
JANUARY, FEBRUARY & MARCH
Around the end of the year, the winds from the north start to blow, the Kaskazi - this brings the Marlin and Broadbill Swordfish.
The seas are warmer and calmer during the Kaskazi months, December to March, and perfect months for the 'Slams' 1.
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Striped Marlin (Kajikia audax)
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Blue Marlin (Makaira mazara)
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Black Marlin (Istiompax indica)
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Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus)
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Swordfish (Xiphias gladius), also known as broadbills - tend to be more active in the upper layers at night.
Sea Fishing & Safari
6~7 nights - 2 days Big Game Sea Fishing and 3 days Tsavo & Galana Safari...
Experience two of Kenya's most exciting and wildlife-rich wildernesses - the North Coast, Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and Tsavo East National Park.
GALANA
Our camp is on the Galana River, on the edge of Galana Wildlife Conservancy, next to Tsavo East National Park. The Galana River, combines the waters of the Tsavo and Athi Rivers, and dominates the rugged grassland plains and savannah landscape, cutting a green gash across the dusty plains.
Galana is essentially a continuation of Kenya’s largest national park. It is also an important habitat for Tsavo’s wildlife — particularly its elephants. With its proximity to the coast, dramatic storms blow off the Indian Ocean, building and falling over the eastern side of Galana, turning it into a valuable dry season rangeland for elephants.
WAATA TRIBE
The Waata (Waat, Watha), or Sanye, are a Tsavo~Tana River area tribe of hunter-gatherers. Their history has always been interwoven with the elephant; legend has it they are related.
For generations, the Waata hunted elephants on a subsistence level. But the explosion of the global ivory trade diverted their ancient practices - the hunters became poachers, as modern society like to define it!
We all came from hunter-gatherers from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens, humans lived as hunter-gatherers for ~millions of years. Hunting is in our DNA...
'Sybarite Castaway Sea Safaris'
The ‘Sybarite Castaway Sea Safari’ is a unique, bespoke itinerary designed to cover some of the world’s best big game sea fishing waters, and experiencing the remote fishing lodges and renowned tropical beach camps of the East African coast.
Starting out from Watamu working our way to the northern end of the Lamu Archipelago, we navigate to parts of the north Kenya coastline only accessible by boat, and the Swahili sea fishing communities.
Situated on the southern end of an archipelago of islands running north towards Somalia, Lamu is surrounded by countless under water canyons, mountains and drop offs, it is also the closest point to the north end of the North Kenya Banks (NKB).
The North Kenyan Banks is an expansive area of the continental shelf of approximately 4325 sq.km which runs from Kiwayu on the Lamu Archipelago, south to where the southern tip extends to approximately forty miles offshore of the Swahili coastal town of Malindi.
The NKB shelf break upwelling is a short-lived oceanographic process that brings deep waters rich in nutrients, massive blooms of phytoplankton, to the ocean surface. It occurs during the North-East monsoon (Kaskazi), particularly during January-February, which attract bait fish, Yellowfin Tuna etc… and in-turn brings in the predator fish; many of the big marlin have been fought off this fascinating archipelago.
Kiwayu is a smaller island north of Lamu, in the remote Kiunga Marine Park. These virgin waters are rarely visited making fishing these areas a joy without other boats pushing the fish down.
Malindi Sea Fishing Club
The Swahili coastal town of Malindi, is surrounded by warm sandy beaches, high sand dunes and a vibrant river ecosystem.
The town, founded around the 1st Century AD, has come under many influential forces; more recently, the 16th Century saw a Portuguese decree, while in the 17th Century, Malindi was ruled by the Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar for another 200 years before the scramble and partition of Africa, which saw the town alongside other parts of the country under the British rule in the 19th Century.
Malindi Sea Fishing Club is a famous institution, founded in 1959 for "the betterment and advancement of sea sports in the Malindi area with special reference to salt water fishing".
It’s a quaint old-fashioned club by the beach, set in a pretty garden, shaded by tall trees. The whitewashed walls and columns, are open without glass windows, and the low walls between the columns double as sitting space.
Through the entrance you are immediately graced with a great white shark baring its jaws, landed on the 16th June 1996, the very day we first made our acquaintance with the club, when the original clubhouse was in use between 1969 and 2010.
"You are killing me, fish" the old man thought.
"But you have a right too. Never have I seen a greater or more beautiful,
or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother."
- Ernest Hemingway, 'The Old Man and the Sea' (1952)
Classic Photographic Safaris
Sybarite Safaris is a sister company to Sybarite Sporting, which organises and hosts authentic, traditional luxury safaris with an emphasis on sustainable integrated conservation and minimum footprint impact.
Please call us on +44 (0) 20 7233 7798 for further information on Classic Photographic Safaris in Kenya, or alternatively please visit the Sybarite Safaris website.
References:
1 Saltwater Slams recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA)
BILLFISH GRAND SLAM
Any combination of the following three billfish in a single day.
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Sailfish
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Blue Marlin
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Black Marlin
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Striped Marlin
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Swordfish / Broadbills
OFFSHORE GRAND SLAM
Any combination of the following three offshore fish in a single day.
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Any of the Billfish species listed above in the ‘Billfish Grand Slam’
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Dorado (aka Mahi-mahi / Dolphinfish)
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Wahoo
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Yellowfin Tuna