Kenya Big game fishing

If you are like me then you must be weary of sport fishing and sport hunting. Off course those who do it will often urgue their case stating that even hunting of big game fishing takes conservation into consideration.

A great a popular form of big game fishing is Tag and release which is a form of catch and release fishing in which the angler attaches a tag to the fish, records data such as date, time, place, and type of fish on a standardized post card, and then releases his/her catch back to the sea.

Kenya offers the visiting angler an excellent chance of game fishing. There are barely a handful of destinations scattered around the world where that most elusive member of the billfish clan, the nocturnal broadbill swordfish is  regularly caught; Kenya (Malindi, Watamu and Shimon) is probably the best, fishing for these elusive fish involves an overnight trip, which in itself is a wonderful experience. Broadbill are caught year round but the prime time is  generally regarded as being January-March .

A day’s offshore fishing in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa will produce many other species including; the incredibly fast Wahoo, the gloriously coloured and sweet tasting Dorado or Felusi (in Swahili). Two species of barracuda, king mackerel-known as kingfish, cobia, rainbow runner etc

Many species of shark can be encountered off the Kenyan coast, a sizeable population of Tiger Sharks has been located off Watamu hooking one, can almost be a formality; successfully playing a hooked tiger shark to the boat to be tagged and released is entirely another matter! The much prized Mako shark is another species that is occasionally encountered by anglers fishing off Kenya. These predators average from 300-800lb but many 1,000lb

Tuna notably the Yellow Fin Tuna found in such abundance off the coast of Kenya are one of the strongest fish in the sea; guaranteed to raise a sweat on the brow of even the fittest angler! School size Yellow Fin Tuna, fish from 10-40lb, can be caught through out the season.

The biggest Yellow Fin Tuna, fish that in recent years have included specimens to over 220lb, have appeared in August and September, but be warned, fighting these brutally strong fish is certainly not for the unfit or faint hearted! Other species of Tuna can also be caught in these waters including skip jack, long tail, big eye and the eastern little tuna that are widely referred to as bonito.