Pemba Channel at Xmas

[Dogjaw]

Hi Guys (& gals)

At relatively short notice, I am hoping to go to Kenya over Christmas 2007.

Beach holiday for the wife, Fishing for me & the boys.

Any recommendations for hotels?

Hemingways have very limited avilability, so any other hotels that any of you have experience of would be much appreciated.

As always, I leave these thing too late!

Regards

Andy

[Happy Dude]

Hi Guys (& gals)

At relatively short notice, I am hoping to go to Kenya over Christmas 2007.

Beach holiday for the wife, Fishing for me & the boys.

Any recommendations for hotels?

Hemingways have very limited avilability, so any other hotels that any of you have experience of would be much appreciated.

As always, I leave these thing too late!

Regards

Andy

try turtle bay beach club at watamu, but it and hemingways are nowhere near the pemba channel but there is plenty boats at ocean sports at watamu and with kingfisher at malindi

a google search will show up links to these places

great time of year for sailfish

[Makubwa]

It is all about Pemba Channel fishing club or if you want to venture to Tanzania, I would recommend Kilwa lodge; this is one of the most understated fishing destinations in the world, stay clear of Zanzibar right now.

[Dogjaw]

Thanks BH, this plan was only mooted yesterday, so I'm gathering info as fast as I can. Your input is appreciated.

[Makubwa]

Forgot, if you want to get in at Hemmingways, send me a PM I will see what i can do for you. This is prime game fishing season there. I may be able to get you a place at the hotel and a good skipper, one of the smaller boats for 4 fishermen only though.........

[Dogjaw]

Thanks Makubwa, Zanzibar wasn't on my radar, Kilwa I'm looking into.

[Happy Dude]

Thanks Makubwa, Zanzibar wasn't on my radar, Kilwa I'm looking into.

kilwa looks the business....

i have 8 days booked at malindi next january, but am thinking of kilwa or dar es salaam for the year after for the dogtoothed tuna, i like jigging for tropical species, much more involving than trolling albeit a lot harder work:g:

another place in watamu is the watamu beach hotel, you book through

http://www.africansafariclub.com/

i've stayed there 3 times and it can be a bit up and down, but this year it was very good

[Dogjaw]

Watamu Beach looks OK, I guess if you've been back twice after the initial, it can't be all bad! LOL

[Happy Dude]

Watamu Beach looks OK, I guess if you've been back twice after the initial, it can't be all bad! LOL

we've stayed there because it's cheap, the cheaper the digs, the more fishing we can afford.

last year was bad as the staff were trying to rip eveyone off on their drinks, getting you to sign twice etc, we're scottish, you only get away with that once....lol

this year it was mainly germans staying there, most ok, but some the usual germans abroad:yucky:

we drink in the village where it's much cheaper and get a good laugh with the locals as we are quite well known now:g:

not booked for next year, but fancy a change at the turtle bay which is all inclusive for not a lot more than african afaris want for watamu beach at the moment, but it's a 5 min taxi ride or half an hours walk from the village or should i say, stagger....lol

[PanamaJack]

As several others have pointed out there're a range of venues along that Kenyan coastline.

Starting in the south, some 50 miles south of Mombassa, is Shimoni with easy access to the Pemba Channel. (That was the area you first mentioned.) Then, moving North, and situated close to Mombassa itself is Mtwapa Creek. Some sixty miles north of Mombassa is Watamu, and a further twenty miles on is the resort of Malindi. Fishing is also undertaken from Lamu Island. There are several other areas but perhaps too remote to consider for a family holiday.

Although Christmas is perhaps slightly, by weeks, early from the 'predicted' run of Striped Marlin as the others have pointed out you still should encounter good fishing - right up to some big Tiger Sharks. But is it the accommodation that, with your wife, is going to be fundamental to the holiday?

Somewhere like Hemmingways with its 78 rooms obviously will offer luxurious accommodation and facilities. Something to consider if you and your sons are going out fishing for the day? Whereas many of the others are going to be smaller lodges, albeit some will be extremely well appointed.

Going back though to your original post you did mention Pemba. Certainly the facilities that Peter Ruysenaars offers at the http://www.pembachannel.com/ are excellent, but it's considerably smaller than Hemmingways. But certainly worth looking at.

Also in Shimoni you have the Hemphill's operation - http://www.bigame.com/. Again a lot smaller. But, if Shimoni is the draw, I'd certainly want to quiz them as to what accommodation is currently available. I recall, I think it was last year but may have been 2005, there were issues with regards a tourist tax/registration. And whilst the 'debate' went on one of our Club members was relocated to a nearby tented safari camp. So just worth checking.

[Dogjaw]

Thanks for the info PJ.
You nailed the issue of luxury v piscatorial interests! LOL
Unfortunately it means preferably all inclusive with a mini-safari tacked on either at the beginning or the end.
Equally up the coast from the Pemba Channel.
As for predictions, it wouldn't be called Fishing if it was guaranteed.
There are varied species in the sea at all times of the year, and besides, having been to Cabo a couple of years ago, Striped Marlin? ten a penny! LOL

I'm waiting for replies from Hemingways, Turtle Bay, and just for luck Pemba Channel.

I'll post the final decision when it's made & booked.

Regards

Andy

[Happy Dude]

Thanks for the info PJ.
You nailed the issue of luxury v piscatorial interests! LOL
Unfortunately it means preferably all inclusive with a mini-safari tacked on either at the beginning or the end.
Equally up the coast from the Pemba Channel.
As for predictions, it wouldn't be called Fishing if it was guaranteed.
There are varied species in the sea at all times of the year, and besides, having been to Cabo a couple of years ago, Striped Marlin? ten a penny! LOL

I'm waiting for replies from Hemingways, Turtle Bay, and just for luck Pemba Channel.

I'll post the final decision when it's made & booked.

Regards

Andy

if you are fed up with marlin, get them to take you for giant trevally, brilliant fish....

so strong............

[Dogjaw]

GTs! The muggers of the angling world.
Like the thought of a tiger.
All up in the air at present.
Here's hoping!

[Happy Dude]

GTs! The muggers of the angling world.
Like the thought of a tiger.
All up in the air at present.
Here's hoping!

i take it you mean tiger shark??

there hasn't been too many caught in the past couple of years because the marlin fishing has been so good.

the best times at watamu for both species coincide at the same time and the skippers all want marlin, something to do with more of a challenge to their skills rather than slow trolling a 30lb tuna dead bait for hours, at least thats what our skipper tells us, plus there is a massive amount on competition amongst the skippers for the most marlin in the season

another thing they are doing is jigging for amberjack and GT, plus the supporting cast of various snappers, a friend of mine even had a small (15kg) striped marlin on a speed jig in january this year.

i'm back in january next year, not sorted our digs out yet

les

[PanamaJack]

Hi Andy
Everyone's different and I was asking one of our Club's Committee members about accommodation. Gordon's been to Lamu with his partner now for I think it's essentially the past 10 years - he fishes lots of other places as well - but the Peponi would be his recomendation. They find it idyllic as I understand did Hemmingway before him!

It's a small 24 bedroomed hotel the only one on the island on which there's literally one car. Anyway might be of interest. Here's its web site - http://www.peponi-lamu.com/. Gordon fishes there with a skipper called Nils on Little Toot - there's a link from the hotel's to the boat's web site.

As to the Tiger Sharks most seem to come from out near the North Kenya Banks. And last November a couple of our Club members released fish up to an estimated 1000lbs but lost another on 130 that they'd made no impression on after 2 1/2 hours. Um....big fish!
Dave
PS I did actually find some posts/recommendations regarding the hotel on the TripAdvisor site that may be of interest - http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294208-d480388-Reviews-Peponi_Hotel-Lamu.html.

[Happy Dude]

It's a small 24 bedroomed hotel the only one on the island on which there's literally one car. Anyway might be of interest. Here's its web site - http://www.peponi-lamu.com/. Gordon fishes there with a skipper called Nils on Little Toot - there's a link from the hotel's to the boat's web site.

As to the Tiger Sharks most seem to come from out near the North Kenya Banks. And last November a couple of our Club members released fish up to an estimated 1000lbs but lost another on 130 that they'd made no impression on after 2 1/2 hours. Um....big fish!
Dave
PS I did actually find some posts/recommendations regarding the hotel on the TripAdvisor site that may be of interest - http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294208-d480388-Reviews-Peponi_Hotel-Lamu.html.

hi dave,

the tiger sharks aren't caught at the north kenya banks, the main mark for them is the watamu canyons which are about 10-15 miles straight out from watamu or sometimes on the watamu banks which are closer in.

the NKB are about 60 miles from watamu.

3 years ago i had a drink and a chat with the skipper of "little toot" in the fishing club in malindi, nice guy, but his mates were a bit psycho, one of them was snorting vodka up his nose, and someone dared him to snort tabasco sauce, he was going to do it to, they had to hide the bottle....lol ;:yucky:

les

[DaveIrving]

kilwa looks the business....

i have 8 days booked at malindi next january, but am thinking of kilwa or dar es salaam for the year after for the dogtoothed tuna, i like jigging for tropical species, much more involving than trolling albeit a lot harder work:g:

another place in watamu is the watamu beach hotel, you book through

http://www.africansafariclub.com/

i've stayed there 3 times and it can be a bit up and down, but this year it was very good

Hi Les,

How's things?

If you fancy Kilwa next year and you love jigging then check out this thread....

http://www.deepjigging.com/showthread.php?t=909

I am sure they can still fit some more people in and you will be fishing with some of the top jigging experts from all round the world. It will be a competition, but to be honest the main aim is for people who love jigging and popping to meet up once a year in different locations....and of course catch some good fish!

Cheers

Dave

[PanamaJack]

hi dave,

the tiger sharks aren't caught at the north kenya banks, the main mark for them is the watamu canyons which are about 10-15 miles straight out from watamu or sometimes on the watamu banks which are closer in.

the NKB are about 60 miles from watamu.

les

Whoops! Sorry Les, you're absolutely right. The old memory's not quite what it was! When I've checked those Tigers our members caught last November came from Watamu.
Dave


In that it may help individuals like Andy in planning the fishing elements of their trips I've included a link to the Kingfisher site - http://www.kenyasportfishing.net/index-kf.html. Although they're based in Malindi their weekly reports, accessed through their home page, are reasonably comprehensive, covering large elements of the coast.

[Happy Dude]

Whoops! Sorry Les, you're absolutely right. The old memory's not quite what it was! When I've checked those Tigers our members caught last November came from Watamu.
Dave


In that it may help individuals like Andy in planning the fishing elements of their trips I've included a link to the Kingfisher site - http://www.kenyasportfishing.net/index-kf.html. Although they're based in Malindi their weekly reports, accessed through their home page, are reasonably comprehensive, covering large elements of the coast.

hi dave,

that kilwa thing looks good, lot of good jiggers there.

unfortunately or fortunately i'm booked for 8 days fishing at malindi with kingfisher.

at long last i'm in the position to have been able to book "neptune" with angus paul for the full 8 days, at peak time as well in the middle of january next year

the kilwa thing looks great, but by the time i added a couple of stellas and japanese jigging sticks and miles of jap PE braid and jigs i would need a divorce to pay for it all.

the regular updates on the kingfisher site are a bit sparodic at the moment as it's down season there and all the boats are out the water, plus old herbie paul has been very ill.

another source of reports is captain andys at watamu

http://fishingkenya.com/

re the big tigers,

4 years ago when i was over with my mate tony there wasn't any marlin about so we went for tigers, using a 15lb trevally for bait we had a bite and missed it, as the deckie was winding the bait up slowly i saw a shadow the size of a bus shelter follow it to the surface, BIG tiger.....500kg+, didn't get it....

one of our deckies told us about a guy who caught a double shot of tigers, they use 14/0 pennell rigs for them because of the size of the baits and the guy hooked first one tiger, then another took the other hook as there was still bait hanging from it, took 3 hours but they landed both sharks, 1st approx. 120kg, the other 250kg, must be a unique feat of angling thay.

mind you, i know how he felt, i've had double shots of LSD's on pennell rigs over here....lol

this year i asked angus if we could go for tigers and the look of disgust he gave me said it all, it's like asking a top south coast wrecking skipper to anchor 100 yards off the beach to fish for LSD's....lol

[Dogjaw]

Well, the fix is in!
I nearly fell for Peters persuasion at Pemba channel, although he finally admitted my sons would find more to do at Watamu.
There's always the next trip.
So accordingly Hemingways & flights are booked.
I would just like to thank all contributors to this thread for their excellent advice.
Time to dust off the Exage STCs and start thinking what to put on the TLD30-II & 7000. (Am I excited? Not a bit! LOL)
I'll post a report & pics on return.
Thanks once again
Andy

[Dogjaw]

While not wishing to depress anyone, It's only 6 weeks until our Kenyan Adventure. LOL Being lazy, I have used Hemingways to book boats. (Big boat for 2 days, small boat (max 2 persons) for 2 days so far. However I wondered if anybody with recent practical experience of Malindi could advise on alternatives that would allow myself and 2 sons to fish at the same time without having to hire a full size cruiser for the day? Hemingways seem extremely inflexible, but at least they have availability.
Any advice hugely appreciated. Oh, and btw, will also need some advice on how to upload pics on our return and what size they need to be etc.
Cheers
Andy

[PanamaJack]

While not wishing to depress anyone, It's only 6 weeks until our Kenyan Adventure. LOL Being lazy, I have used Hemingways to book boats. (Big boat for 2 days, small boat (max 2 persons) for 2 days so far. However I wondered if anybody with recent practical experience of Malindi could advise on alternatives that would allow myself and 2 sons to fish at the same time without having to hire a full size cruiser for the day? Hemingways seem extremely inflexible, but at least they have availability.
Any advice hugely appreciated. Oh, and btw, will also need some advice on how to upload pics on our return and what size they need to be etc.
Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy
Let me ask around regarding possibleoptions. It may take a while though a number of the 'Kenyan regulars' in our Club have just left for a fortnight's fishing in Ascension Island and another couple are currently.....in Kenya, fishing for the Tiger Sharks.

I suppose the only issue is that you're going to be there at the start of their Striped Marlin fishing, the high season so there's likely to be a lot of pressure on boats generally.
Dave

[PanamaJack]

Oh, and btw, will also need some advice on how to upload pics on our return and what size they need to be etc.
Cheers
Andy

Andy
There're essentially two options open to you. Either host them through a site like Photobucket, there's a tutorial on this thread - http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63449. Or use some freeware like IrfanView to re-size images to fit in with the site's limits - the limit, for example, for jpgs is 97.7Kb.
Dave

[Happy Dude]

While not wishing to depress anyone, It's only 6 weeks until our Kenyan Adventure. LOL Being lazy, I have used Hemingways to book boats. (Big boat for 2 days, small boat (max 2 persons) for 2 days so far. However I wondered if anybody with recent practical experience of Malindi could advise on alternatives that would allow myself and 2 sons to fish at the same time without having to hire a full size cruiser for the day? Hemingways seem extremely inflexible, but at least they have availability.
Any advice hugely appreciated. Oh, and btw, will also need some advice on how to upload pics on our return and what size they need to be etc.
Cheers
Andy

kingfisher at malindi have a small boat called "malachite" they hire for i think it's £20-25 an hour.

my friend abudi is the skipper on her and he's totally mad for the fishing, he'll take you to where the big boats are after marlin or you can do the reef for barracudas or the banks for GT

they don't take advanced booking for this boat as it's use is weather dependent.

look them up when you get to hemingways or their webby thing is

http://www.kenyasportfishing.net/kingfisher_boats.html

when you speak to mama catharina tell her les from edinburgh says hi....

we are back over in january for 8 days fishing staying at turtle bay hotel...

canny wait