From the icy seas off the Cape of Good Hope to the warm, tropical oceans of Kenya on the east coast and Gabon on the west, Africa is a fishing frontier that still has much to reveal.

But other African countries are stable and have well-established sportfisheries.  One such is Kenya in East Africa, with a 500 km coastline offering the full range of tropical gamefish, from blue, black and striped marlin to sailfish, broadbill swordfish, wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna, giant trevally, barracuda, king mackerel, bonito and cobia.

Lying on the Equator but outside the cyclone belt that affects the Southern Indian Ocean, Kenyan waters are generally calm but can become rough during the winter months of May through August.  As a result, September through April is the main fishing season in Kenya, with January-March as the top months for marlin.

About 130 km north of Mombasa, is a superb 170 bed beach resort with its own fleet of top quality deepsea craft.  The Pemba Channel Fishing Club, 80 km south of Mombasa, is a far smaller “old colonial” operation where Kenyan sportfishing began some 40 years ago.

One cannot leave Kenya without mentioning the Nile perch of vast Lake Victoria, at 76 000 sq km Africa’s largest body of fresh water, which Kenya shares with Uganda and Tanzania.  Nile perch are Africa’s biggest freshwater fish, specimens over 200 kg having been netted though the rod-and-line record is a little over half that.