FISHING AT MAFIA ISLAND 
141 
fishing on an ebb tide ; no natural bait was available, so spoons 
were used. 
In about ten minutes His Excellency booked a good fighter, 
which played hard for twenty minutes and then unfortunately 
broke away. 
From there onwards hardly five minutes elapsed without 
a run, and the two rods had two hours 1 great sport. Three 
times each rod had a fish on simultaneously as the spoon 
passed through a school. 
Four or five fish were lost after varying periods of play, and 
one broke away. 
By 4.45 p.m. each rod had secured four fish, all King-fish 
(Nguru). It was noticeable that they were considerably lighter 
in colour than those from Mombasa, and they were desperately 
hard fighters. 
The four His Excellency landed weighed respectively 22 lb., 
18 lb., 16 lb., and 10 lb., and those caught by J. weighed 21 lb., 
17 lb., 11 lb., and 10 lb. 
On the way back to the yacht J. caught another of 16 lb. 
This made up a total amount of nine fish for two and a 
quarter hours’ fishing, weighing 141 lb. 
They fished again on September 26 from 2.80 to 5.80 p.m., 
and had even better sport than on the previous occasion. 
All the fish met with were King-fish, and at one particular 
part of the fishing ground the boat rarely passed over the spot 
without one of the fishermen getting a run. 
Three or four times both rods struck fish at the same time, 
and on one occasion both were landed. 
One of His Excellency’s fish, a twenty pounder, met with a 
curious mishap. When gaffed into the boat it was found that 
the whole of the tail and after part of the body had been bitten 
off by a shark while being played, but nothing unusual was 
felt. His Excellency’s share of the bag was seven fish weighing 
respectively 25, 20, 14, 18, 12, 11, and 9 lb. — total 104 lb. 
J. landed four fish, 16, 14, 12, and 9 lb. — total 51 lb. 
H. F. W. landed one fish of 16 lb. 
Total for three hours’ fishing — twelve fish weighing 171 lb. 
The same ground was fished over on September 27 from 5.80 
to 8.30 a.m., and excellent sport was again the result. 
