Christmas Island - Decisions ?

[Tony Buzolich]

I'm trying to plan my first trip to Christmas Island and would like some input as to where to stay. I've narrowed it down to either the Villages or Shark Place at the north end of the island.

For those of you who have stayed at either place can you give some of the pros and cons where you stayed, and if you were to go back again would like to try another lodge?
Thanks, Tony

[Ted S]

I went 3 1/2 years ago and stayed at The Villages. The food was very good, as were the guides. Accommodation is very basic, but was fine for me. There were only 5 of us there that week, with no other flats fishermen at any other lodge, so we had the whole lagoon to ourselves. The best thing about The Villages is that it is right on the lagoon, so you get on the boat right at their beach. The nearest flats are only about 10-15 minutes away by boat. The only downside that I saw, was that there is a large church next door. They had a loud celebration one night that went about an hour past my bedtime. This church owns The Villages.

I am sure you will have a great time wherever you stay.

Ted

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I went 13 time to Christmas Island but it was in the days when the only option was the Captain Cook Hotel run by Frontier Travel.

I think most of my friends are going to the Villages now.

I think everyone who loves to fly fish should put Christmas Island on there Bucket List.

It is 100% wading for Bonefish on mostly firm light colored shallow flats.

If you can cast well with a floating line in a little wind (throw a fast tight loop) to 60 feet and you have good Polarized glasses so you can see well, you will be very successful.

My wife Marilyn went with me three times and she land as many as 30 Bonefish in one day. She casts well up to 60 feet and is not color blind, like I am, so she could really see the fish. Her largest was 10 pounds which is not normal for Christmas Island. Marilyn and I had really wonderful friends over the years on Christmas Island and we think about the wonderful place and those lovely people often.

My recommendation was to not get too excited about your luck/results the first day or two. After that it should all come together.

Here is a little article I wrote up recently after 30 years of Bonefishing:

http://www.kiene.com/portfolio-view/how-to-catch-bonefish-on-a-fly/


We took large groups for yearts and we would take them nylon shorts, inexpensive sun glasses and old running shoes.

John Sullivan went on one of our group trips and the next year he got together a ton of baseball equipment (balls, bats and gloves) and took it over there for the kids. Somehow he found out that was one thing that they needed......



.

[Tony Buzolich]

That's a lot of good reading Bill. I've caught quite a few bonefish in Belize, Florida, and the Yucatan and look forward to adding Christmas Island to the list.

How were the bugs there, primarily the mosquitos? I've heard that there has been both Dengue Fever and Chikungunya there carried by the mosquitos. With all of my medical problems I don't want to add something new to the list.
Tony

[Baja Fly Fisher]

I heard that the Dengue Fever and Chikungunya were around the Village and the other lodge that's close to the lagoon. I understood it's because they are more inland than Crystal Beach which is located right on the shorelines and has a steady breeze to keep the mosquito population at bay. I would definitely pack some bug juice. I'm taking some Bushman Repellant and another one that was recommended by another person. I'm definitely not looking at 4 star lodging for the week. Actually I probably won't be fishing every day, more interested in taking photo's of the clients. I have friends who go back every year to fish CI.. Some go to the Villages, some go to Crystal Beach (Shark's Place). I'm just doing this one trip in March and then planning a trip to NZ for some salt water fly fishing just outside of Auckland for some Kings, AKA yellow tail in the shallows, which is their summer time fish.
He has a face book page... type in Matt von Strumer.. I think the operation is SaltFlyFishCharters
Another new destination for me and hopefully for a few small groups
J

[PaulC]

Hi Tony,

We went out in November '14 and were at the Crystal Beach operation.
When we were there, we didn't have any bug issues.
They have AC in the new buildings there which was nice at night.
I don't know if the other places have A/C or not, but that was a definite plus.

The guides there were great as well and would work with you and the group to go after target species.
There is a some structure on the beach out front that was fun catching grouper on crease flies, etc at the end of the day or early morning.

Food was decent there although the meat sandwiches for lunch each day got a bit tiresome.
I would recommend bringing extra snacks, maybe some bread from the mainland and stuff to spice things up a bit variety wise.

It was a short haul by vehicle to get to the boat launch and we went from boat every day while we were there.

If I went back again, I'd probably go back to the same operation. Had a great time and the fishing was fantastic.
I put up a report a while ago in the saltwater section if you haven't seen it.

Since I've only been there once, I can't compare with the other lodges.

-Paul

[Ted S]

We had few bugs at the Villages when I was there. The only time I noticed them was while we had beers and sashimi before dinner. I don't think I ever used bug repellant. They set out a "make your own" sandwich bar at breakfast. We made sandwiches that went into an ice chest on the boat for lunch later that day. They always had fresh tuna salad, which I really enjoyed. We also had apples and some other fruit.

The opportunity to fish in front of the lodge sounds nice. Nobody did that while I was at the Villages. However, we left on the boat right after breakfast and usually got back only about half an hour before dinner, so we really didn't have much time.

Ted

[Tony Buzolich]

Great info guys. Thanks for the input.
Tony

[Tony Buzolich]

Paul,

I just went back into the achieves and found your post. Really a great post and read. One question; you mentioned about tying all of your bonefish flies using "gold" dumbbell eyes. Was that a recommendation or trial and error ?

Thanks for the help, Tony

[Ted S]

Paul,

One question; you mentioned about tying all of your bonefish flies using "gold" dumbbell eyes. Was that a recommendation or trial and error ?

Thanks for the help, Tony

Tony, I don't know about Paul's experience with this, but I was told by the guides, "Gold eyes only!". There were two flies that they reached for most often, one with an orange crystal flash body and orange thread and the other with pink crystal flash body and thread. Both flies tied on #6 hooks with a sparse pale tan wing and about 6 strands of crystal flash for the tail and another 6 strands in the wing. These are the flies that I used 90% of the time. I found that the bodies could get chewed up and lasted longer if I added some head cement over the crystal flash body before tying in the wing.

I think I used a fly with bead chain eyes once during the trip on a very shallow sand flat. Otherwise they were all gold brass dumbbell eyes. Somebody told me that they guides always want you to use dumbbell eyes so they can see the splash and know where your fly landed.

I read somewhere that some Aussies were catching some large bones on the drop off edges of some flats using larger Gotchas, like size 2 or so.

Ted

[Darian]

I'm planning on a trip to Christmas Isl., with JM's group in spring 2016 and have been looking at everything I can find on the subject. Among the reads that I found most interesting were the posts in the Saltwater Forum of this BB by Paul C., when he returned from there. Check them out:

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?34970-CI-Report-2014

There's a lot of good info about the lodging and fishing. One of the interesting patterns Paul describes/photographs is the worm fly. Actually, it turns out that the fly was developed by an Australian tyer. The pattern is called, Hammer's Wabnitz Worm. :cool:

[Baja Fly Fisher]

I've started tying up some of my flies. Finished up 3 doz. small clousers 1/0 and put eyes on 4 doz size 6 hooks for bone fish flys (although that's not my target fish), going to tie up some worm flys for milk fish. I'm going to use the squimmy wormmy material from Spirit River. Going to figure out how to make the fly a neutral buoyant fly. Then it will be on to the bait fish patterns. I was a shot at some jacks and maybe tuna. GT's ???? I'll take it if they come but not looking forward to getting pulled out of my wading shoes. This could be a yearly trip along with my baja trips. And NZ could/will be on the schedule for late 2016, not sure - still working on the logistics.
I know as some of you read this your thinking to yourself - didn't he tell us that he plans on retiring after next year. Well it's still on my mind but nothing set in stone, yet

I'm ready

Jay

[mems]

Hey Tony, I am going back to CI next April with a group and will be staying at Crystal Beach, shark's place. Sim, the mayor passed away. he ran that lodge, but head guide Bitta is still there. I heard Moana left, and that is a shame, because he is a treasure trove of fish knowlegde on CI. I have heard they now have Air Conditioning. that will be great. I will still pack a mosquito punk, you can use it at night when you sit outside and drink your duty free honolulu booze and smoke cigars. Bugs usually aren't and issue during the day. When we were there last it did rain and we got mosquitos at night and that sucked. The bread is horrible. Get a couple of loafs in honolulu and make PBJ's for the boat lunches. Put a cold beer in the cooler and have it in the truck on the way back to the lodge. Flies, orange is a Moana special. White with pink thread for white sand flats. I like the bunny gotcha. Small crabs for the goldens and triggers. Big mullet or bonefish patterns for the GT's, like a bush pig. Off whore Rainy's bubble head poppers, blue and pink. Get a big pink popper and tyger wire for wahoo, ono. and a Pink trey combs popper for sails. Every fly I used there worked. Some are better than others depending on the bottom. Try and match the bottom. I hope you and Jay and Darian have a blast. It is a fun place. I wrote about my past trips. should be in the saltwater section somewhere. Let me know if you need anymore help, Don.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

I have a bunch of mosquito punks. They are already on my list. In Baja, I have three boxes pack in my bags and leave with Jonathan.
On the evenings when the winds don't blow, I set two of them on the little deck outside the sliding glass door, every now and then I set one at the main door, people walking by must think it's some kind of a shrine. I'll be packing a lot of granola bars, snack packs, etc.
I can't believe they don't have A&W root beer :-)
I might stay over a few days extra to fish for bones on Oahu, not sure yet. I have a couple shows to do before heading back to Baja in April. I've even thought about flying early April to Baja for a few days then from there fly to Belize for a week to 10 days and explore some of the other locations then fly back to Baja. I wonder if one of my captains would love to take a trip to Belize for bones, tarpon and permit.

Well back to my tying.

Jay

[Tony Buzolich]

Don,

It's always good to talk with some one who has been there. This is really good information, Thanks Tony

Jay, after playing with all of those roosters I can't believe you'd shy away from GT's :) Tony

[PaulC]

Paul,

I just went back into the achieves and found your post. Really a great post and read. One question; you mentioned about tying all of your bonefish flies using "gold" dumbbell eyes. Was that a recommendation or trial and error ?

Thanks for the help, Tony

Hi Tony,

That was a recommendation from the agency my friend Al booked the trip through.
Ted's experience below kind of mirrors mine as well as far as what the guides wanted to pull out of the boxes.
They seemed to always grab the #6 with 5/32 dumbell eyes or the #8 beadchain in the orange or pink CI specials, and gotchas.
I frequently fished clousers as well and one of the other "10lb" bones was caught on a flat on a olive/white clouser.
All flies were really, really sparse including the clousers.
I used tuffleye to coat the bodies as well to help with durability based on my experience in the surf here in Ventura.

The Aussie worm fly I showed a picture of worked really well and after the guides talked about red worms down there, I'd probably tie up a bunch of those as well with red vermille instead of tan.

Another thing I would note about the experience down there was the way they split the guides.
You would typically split a guide among two people.
Frequently we would get a guide in training that would tag along with you when you were not with the head guide. I only had one day without a guide or guide in training and had quite a bit of fun just wandering and doing it on my own. Could pick out random flies to try, no-one telling me where to cast, etc. If I went back, I think I'd request to have a bit more solo time when it wasn't my turn to be with the head guide.

Give the triggers a shot as well. They really are brutes once they realize they are hooked and its a very visual experience targeting those guys. I would probably wander around looking for those guys more as well next time.

The one scene that keeps playing over in my head when I think of the trip was from the day I was sort of on my own.
I was walking on a volcanic shelf with a nice flat on my left stretching out into the distance parallel to the shelf.
There was a nice drop off and medium size fish would roll up onto the flat and make great targets.
I picked off a couple of those guys and then noticed this absolute log of a fish in the distance ahead of me.
So I crept up along the shelf like I would for corbina and dropped the fly a bit ahead of the beast.
It raced over and I bumped the fly. Then it lost it and started circling around looking for it pushing a wake around with its frantic motion.
Bumped it again. Same thing happens and it circles around looking for the bug.
One more bump and the fish just crushes the fly and immediately screams off for deeper water.
As all fishing failures go, things go into slow motion as the line is flying out of my stripping basket.
It wraps around my pinky and as it gets tighter and tighter I just couldn't get it off in time, and then the pop of a lost connection.
I just stood there laughing for a while. It was such a killer visual take in crystal clear water with spectacular scenery.
Probably my favorite memory of the trip.

-Paul

[Tony Buzolich]

Those are the best kinds of memories to have etched in your mind and will never go away even years from now. Even better when you've done it on your own and have the satisfaction of hooking a real "log" of a fish.

Good memories, Tony

[fishnchip]

Those are the best kinds of memories to have etched in your mind and will never go away even years from now. Even better when you've done it on your own and have the satisfaction of hooking a real "log" of a fish.

Good memories, Tony


Hi Tony,
I was at the Villages last year and posted a report on our blog http://www.synstwinsfins.com/?paged=2
You might have to scroll down to see it. My cousin Meng shot a great video on my kids' trevally catches.

The worm fly did work well and it really didn't matter what material was used. I was told to use dental dam material (thin latex) in which I did but I also used chamois, pine squirrel, larvae lace type ribbing and a few other materials and they all worked. When the fish would not take a typical CXI fly, we would go to the worm and they ate it every time.

Whichever lodge you choose you should have a great time. I'd lean towards the Villages because of my history with Howard at Fishabout (and Kay Mitsuyoshi who helped found the Villages) but I'm sure Crystal Beach would be fine.

WS

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Our favorite fly use to be a sparse Crazy Charlie.....no tail and no wing.

Size #4 and #6 SS high quality Japanese hook with the barb pinched down or filed off.

Pearl orange flash body

Gold bead chain eyes

That's it......

*We tied some bigger ones for deeper flats with heavy dumb bell eyes to get deeper on the bottom with a fast current.

**Some of the guides will have their own hand tied flies for sale with materials donated by the guests over the years.


We liked Rio Bonefish leaders that were 10' to 13# with some matching diameter tippet material.



For the heavy coral flats we liked Mason clear hard mono tippet material for hand tied leaders.

Butt = 4'-5' of 20# test

Mid-section = 2' of 15# test

Tippet = 3' of 10# test

Be very sure that your Mason Clear hard Mono is very fresh.......



On Christmas Island we used a 9' #7, 8, 9 and 10 line fly rods in 4 piece.


For the Blue Water, if you go, take some bigger #12-15 weight outfit. They have Wahoo, Giant Trevally and Yellowfin Tuna just off shore. Not sure what lodges support this now though?

[dynaflow]

Some good advice from C.I.veterans here.The Wabnitz Worm variation was developed a couple of years back by my mate George "Bonefish" Hammer...and like the George Bush fly should be used sparingly:) Tie most of your Bonefish flies on #8 SL11-3H Gamakatsu hooks with the balance on #6 and a few #4.Important to note here that the SL11-3H is a big hook for it's size and the #8 is as big as other makers #6.Another favourite hook is the SL45 in #6 and #8,especially for the sparse George Bush pattern.This hook is now known as the Panfish and comes in green and black(use the black).
Cheers

[PaulC]

Some good advice from C.I.veterans here.The Wabnitz Worm variation was developed a couple of years back by my mate George "Bonefish" Hammer...and like the George Bush fly should be used sparingly:) Tie most of your Bonefish flies on #8 SL11-3H Gamakatsu hooks with the balance on #6 and a few #4.Important to note here that the SL11-3H is a big hook for it's size and the #8 is as big as other makers #6.Another favourite hook is the SL45 in #6 and #8,especially for the sparse George Bush pattern.This hook is now known as the Panfish and comes in green and black(use the black).
Cheers

Dynaflow has a great point here on hook size and type.
I used tiemco 811 for the #8 flies and then Gamakatsu SL11-3H hooks in #8,6, and 4 for the #6,4, and 2 flies.
They are definitely a size larger than the Tiemco equivalent.
Love the SL11-3H hooks and use them for just about everything here in the surf. Tacky and tough:)
A bit pricey but not bad if you buy in 100 packs.

[dynaflow]

Cheers Paul...and just for the halibut here's a thirteen pound Bonefish from Aitutaki in the Cook Islands...one of the places (along with New Caledonia) that has mostly big fish...no place for a 6wt.or 7wt.like C.I. :D

[PaulC]

Cheers Paul...and just for the halibut here's a thirteen pound Bonefish from Aitutaki in the Cook Islands...one of the places (along with New Caledonia) that has mostly big fish...no place for a 6wt.or 7wt.like C.I. :D
That is so rad. A beast of a fish!
I have fond memories of visiting Rarotonga with my folks as a kid.
I would love to get back out there sometime with my kids:)

[Tony Buzolich]

Dynaflow (real name?),

That is definitely a trophy bone. Anything double digit is worth bragging about a little. I've only hooked one in the Keys like that and popped 12# test like it was nothing.
Tony

[dynaflow]

Hi Tony and thanks for the compliment mate,and don't worry,I've hooked and lost bigger fish that pop 20lb.tippet like cotton unless caught juuuuuust right.That horse took fifteen minutes to land off the front of a small skiff in the Aitutaki Lagoon on an 8wt.Sage ONE and 15lb.tippet..the fly was a C.I.Special tied on a #6 hook.Guide Itu Davey was poling me over the flats,and I had a big sit down after that debacle but managed six good fish for the day.The only time I'll use 12lb.tippet for Bonefish is for fussy fish,otherwise 15lb.or bigger if in rough terrain.
Cheers
Peter Prideaux