Our first trip to Christmas Island - 1986 was $1,200 week from Hawaii.

Old friends Dan Chamberlin and Don Hays of Delta Construction had gone in 1985 so they helped us get a trip together.

Joe Shirshac and I co-hosted this first trip to Christmas Island for Kiene's Fly Shop.


The first day we got into a small Isuzu pickup with a 'dog house' like roof on the back with benches on each side.

We rode in the back and the guide and drive was in the cab. It was a guide for 4 people back then.


Those first years the native were driving the trucks and had no experience. We ended up going like 70 mile an hour and going

air born at times. I heard one week they had a big wreck were people got hurt so they slowed way down.


I had 3 old timers with me and on the way out to the flats the truck stopped and they told me to get out and go fishing.

They went further with the 3 other guys to a flat further away.

I walked to the water and saw 3 small Bones cruising along the edge towards me in a foot of water.

I had never Bonefished so I just cast in front of them and started stripping slowly. One dart ahead and ate the fly.

I caught about 6 Bonefish my first time in about an hour and was pretty happy.

Later they drove back and picked me up. I was afraid these old guys might have not done well so I never mentioned my good

fortune. Soon after I got in the back of the truck they all told me that had caught some Bonefish and I was so relieved.


For the first 20 years or so? everyone stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel that was an old RAF barracks.

Frontiers Travel in Wexberg, PA had the exclusive for the fishing on Christmas Island through the Kiribati government.

We loved the native food which was pig, tuna, trevally, wahou, lobster and sweet fresh home made bread made with coconut milk.

Almost everyone I know who went to Christmas Island went back or wanted to go back. Some went every year.....


After some years Marilyn and I ended up using very light 9' #7 line 4 pc rods with large light weight reels because the flies were small

and sparce. You really don't put much drag on a Bonefish because they go fast and wear themselves out.


We had our guide carry a 9' #10 line outfit that we used for Trevally when they showed up.



I was able to take some of my best friends with me over the years.

My brother Dick went once and he out fished me every day which made me so happy.

My friend Don Rotsma went twice with me.

Staff member Chris Pasley went with me once.

Staff member Alan Barnard went once with me than other times without me.

High school neighborhood friend Larry Kelly went with me once after his divorce..said it changed his life.

My uncle Dean Dunphy and cousins Pat and Chris from Souther Cal went with me once.

My uncle Tom and Rich Chapin went twice to Christmas Island.

My dad and I went once together.

Marilyn went with me three times and is her favorite destination. She landed 30 one day plus a 10 pound Bone with Tyrone.

She cast really well to about 60 feet and is not color blind so she could really see the fish plus casting is short wading for Bones.

What wonderful memories Bill and I envy you being on Kiritimati in 1986.....dreams are made of this,and of course it was the Americans who pioneered fly fishing on the island.Out of interest Tyrone is still guiding! He's a contemporary of the late Moana Kofe and Teannaki but a couple of their colleagues are still guiding,like Simon and English.
Regards
Peter

Thanks dynaflow.....I can see you have a long history and a passion for Christmas too.

Some old friends went more than once a year for the rest of their lives.

Fred Bertero from Davis, California was one of those Christmas Island guys for life...."Full Moon Fred" recently passed away in his 80s.

Do you remember George Bush? No, not either of the former Presidents but a serial Kiritimati client. So much so that there's a respected middle-of-the-day Fly named for him. English told me the following story some years back.

George had a prosthetic leg and they were down at the Huff Dam where the Guides had set him up in a plastic chair on the little sand spit where he could cast to the GT's that loiter there. George hooked a good one and the fish pulled him off the chair and into the water where he splashed around coughing and spluttering. Finally when the Guides finished pissing themselves laughing they dragged George out of the water....I'm not sure if he landed the fish.

Bob Delemos is another guy who has one of my favorite spots named for him, as does Rick (Ricks Flat) and others. There's a few men who passed before us who have their ashes scattered on their favorite flat in the lagoon. Not a bad idea actually when you think of it. eh?

I did hear of that George Bush....


There was a guy who restored Rolls Royce cars I think from New York who came for two weeks at a time.

He fished one week for Bones and one week for Trevally.

He rented a pickup for the two weeks and drove himself around and fished by himself.

He had a Zodiac boat with an outboard. He would come in about dark as we were finishing dinner to eat every day.


At the beginning Frontiers Travel and the Kiribati government hired Florida guide Rick Ruoff to teach the natives how to guide.


On another note one time Sage Rod Company booked the entire island for a special company trip in April of 1993.

Bill Fitzsimmons, owner of Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt, Colorado and I both were picked because we had been there more than

most and we both big Sage dealers.

Famous people like Lefty Kreh and Yvonne Chenard of Patagonia were invited. Lots of top guides and other Sage dealers too.

Rep Van and Ford Rolo, Jerry Siem, Marc Bale, Bill Marts, Randy Swisher, Val Atkinson, Jamie Lyle, John Barr (Copper John), Rick Ruoff

and Bill Kline (Patagonia) were just some of the group. It was a trip of a lifetime for me....so many cool people and great fly fishers.


Sage Rep Carey Marcus landed a 76# GT wading on a 10 weight and was not chumming.


I got to go out one day with Lefty Kreh, Janet and Marty Downing which was the highlight of my trip.

Lefty taught our guides how to cast in the wind in all directions. He never stopped teaching fly casting.

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Bill, brings back a lot of memories...

I remember taking my first trip to CI back in 94. Yep the price was right but the lodging at Capt. Cook was something else. That's one of the reasons I never went back. They were suppose to close down a couple years ago, not sure if they are still in business.

Since then, I've been back a few times but with the number of operations there now and the number of people I hear the bones are wise to the fly. I remember one of my last trips there were at least 15 people fishing on Paris Flats. I mean Paris 1, 2 and 3 were flats that were spread out but it still had those bones pretty spooky. I plan on doing a few more trips back before I completely retire from "hosting" trips.

I'm now looking into doing trips to Fiji, Samoa and a few other places.

Yes the island is a much busier place these days Jay and the I agree the Bonefish are smarter...well "more shy" might be a better term.
Certainly the Trigger Fish have more sophisticated taste these days....read unweighted Alphlexo Crabs.The Paris flats (especially #1) have always been a bit of a circus and resembles a picket fence around spawning time.Problem is that it's not always easy to fish as the water is deeper and the wind is often very strong and head-on.We found last year quite tough and the fish hard to find,and principally this was due to heavy angler traffic.The end of the island proved more profitable but it's a long day out with all the travelling.