There's a New Fish in Town - Christmas Island 2019 Part One
A couple of years ago (2017) Jim May and I stayed at Crystal Beach Lodge for the second time and it was a great trip. Located right on the beach with plenty of cool sea breeze and very few bugs. On this trip we went offshore one day and spotted acres and acres of milkfish skimming the surface for algae. Having never caught one of these before we told ourselves the next time we come here we'll have to try for one.
The following year our best friend Bill Siler got the urge and hooked up Guy Shoenborn from Fishing with Larry for his first trip to the island and stayed at the Villages. The Villages seems to be the most popular lodge to stay at for lots of people and I hadn't stayed there yet. So, this year we gave it a try for something to see and compare it to Crystal Beach Lodge. Both places are good.
Upon arrival at CXI the first thing we all noticed was the new terminal. This place is going to start looking like a modern airport. Quite a change from before.
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Our first day we got up early for breakfast at the dining hall, and had to make our own lunches, then put them into baskets that matched our boat that we were to fish from that day. A little differenet but okay. We then wade from shore to our waiting outrigger and then head out for the day.
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After breakfast we head south by truck to the Huff dam area in the hopes of finding some big GT's. The dam seperates large milkfish farms from open water. The milkfish here are small and ocassionally get through the dam to awaiting GT's that have learned this is an easy meal spot for them to feed.
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The shore here is marked with a sharp ledge left from the atomic testing done back in the fifties and sixties by several governments. We walk and wade along these edges looking for both trevally and bones too. My guide says to step down and we can wade easier, upon which the ledge crumbles under me and I fall into the water with the guide landing on top of me. Uugh! Razor sharp rubble, two bloodied knees and hands, and I can barely stand let alone cast and fish.
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The second day we boat to the other side of the lagoon to an area called Paris 1. My new guide walks faster than I can keep up with having two busted knees, but he seems determined to get to a certain spot he wants to fish. There's a long spit of coral gravel with deep water on both sides. We stand and watch and wait. Finally a shadow moves along the bottom and he says forty feet at 11:00. Let it sink, let it sink more, wait, wait, strip. Strip long and slow, Wham! Set, set, set and game on. I've got my first bonefish of the trip off and running. “Big” he says several times and I play my fish. Finally after getting it in and ready for pictures my 8-10lb bone, is met with a totally dead camera. Uugh again. My best bonefish ever and no picture.
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After several more nice bones are taken Bill Siler comes along and is coaxed into taking a few shots for me.
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From here we head toward home and mention milkfish again . Our guide says they have milkfish at the frieghters on our way. The frieghters are processing tuna and the milkfish are feeding on the scaps that get dropped overboard. Just like fishing behind a shrimp trawler we drop our algae flies (and scarps) into the waiting schools of milkfish and hook up immediately. Wow! These are not little milkfish like at the Huff dam. These are BIG and stronger than anything I've ever hooked. Three of us are all hooked up at once. Under the boat, around the outriggers, crossed lines tangled, a real cluster-f#$* if ever there was one. Bill grabs my rod trying to untangle one of the lines just as my fish dives and snaps across his back. Uugh, a broken 12 wt! Still attached we manage to land my first milkfish.
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These fish fight as hard as any yellowfin or skipjack tuna ever taken. Note the long forked tails which give them incredible speed.
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Part Two next!
