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Thread: Christmas Island - Decisions ?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    Yuba City, Ca.
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    Cool Christmas Island - Decisions ?

    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
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Centennial, CO
    Posts
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    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

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
    Posts
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    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/...fish-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......



    .
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    Yuba City, Ca.
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    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
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Fresno
    Posts
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    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

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Oxnard,CA
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    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

  7. #7
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    Jan 2011
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    Centennial, CO
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    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

  8. #8
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    Great info guys. Thanks for the input.
    Tony
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Yuba City, Ca.
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    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
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  10. #10
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Centennial, CO
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Buzolich View Post
    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

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