Christmas Island - Kiribati . . .Just Incredible! PART II
Getting on in the week we really needed to hook one of those giant-size Giant Trevally that we’d heard so much about. Our guides told us the best way was with chum, and even then these big fish have become wise and are hard to hook.
The first order of the day then was to collect the chum ,,,,,,,, milkfish. The GT’s favorite food of choice. This required some time and team work stretching and dragging a net through shallow parts of the flat. In pouring rain, Jim and I jumped in to lend a hand. The most fun I’ve ever had getting wet and slimed at the same time.
Moving the outrigger to small reef surrounded by deep water our guides begin cutting and tossing the chum. Immediately we are surrounded by fish of all kinds including some very large bonefish that have become conditioned to being fed.
Our guides and host tell us to take off our 60# leader and change to 100# test as anything else won’t come close to stopping these fish as they take off over the sharp coral.
On my first cast I break my new TFO BVK 12 wt. on a back-cast. Large fly with lots of torque and SNAP goes the tip of the rod.
Kindly our host Rob Ramsey lends me his rod and off I go for another try. Moments later I get my first grab from a big GT. A hundred yards of line and backing speed off with the drag a full max, then nothing. It had come off. Try again.
The fish are wising up and the tide is slowing and the guides say to put on a piece of milkfish. Who am I to argue? And Jim and I both succumb to ,,,,, bait. Uugh.
But it works and Jim hooks up first with a nice GT of about 20 lbs.
I’m next with a bigger fish in the 60#-80# range. Screaming drag this thing takes off easily peeling 300 plus yards of backing before even beginning slow. Maxing out the drag on an Abel BG-4 hardly phases it. To make matters worse, my borrowed rod is left handed ,,,,,, opposite what I’m used too. I try winding but feel spastic. I turn the rod up side down and begin winding with my right hand, and it works. I start to get him coming a little at a time. Then he runs again like no tomorrow. Back and forth we go before I feel the line drag in the coral. A couple more short tugs and it cuts through. Gone big fish number two. Uugh, again.
Not to be defeated, I take my reel off my newly broken rod and put it on Rob’s ruined line rod. Start over, and it’s right hand wind.
Next hook-up doesn’t take too long but thing one is bright silver and goes airborne. What the heck? Several guys yell “ barracuda ?” but are unsure. Several jumps later I get the largest Ladyfish in anyone has ever seen. Normally just a couple of pounds this is three times the size of a regular Ladyfish. Not a GT but I’m happy. Jim’s happy, and we had a fun day.
A couple more days of chasing bones on the flats, other smaller Trevallys, and always on the look out for those big GT’s. It’s about time to come home.
Our final evening at the lodge is luau party time and farewell to some of nicest people on earth I’ve ever met. To honor our group they roast a pig for us with more platters of sashimi and even more lobster.
In the morning we board our FIJI Airways flight home and say goodbye to one incredible adventure no one who flyfishes should ever miss. I’ll be back. Soon.
Tony
TONY BUZOLICH
Feather River Fly
Yuba City, CA.
(530) 790-7180
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