Christmas Island

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Just got home yesterday morning from Christmas Island. What a difference between March and October. We went March of 2016 and had lot's of rain, rain and winds. This trip, the whole island was dry but we still had the winds, not bad though if you call 25/30 mph not bad.
Lot's of bones caught and a few GT's. I think I had the largest GT in the group. Some where between 35/40lbs hell,I'll call it 40lbs why be shy. I got it on a sea habit tropical fly, 9' 10wt Mangrove and lot's of line. The first run took off 300yards off the reel along with the 100' fly line. The guide went running down the line using my bone fish rod to lift the line, keeping it out of the coral. I have photo's but will post later or on to my FB page.
My biggest bone was around 4lbs. I was using the new Axiom II rod by TFO. I threw a 7 wt rod all week. Your probably asking yourself - a 7 wt rod in 25mph winds, no way. Yes way. Using a RIO Flats Pro line and a side arm cast getting a 45' cast was no problem. But you didn't need to cast 45' most fish spotted were within 20' to 25'. Some were as close as 10'. It makes it tough spotting fish with all the ripples on the water. It took me some time to figure it out but I was able to see the fish. I was my own guide. I let my partner use the guide and I went wandering off in other directions. Good and bad. Good that you learn how to spot the fish, BAD that if you step into a hole up to your knees, it's hard to get out by yourself. I also sunk up to my right knee in that soft yucky white mud along with my right hand and reel and rod handle. Thank god for sealed drag system and a bottle of water. Once I got out, I took off the spool and poured my fresh water to clean out the yuck. Good and bad -again. Good the reel was clean, Bad I had no more water to drink. A long walk in 87 degree temperature and 84 degree water
More later, I have to go pick up my 8"x10" print at my local photo shop. Going to mount the photo along with the fly - sea habit tropical

[Tony Buzolich]

Way to go Jay. Any GT over 30 lbs on a 10 wt. had to be a challenge. How did your shoulder hold up after that? Side arm casting probably eased it a little but that's still a big fish.

Can't wait to see your pictures. Wish I was there, Tony

[Darian]

My fishing partner and I accompanied Jays group down there. Had a great time. Caught a bunch of Bonefish each day. My biggest Bonefish was 6 pounds and lost one that broke me off (16 pound test leader) on the second run. I fished a 7 weight, Mangrove rod exclusively; didn't try to target GT's. Caught a small one and a Bluefin Trevally, tho. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the interest of Triggers. Had several shots at them but they just weren't interested. Winds were a constant companion but doable with experience/practice before arrival. No photo's yet as my camera was drowned during an accidental dip. If I can salvage the photo's from the SD card, I'll post them, later.

As usual, the guides knew their stuff and were great guys. The lodge now has warm water for showers (better than a cold shower). However, if you're late showering, all of the warm water's gone. Food was good but very few veggies available. I came back from fishing exhausted everyday. Slept very well.

As an aside, I took entirely too many patterns and number of flies along with us on the first trip (18 months ago) and on this trip. Of course, I still had too many left over from the first trip and added only the patterns I knew would produce. We only lost about a dozen flies between the two of us. If you're new to Bonefishing at Christmas Island, I'd recommend finding out which patterns are the real producers and then acquire or tie a couple of dozen in two/three sizes (say between 4-6-.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Tony, I'm paying the price for trying to cast over head. Side arm was much easier but still put the pressure on the shoulder. Like Darian, we had a lot of shots at a few HUGE titan triggers. There was one chewing on a piece of coral, his whole body was almost out of water. He was interested in nawing on the coral, it gave us time to cut off the bone fish fly and tie on a crab pattern and make the cast. I placed it a foot from him and the guide said short twitches, the first got interested in the fly and swam over and took a look at the fly.
The guide said wait, wait, wait he's looking, get ready, then he swam off. Not interested. Boy that was an intense 30 seconds.
Not sure if I mentioned that I caught a barracuda at the Little Plantation flats. Fishing for GT's in the deeper water and hooked into this thing. It took off running and finally slowed down. At first I thought it was a small wahoo but then when he grabbed the line he said barracuda. I wanted a photo but when he went to grab the fish it wiggled and he dropped the fish. I guess he didn't want to get bit by those sharp teeth. Then, the next cast, I striped the line twice and the next thing I knew the line burnt the hell out of my stripping finger and it took off. Whatever it was, it was deep and didn't want to come to the surface. He thought it was a GT.
I'll probably book late October for next year, hopefully my shoulder will be in full use.

Darian, next time it's only gotcha's, CI specials, crazy charlies and chili peppers. The chili peppers was my hot fly for the week. used nothing but size 6, tied sparse in colors tan, orange, pink. Small bead chain eyes for low tide conditions and medium size for deeper water. For GT's, going with my tropical sea habit in 3/0 and 4/0
My next big trip is.....having the cancer marks remove from my face and then I'm getting a big christmas present - a new shoulder
Come to Pleasanton and watch me tie with one arm
How's your knee.

[mems]

Glad you guys had fun. Jay you are right about chili peppers, aka moana specials work best on broken coral flats. On white bottoms nothing beats a bunny gotcha. All I ever fish for bones with is a size 06. For triggers, small crab 06 again. I also use that for goldens. Did you guys go for goldens? For GT's 4/0 bush pig in mullet pattern. Too bad you guys didn't get offshore. Can't wait for the pictures, Don.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Hey Mems,
I'll email you some photo's. Too much work to post on the board. Some times photo bucket works, some times it doesn't
I'm ready to go back but first the Baja trips and hopefully some more yellow fin and wahoo. Dorado would be OK.
Not sure if the shoulder will be ready to fish by early May - we'll see

[Darian]

Jay,.... The knee is OK, now. I'm scheduled for surgery on may hand in early January and will schedule the knee after that. Should be good as new next fall (just in time for the next Baja/Christmas Island trips.

I've been thinking about the wading down there and have decided that even with a bad knee, wading is possible; just not overly mobile. However, TJ was the ultimate guide for this. He seemed to know the places where fish would pass on their way in to the flats from deeper water. That allowed me to set up/cast to passing bones without wading on cobblestone/uneven bottoms. Also, it allowed TJ to devote some time to guiding my fishing partner. So, we both received the benefits.

Even with all of that help, I got dunked twice and drowned my camera. I did recover the photo's from the SD disk, tho. Not many taken after the dunking. Oh well, now I'm looking for a water proof replacement.

Don,.... The guides I used (TJ & Ilu) both liked the Gotcha's, Chili Peppers and CI Specials, sized 6/8 (mainly 8's).

[mems]

Thanks Guys, boy it sounds like you two are both pretty beat up. I hope all the injuries heal up. I love my new hip. I am with you Darain, I find a spot where the bones enter the flat on an incoming tide and then catch bone after bone. That white mud is pretty nasty. Jay thanks for the pictures, your GT looks really nice, you should get a gyotaku made and then put the fly in the corner in a shadow box. I have one like that with a bluefinned trevally about to eat one of my flies. Good luck in baja. I will post a story after we go in April. Don.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Don,

I had a huge glossy print made. I think it's 12"x18". I went to Hobby Lobby last night since they have the picture frames 50% off but the shadow boxes weren't on sale but they will be come monday. I bought the matt board and will be getting back into making shadow boxes or box. I have the old style matt cutter. The stuff nowadays make it much easier but for doing one or two shadow boxes, not worth the investment.
Damn, it's a beautiful photo. the fish that is.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Most fly fishers end up casting sidearm while wading for Bonefish when it is windy to keep you fly line very close to the water's surface where the wind speed is lower.

My wife and I both ended up using high end, very light weight Sage fly rods with very light weight Lamson Lite Speed reels to keep the weight down while wading all day on the flats.

We used 9' #7 weight 4 piece fly rods at Christmas Island because the flies we used were pretty small and sparse.

On average casting while wading for Bonefish is much shorter (20-40') and casting out of a poled skiff is longer (40-70').

When it is windy and overcast while wading the casting can be very short.



I think that the first place I would recommend for flat fishing would be Christmas Island because to the amount of firm light, colored shallow flats and the number of small to medium size Bonefish.

In Central America many flats are dark Turtle grass with large schools of Bonefish which is not really the classic sight casting that you get at Christmas Island or the Bahamas.



My article on Bonefishing:

http://www.billkiene.com/fishing/fly...-for-bonefish/


**Any comment are welcome to improve my recommendations.

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