Hey Folks,
It has been quite a long time since I had something worth reporting.
I went in November to Christmas Island (Kiritimati) with a group of fly anglers and it was one of those lifetime trips you try and cross off the list.
The main target out there is bonefish, but there are also trevally (Bluefin and giant), triggerfish and a multitude of other reef species.
There is also offshore fishing where our guys hooked multiple wahoo on conventional gear in two outings.
To avoid writing a massive essay, I’ll just throw in pictures with some commentary.
No idea when I’ll have a chance to get back there, but I would definitely love to at some point.
The scenery, fishery and the local people were awesome to say the least.
We ended up flying in on Fiji air via Hawaii. The view coming in from the plane was pretty rad.
The airport was small…
The place we stayed at basically had a guide shared by two people and two people to the room.
It was referred as shark’s place in the past, but I believe they were calling their outfit crystal beach now.
Rooms were rustic, food was decent, and we actually had airconditioning.
We would have breakfast in the morning and get on a truck to ride to the boats at 7am every morning for 6 days.
The rods we carried varied but usually had at least an 8wt for the bonefish and a 12wt for the occasional Giant Trevally sighting.
We travelled around mostly be boat on one of these guys.
The first night there, I ended up screwing around with crease flies and caught a few grouper. Was fun watching them explode on the crease fly.
Most days we bounced around flats depending on the tide.
We tried to get the big schools of milkfish to eat a fly, but only spent an hour for two mornings giving it a shot.
Basically luck of the draw to get one to eat an algae fly.
The weather out there was windy but the sun was relentless.
I covered up as much as possible and didn’t get burnt, but guys going without the buffs got more of the raccoon eye thing going despite repeated use off sunscreen.
The first couple of days we had sun, the third was completely cloudy, and the remainder were patchy with clouds.
Visibility was seriously tough without sunlight.
The bones blend in on the white flats and you need shadows to help spot them.
In the coral littered areas you can see their green backs, but without sun it is tough.
This panorama is one of my favorites from the first couple of days.
The scenery throughout the trip varied.
Some spots we pulled up onto were dramatic in colors and contrast.
You would see bright blues and teals cutting through the sand like a laser beam in some places.
Some were little islands where you are walking on volcanic rock, seashells and coral.
These really made a stripping basket useful. Line would catch on anything.
Some involved some long walks in search of fish.
Some involved some long walks back to the boat catching fish along with way.
There were various crabs all over.
And there were birds all over as well.
Enough with the scenery though, we were there to fish.
Going to try continuing this on a separate post as I appear to be violating some character limit.
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