2 degrees above the Equator, 800 miles to the closest Island of any size, 1200 miles South of Hawaii, 2000 miles from the closest continent, 5000+ miles from the place I call home. The largest atoll in the world. (Search Youtube “Birth of an Atoll” if interested.) Home to about 5000 residents now a days. Don’t confuse Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, this is Kiritimati Island (pronounced Christmas) in the South Pacific.
I could go on for a long while about CI’s history. It’s a long one that includes nuclear bomb testing and global warming causing it to sink. I’ll end this portion by saying everyone we met had a smile on their face and was awesomely friendly.
Day One places me on a large Fiji Airlines jet leaving Hawaii for the 3 hour flight to the island.
This jet lands by VFR meaning “if the pilot can’t see the runway, it doesn’t land”. One flight in and out per week. If your late to the airport and it’s missed or the weather is such the pilot can’t see the runway, you’ll have another week to enjoy the wonders of the atoll. This was the first time I’ve ever bought trip insurance. Emergency evacuation insurance is required mostly for medical emergencies, but it covers tsunami’s as well.
On landing, the 30 or so anglers went through Customs, bought fishing licenses and loaded into vans without a hitch…except for me. Naturally. Seems a fella by the name of Mr. Finny didn’t check the bag tags very close. He left his bag at the airport and took mine to his lodge. I was elated it was on the island and didn’t get sent to who knows where in HI as it had my fly rods in it. Little detour and all was back on track.
The first afternoon was getting into our rooms, meeting our hosts and other members of our group as well as finding out the routine. The rooms at the Ikari House were much better then what was describe to me. Air conditioning, refrigerator, shower and flushing toilet. No TV or phone but there wasn’t time for that anyway. Internet was good for a couple days, then very slow on others. The last day no one could connect. It was free and in the middle of no where so no complaints here.
The routine was:
6:00 am Breakfast
6:30 am Leave for the boats that took typically four people and two guides out.
12:00 noon A bagged lunch of sandwiches, chips, crackers, candy bars and some took along beer but I chose bottled water. More on the water later.
3:00 pm to 4 pm leave by boat back to the Ikari House.
5:00 pm to 7 pm Shower, rest, or Social Hour (fish stories and pictures)
7:00 pm Dinner
8:00 pm Some chose a longer social hour. I chose bed to get ready for the next day.
The one thing that was guaranteed was to become ill if we drank the local water to the point of coffee and tang being made with bottled water. Salads were washed with bottled water and it was suggested to wipe away the water around your mouth with alcohol wipes after taking a shower. Becoming ill from the local water would take away at least one day of fishing. We had one fella that was down and out the first day. We weren’t sure if it was the water or bad sushi in HI.
Lots of details and these little bunny trails could make a book.
So what about the fish you ask?
The flats fishing in the lagoon is all catch and release. The few other people we saw fishing these flats were all fishing with a fly rod.
My guide the first day was Pedro. As good as I thought I could see fish in 2 feet of water with polaroid sunglasses on, I found I was blind when Pedro pointed out bone fish 20 to 30 feet in front of me that I never did see. He would say “12 o’clock, 20 feet, cast, cast! Strip, Strip! Out of no where the fly line would tighten up and off the bone fish would go many times into the backing of the fly reel. Many times busting my knuckles by getting them too close to the reel knob.
I’ve caught larger bones in Florida but the numbers of fish here are unreal. The largest bone was in the 5 pound range. The difference between a small bone fish and a large one is it’s speed and the small ones are amazingly fast!
It was the first day when I spotted what looked to me like a dead or dying carp floating a hundred yards or so ahead. As we moved closer Pedro pointed it’s way and said “trigga” meaning trigger fish. From that point on, I was an expert trigger spotter. It’s a crazy looking fish with human looking teeth that will take your finger or at least the finger tip off. After some instructon on how to cast to them, I gave it my best shot which was far too accurate. The fly landed on it’s nose and she left to deeper water faster than I could say “damnit”.
I had roughly 20 shots at triggers. Blew most of them although a couple just weren’t hungry for my fly. One cast I was very proud of as the fly landed 4 feet behind and four feet in front of the target. With one strip, she turned, looked and move toward the fly. At that very instant a bluefin trevally came out of no where an nailed my fly. Although cool looking, they are about the same size as a 1 pound bluegill. Not what I wanted at that moment.
Milkfish are an algae eater. We saw hundreds of smaller ones on the flats. Going to the ocean side they can be caught by placing your “algae fly” in the path of their open mouths. If you are lucky enough to hook into one you’ll have a 30+ minute battle with a reel screaming 11 wt rod!
I did hook into a 5 to 10 pound GT or Giant Trevally according to my guide. I didn’t see it. Once I felt the bite that fish and all of my line was heading in the direction of Antartica. Some place along the way the leader broke, most likely on coral. I may not of had a chance to see that fish, but I’ll always remember the helplessness of not being able to stop it.
Speaking of GT’s, we (my guide) spotted one in deeper water (like 6 fow), as we were moving towards the last place we spotted it, the dang thing circled around and literally blew up the water less then 20 feet behind me. This was in maybe 3 feet of water. Not a big deal until I estimated the size of the fish to be no less then 50 pounds. The guide’s estimate was 70 and I won’t doubt him. It was a big fish and they can REALLY move half out of the water. I’m doubting I could have landed that size of a fish on an 11 wt even with 100 pound test leader. From what I’m told, you feel the bite and then just watch $150. in line and backing leave your reel never to be seen again.
One night we spent the night under the stars. The Milky Way was better then I have ever seen it (and no tripod for the camera)
I found taking photos on the water difficult when fishing so I don’t have too many fish pictures. As far as taking pictures of the bone fish, it would be like taking pictures of every 10 to 14 inch sauger caught on Pool 4. There were just too many fish to take photos of.
A special thanks to Deb Harvey, Kerry Harvey’s wife for loaning me her water proof point and shoot. It was a must have although I didn’t know it at the time. Thanks goes to St Croixer as well for making sure I had a gator along. And I can’t forget Steve Root for his casting pointers.
If you can’t tell, I want to go back very badly. We’ll have to see what 2017 brings.
One last note. Maybe it was just the timing of my trip but the sunsets on Christmas Island don’t hold a candle to the sunsets at Everts Resort.
Attachments:
Trigger-on-Fly.jpg
Milk-Fish-on-a-Fly.jpg
Bluefin-Trevally.jpg
Knee-deep-bones.jpg
Under-the-stars-on-the-beach.jpg
NoNAMme-or-No-Name.jpg
Releasing-bonefish.jpg
CI-Sunset.jpg
