Christmas Island

The fishing was fantastic. The bone fishermen in our group waded the endless miles of shallow sand flats casting to 2, 3, and 4 pound fish. Christmas Island is a quantity bonefish area. The largest on our trip weighed just over 4 pounds...... I was often standing in one spot for over two hours casting to schools of 50 or 60 bonefish as the moved up the flats. Most of these fish weighed 1 to 2 pounds, but were so much fun on a 5 wt fly rod. I would catch 2 or 3 fish before the giant school of fish moved past me.

A few hours of the day was spent trawling outside the lagoon where we picked up Wahoo, yellowfin tuna, aku, and GT. We ate fresh fish dishes and sashimi every day.

After dropping the bonefish guys off on the flats, some of us would have the boatman move in close to the reef and drift over the shallow, crystal clear waters. It was like an aquarium, so many colorful reef fish. This is where a heavier fly rod or spinning rod came into play. I would wait for my brother or son to hook up, then cast my fly into the school of fish that followed the hooked fish trying to take the lure out of its mouth. Instant hook up. We caught GT (blue fin and white) from 1 to 35 pounds, lie (leatherback) up to 2 3/4 pound, and a wild assortment of reef fish. Several times our guide spotted an octopus and jumped into the waist deep water to grab it. One 8 pound tako (octopus) would provide plenty of poki and snacks for everyone at the hotel.

I'm still going through the 1000+ pictures before I can add a "Christmas Island" page to my web site. I'm also saving up for my next trip.

Aloha,
Stan