Just got back from a fantastic week in Christmas Island. It was my first saltwater trip and I throughly enjoyed it! We stayed at Sunset and the accommodations were quite comfortable. The food was decent and the rooms were clean.
Had a shot at a lot of fish - hooked and landed a bunch of bones, yellow snappers, small groupers and triggers. Being my first time stalking the flats, I found the learning curve to be pretty steep. My first two days I had a hell of a time spotting bones. By the end of the week I was able to spot, cast and hook up with fish without the help of the guide (definitely a personal accomplishment)! The fish were very spooky at times, which made for some frustrating times. I also had a lot of refusals from several species, including three different Trevally (Giant, Bandit & Golden).
Flew Fiji Airways from HNL-CXI, a view of the lagoon from my window.
Enjoying the sunset from the beach. I was pretty excited to hit the water the next morning.
The following morning I walked the flats with my guide and landed my first bonefish ever.
The release...
Also came across a Picasso hiding in the coral. After refusing half-dozen fly patterns, I finally hooked up with it.
It was a giant
Headed to the back country for some big bone, trigger and GT action. Beautiful sunrise!
We stalked a flat for triggers and spotted one. By the time I was ready to cast, the fish had moved 80' away from us. We carefully approached the fish and I layed out a 60-70' cast (5-10' past the fish). I started stripping the mantis shrimp pattern using short strokes and the trigger followed it, slowly nibbling at the fly. I felt an eat and hit the fish with a strip set. My heart was pumping, adrenaline rushing and a huge smile accompanied the fight. I could tell it was a big fish, and soon had to tighten the drag on my reel. After running out my backing twice, I had the fish under control and started brining it in. I finally had a trigger on the line that didn't break me off! I pulled it in closer and finally got to see it. Much to my surprise it wasn't the trigger but a big bone who stole the fly out of the trigger's mouth. We estimated the bone's weight between 10-12lbs.
As we approached another flat, a brown booby greated us.
Enjoying a well deserved coconut drink back at base camp after a hard day at the office!
The bones were fun but I definitely enjoyed the triggers better. This one was landed near the back country. It destroyed my crab pattern.
Besides fish and birds, we got to enjoy the playful mantas.
Had a shot at a lot of fish - hooked and landed a bunch of bones, yellow snappers, small groupers and triggers. Being my first time stalking the flats, I found the learning curve to be pretty steep. My first two days I had a hell of a time spotting bones. By the end of the week I was able to spot, cast and hook up with fish without the help of the guide (definitely a personal accomplishment)! The fish were very spooky at times, which made for some frustrating times. I also had a lot of refusals from several species, including three different Trevally (Giant, Bandit & Golden).
Flew Fiji Airways from HNL-CXI, a view of the lagoon from my window.
Enjoying the sunset from the beach. I was pretty excited to hit the water the next morning.
The following morning I walked the flats with my guide and landed my first bonefish ever.
The release...
Also came across a Picasso hiding in the coral. After refusing half-dozen fly patterns, I finally hooked up with it.
It was a giant
Headed to the back country for some big bone, trigger and GT action. Beautiful sunrise!
We stalked a flat for triggers and spotted one. By the time I was ready to cast, the fish had moved 80' away from us. We carefully approached the fish and I layed out a 60-70' cast (5-10' past the fish). I started stripping the mantis shrimp pattern using short strokes and the trigger followed it, slowly nibbling at the fly. I felt an eat and hit the fish with a strip set. My heart was pumping, adrenaline rushing and a huge smile accompanied the fight. I could tell it was a big fish, and soon had to tighten the drag on my reel. After running out my backing twice, I had the fish under control and started brining it in. I finally had a trigger on the line that didn't break me off! I pulled it in closer and finally got to see it. Much to my surprise it wasn't the trigger but a big bone who stole the fly out of the trigger's mouth. We estimated the bone's weight between 10-12lbs.
As we approached another flat, a brown booby greated us.
Enjoying a well deserved coconut drink back at base camp after a hard day at the office!
The bones were fun but I definitely enjoyed the triggers better. This one was landed near the back country. It destroyed my crab pattern.
Besides fish and birds, we got to enjoy the playful mantas.