My friend Dave Kilhefner and I are just back from Christmas Island. It was an epic trip, with one more species crossed off my bucket list and many wonderful memories.
One of the really great things about CI is the super friendly and happy people. These two cooked and cleaned for us and were a joy to be around.
My photo skills did not capture the beauty of the area. The blues and greens are simply amazing.
My sole reason for going to C. I. was to do battle with a Giant Trevally. But first we tried our hand at bonefish. It was challenging to see them as the constant wind made it hard to see through the chop. Our guides had eyes like sea eagles and spotted many fish we never saw, but with their coaxing we got our cast to the right spot – occasionally.
Bonefish were abundant. Most we hooked were in the one to two pound class, but a few were much larger. In addition incidental catches of Trigger fish, and other flats dwellers, kept things interesting.
With the bones out of the way we concentrated on GTs. First we cast poppers to breaking swells and shallow spots on the reef. We hooked a few that way, but nothing huge. The small ones were so thick in places we actually hooked two on one cast!
I had a GT now but wanted a GIANT Travelly. So we began working the edges of the flats, blind casting into the drop offs. I can tell you it is exhausting casting a `12 weight with a huge fly into the constant wind. Hours of fruitless casting had me wondering if I would ever make contact with a big one. Then it happened!
What I later learned was a good, but not great, GT inhaled my offering and headed for Australia. I had the drag on my Pate Marlin reel cranked down as tight at it would go but the GT still peeled off more than 300 yards of line before I stopped him. After a 40 minute tug-of-war I finally landed my first big GT. The guide estimated it at about 40-50 pounds.
Two days later my friend Dave hooked a truly monstrous GT, that took out about 400 yards of line before straightening his hook. Not long after that I hooked what turned out to be the biggest fish of the trip. Dave and I took turns battling this huge GT for more than an hour. . Our guide estimated it at 80-90 pounds. Three others were hooked but one sheared a fly line on the coral, one straightened a hook and one just came unbuttoned after 25 minutes.
With that goal shattered we tried our hand a blue water trolling. Almost immediately Dave hooked the largest Wahoo I have ever seen. He manhandled it in on heavy trolling gear in about 20 minutes. We kept this bruiser to feed many villagers. On the scale it came in at 98 pounds.
We had good luck tossing poppers to a variety of open water species and even managed to land two more GTs. Note how much darker they are than the inshore variety.
One of my trip highlights was having a 40 pound yellowfin crash my popper. The take was jaw dropping. I was so tuckered from landing big fish in the heat, I handed the rod to our apprentice guide. He was reluctant to take the rod, but then had a ball fighting the tuna.
To say it was a great trip would be an understatement. Yes we will return. I can say that if you want to go be sure and book at Ikari house. They have, by far the best, boats, food, and guides on the island.
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