11-09-2006, 12:54 AM
Hi guys,
I just got back from a big fishing trip to the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced "Kiribus"). This is in the Pacific and its not too far away from Hawaii. We visited one particular island, called Christmas Island (or more correctly Kiritimati Island)
There is more info about the island here: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiritimati"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiritimati[/url]
Christmas Island is famous for its bonefish. We caught quite a few bonefish, they are sort of like a king george whiting on steroids. They willingly take flies (if they aren't spooked) and they run very hard and for a long distance. A run of 80 metres is not unusual. Though they actually are quite easy to catch because they have nowhere to run! They are caught on the expansive sand flats at Christmas Island. You wade in water up to your knees, looking for the fish and then trying to present the fly to them without them seeing you and getting spooked.
We caught lots of other types of fish on the sand flats and I will post a few photos of these below.
We also discovered that there is very good tuna fishing outside of the atoll. However we did not have any fishing gear suitable for this sort of fishing so we ended up losing 90% of the tuna we hooked. Most of them got eaten by the mako sharks circling our boat!
I will write a bit more about my trip as I get more photos from my brother. Here are a few pics that I shot.
I will also post another topic about Fiji ...we did some "stop over" fishing in Fiji because you need to fly through Fiji to get to Christmas Island.
Cheers, Glen <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/xyxthumbs.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' />
"Cave fish"
This fish is a bit like a bream only prettier. They hide in small depressions on the sand flats and rush out and grab your fly and try to run back into their little hiding hole unless you hold them back. Lots of fun but I lost a lot of good flies catching these fish! I nick named them "Cave fish" but I am not sure what the proper name is.
[attachment=979]
Bonefish
Bonefish is what Christmas Island is famous for. They look a lot like a whiting to me. But the similarity ends there! They run very fast and are caught in much the same way a trout is caught. Polaroiding/spotting these fish is a lot of fun.
[attachment=981]
Trevally
Me and a small trevally taken on the edge of the deeper channel in the background
[attachment=982]
Leatherjacket
Who would have thought you could catch leatherjackets on Christmas Island? They are quite aggressive and eagerly take a fly. Most flies used were of the "crazy charlie" variety. Pink worked well.
[attachment=980]
Tuna
This is my bro with one of the tuna that he landed on fly. Catching these on fly was hard work because he had to recover so much line after each run! Now that we have finally caught tuna I think we are truly hooked! Bonefish seemed quite dull in comparison. We caught mackeral tuna, rainbow runners (another type of tuna) and skip jack tuna. We hooked may yellow fin tuna but lost all of them to the mako sharks.
[attachment=983]
I just got back from a big fishing trip to the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced "Kiribus"). This is in the Pacific and its not too far away from Hawaii. We visited one particular island, called Christmas Island (or more correctly Kiritimati Island)
There is more info about the island here: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiritimati"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiritimati[/url]
Christmas Island is famous for its bonefish. We caught quite a few bonefish, they are sort of like a king george whiting on steroids. They willingly take flies (if they aren't spooked) and they run very hard and for a long distance. A run of 80 metres is not unusual. Though they actually are quite easy to catch because they have nowhere to run! They are caught on the expansive sand flats at Christmas Island. You wade in water up to your knees, looking for the fish and then trying to present the fly to them without them seeing you and getting spooked.
We caught lots of other types of fish on the sand flats and I will post a few photos of these below.
We also discovered that there is very good tuna fishing outside of the atoll. However we did not have any fishing gear suitable for this sort of fishing so we ended up losing 90% of the tuna we hooked. Most of them got eaten by the mako sharks circling our boat!
I will write a bit more about my trip as I get more photos from my brother. Here are a few pics that I shot.
I will also post another topic about Fiji ...we did some "stop over" fishing in Fiji because you need to fly through Fiji to get to Christmas Island.
Cheers, Glen <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/xyxthumbs.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' />
"Cave fish"
This fish is a bit like a bream only prettier. They hide in small depressions on the sand flats and rush out and grab your fly and try to run back into their little hiding hole unless you hold them back. Lots of fun but I lost a lot of good flies catching these fish! I nick named them "Cave fish" but I am not sure what the proper name is.
[attachment=979]
Bonefish
Bonefish is what Christmas Island is famous for. They look a lot like a whiting to me. But the similarity ends there! They run very fast and are caught in much the same way a trout is caught. Polaroiding/spotting these fish is a lot of fun.
[attachment=981]
Trevally
Me and a small trevally taken on the edge of the deeper channel in the background
[attachment=982]
Leatherjacket
Who would have thought you could catch leatherjackets on Christmas Island? They are quite aggressive and eagerly take a fly. Most flies used were of the "crazy charlie" variety. Pink worked well.
[attachment=980]
Tuna
This is my bro with one of the tuna that he landed on fly. Catching these on fly was hard work because he had to recover so much line after each run! Now that we have finally caught tuna I think we are truly hooked! Bonefish seemed quite dull in comparison. We caught mackeral tuna, rainbow runners (another type of tuna) and skip jack tuna. We hooked may yellow fin tuna but lost all of them to the mako sharks.
[attachment=983]