Return from Kiritimati Island

Last month I was fortunate to host a group of friends for a week of saltwater fly fishing on Kiritimati Island, pronounced Christmas Island in the native language of Gilbertese. Within minutes of stepping off the plane, I was reminded of why I love this place so much! World-class saltwater flats fishing aside, the people of this atoll are truly wonderful. From the warm embrace of the lodge staff to the locals going about their day who wave and smile as we drove to our destinations, you can’t help but feel relaxed and welcome here.

I can’t thank the staff and guides at Christmas Island Lodge enough for everything they do. This is a newer fly fishing lodge on the island. The guide staff has enthusiasm for the sport, incredible vision, and dedication to getting us on fish. The lodge staff and boat drivers always welcome you with a smile and are quick to help with anything they can.

In addition to the great guides I was really impressed in the accommodations of the lodge. We ate breakfast and dinner at the lodge each day and ate sandwiches on the go for lunches, and I was impressed by the quality and portions of the food. The rooms were comfortable, well maintained, and cleaned daily. They also offer a laundry service that was much appreciated and kept our clothes clean and comfortable throughout the week. The recently renovated bungalows were all equipped with air conditioning and fans to help anglers get a reprieve from the heat after a long day of fishing. The location of this new lodge puts anglers close to the Korean Wreck and Backcountry locations via truck and is just a short five-minute drive to the boat launch on the inner lagoon.

The first four days proved to be more challenging than my last visit in early 2020. This time we had a considerable storm system moving over the island. This led to cloud cover most of the first four days. Even with the cloud cover the guides had great eyes and were able to spot fish well out of the range of my eyesight. The conditions challenged us for the better half of our trip but, plenty of fish were still brought to hand and most anglers in my group got to check a new species off of their list.

The biggest difference I noticed while fishing with cloud cover was the need to take a stealthier approach to bonefish in particular. Downsizing bonefish tippet from 20 lb to 16 lb or even 12lb was the difference in getting the fish to commit. In addition to that we would keep going smaller and lighter with our flies to make as little disturbance as possible when the fly landed within feeding range of the fish.

We had mostly Neap tides during the first half of our week, which meant that we didn’t have the large schools of spawning bonefish that I had experienced last time on a full moon. Though we may not have had the quantity of bonefish, we definitely had more shots at quality bonefish. I managed to hook a couple fish that my guides estimated to be in the 8 lb range and land multiple in the 4 lb range. Unfortunately the larger fish I hooked either broke off mid fight because of the need to downsize tippet, or just straightened my hooks on their first blistering run. The Korean wreck lended itself to better schools of bonefish. Some of the guys from my group had epic double digit sessions on schoolies while fishing the surf.

Triggerfish stayed on brand, bringing some of the highest highs and lowest lows for everyone who attempted to bring one to hand. I can’t remove the visual of a big colorful trigger bumbling about on the white sandy flats, or bobbing in the waves overtop of a coral shelf while feeding. Even for the the advanced angler these fish pose a challenge.

You spot the trigger from 150 ft away, tail flapping back and forth out of the water like a big colorful flag beckoning for you to move closer and take your shot. You take into account the trigger’s current speed and direction, which way the wind is blowing and how that will affect the drift of your line, the size of your fly and whether or not it will be small enough to be easily eaten but large enough to entice the fish. You consider whether or not the sacrifice of 10 Flexo Crabs is enough for the trigger gods to grant you mercy with a strike. You begin your false cast, the guide says, “50ft facing left! Put it 8 ft to his side and 3 ft past!” You make the perfect cast and your guide thrusts his hand in front of your stripping hand, tells you to wait while the fly sinks. “Long slow strip—wait—he sees it! Okay now, small strips, like a crab.” Then he shouts, “Stop!” You wait and watch as the trigger that was following the little crab tees up and gets in position to tail on the fly and eat. The guide watches closely then says, “Strip set!” You feel something but it doesn’t connect. (You’d make your dentist happy since you’re finally flossing some teeth, but it’s not the time or the place.) Good news, the trigger is still interested, so your guide starts up again with the directions. “Okay, small strips again, like a crab.” You follow the direction of your guide and when he shouts “Stop!” again you listen. The trigger attempts another eat while you attempt another strip set. Sometimes this happens only once or twice before the trigger figures you out. But the best—oh, the very best—is when you continue this little dance over and over, every miss makes your heart beat harder and your palms sweat, until he finally spots you from 15 ft away and leaves the flat in a comical fashion. To quote one of my fly fishing mentors, “It’s not the fish you caught that you tell the story about, it’s the one that got away.” I could tell you all about the trigger I landed on a perfect cast that charged over and ate the fly like a maniac, but it’s much more fun to talk about the 200 other triggers that gave me the middle fin and left me wondering what went wrong. These are the fish that live in my head.

Giant Trevally! What a powerhouse! I managed to land a few “not-so-Giant Trevally” on this trip, but the fish exceeding 25 lbs that I was hunting for proved to be challenging as always. On the first day I found myself in a blitz with a Geet my guide would later estimate at 60 lbs that was crushing a school of mullet. While the mayhem of the blitz was happening a 4 ft Blacktip shark launched out of the water to get in on the action too. My guide told me to throw my 9wt and take the 11wt as I sprinted into position. The presentation was perfect and leading the fish appropriately. I was stripping as fast as I could only to have the fish spot me from 20ft away. After catching wind of me the Geet turned so aggressively that it left me soaked in saltwater and shaking at the knees. Denied!

I had a few other good shots at larger Geets during the trip and even managed to hook one that we estimated to be around 40 lbs, but none were brought to hand over 6 lbs for me. One of the guys in my group spent a large portion of his trip focusing primarily on Geets and managed to land a few really impressive specimens! If you want a Geet you’ve got to carry that larger rod and put the other targets out of your mind for the day. You’ll see bones, triggers, and a myriad of other fish, but the minute you decide to switch rods and make a cast at the bone, a 30 lb Geet will swim by at 25 ft giving you the best shot you could have ever hoped for. I’m sure this is not a novel experience for myself or any other angler who has stalked the flats!

Species List! -

While fishing the outer reef band at the Korean Wreck, our group landed Bonefish, Queenfish Giant Trevally, Surge Wrasse, Christmas Wrasse, Banded Goatfish, Spotted Grouper, Sergeant fish, Bluefin Trevally, Barred Trevally, Long Nose Emperor, and Swallowtail Dart.

While fishing the inner lagoon our group landed Peachface Triggers (aka Yellow Margin Triggers), Mustachio Triggers (aka Titan Triggers), Picasso Triggerfish (aka Lagoon Triggers), Bonefish, Giant Trevally, Golden Trevally, Brassy Trevally, Bluefin Trevally, Gold Finned Trevally, Queenfish, Gold banded Goatfish, and of course some morale-boosting yellow snapper during slack tide.

Towards the end of the week some of the locals got together and put on a show for us. The unforgettable Bamboo Boys played some covers of your favorite songs with makeshift instruments made of PVC pipe and flip flops. This style of instrument originated on a Pacific island where bamboo grows. The tradition has been continued on Kiritimati using PVC pipe as a substitute for bamboo. After a standing ovation for the bamboo boys we enjoyed a dance routine by some of the children of our guide staff dressed to the nines in their traditional clothes. During the show the lodge staff came around and handed out stunning headdresses hand made from flowers on the island. They really made us feel as though we were part of the community and we had a blast playing a game of soccer with the kids after the show.

I want to give a big shout out to everyone who joined me on this hosted trip: Joe, Terry, Nate, Rob, Endy, Michael, and Randolph. It was truly wonderful spending the week with all of you. I think a special kudos needs to go to one member of our group: Terry Rost. He served in Vietnam, then spent the rest of his life selflessly educating youth. As a testament to the saying that age is only a number, he joined us on this trip at the age of 80 and fished his heart out every single day. Terry, you are truly a joy to get to know and spend time with. I think I speak for everyone in the group when I say, we all strive to be as adventurous and active as you are as we get older.

I’ll be putting together more hosted weeks on Kiritimati in the future. If you’re reading this and want to join me for a week on the atoll just shoot me an email or a text and I’ll add you to the mailing list. These are very special trips that I’d love to share with all of you.

Stay tuned for an update on the condition of the Lower Deschutes this week. I’ll be heading out to do some research and development tomorrow! Thanks for reading, and tight lines!