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Xmas Island Bones (Kiritimati)


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Well I'm back and after the plane didn't pick us up last Wednesday, we ended up having to spend an extra 3 days on Kiritimati fishing. Life is hard to take sometimes :laugh: . Anyway as promised here are some pics of my trip and all I can say is this place is a fishermans paradise. For the trip I caught over 100 Bonefish (lost count), 7 Triggerfish, small GT's, Goatfish, Yellow Snapper and all sorts of reef species. Walking the flats and seeing Bonefish of around 10lb swimming at you in ankle deep water is a sight I will never forget. My best fish was approximately 5.5lb with all the rest averaging about 3lb or better. I had a few tussles with the big 10lb bruisers but they really like to run you through coral, which isn't really good on flylines and 12lb leaders :pinch: .Here are a few pics and all I can say is if you get a chance to fish on Kiritimati you will not be disappointed, it is one very beautiful place.Cheers DazzPosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted Image

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Thanks guys it was an awesome fishing trip. The people and the scenery were spectacular and the fishing just blew your mind.I had Bonefish break 16lb leader on the take without even time to strip strike, they hit so fast and hard I didn't have a chance to even release the line from my rod hand. Awesome :laugh: . The Triggerfish would take the fly then try and make it back to their hole in the Staghorn Coral, it was either put the brakes on them or get seriously buried, I lost a heap of them but they are great fun to try and catch. I had one Trigger take me 80 mtrs into the backing and I managed to get him in, he obviously forgot where he lived.I mainly fished with a 5wt outfit just for fun but the 7wt made the occasional appearance when the wind got a bit tough to cast into. Every day the wind blew at better than 20knts so it definitely made things challenging, especially when alot of casts had to be into the teeth of the breeze.The accommodation was a lodge style outfit with all meals and services provided, we only had to pay for drinks. The rooms were cleaned and sorted everyday and the food was good. The place I stayed was called The Villages and I'd recommend it highly to anyone who wants to experience this type of fishing. It is all flyfishing and we also had a guide for every angler which was brilliant. These guides can see a fish fart from 50 mtrs, I kid you not they are great. You can fish by yourself if you like without the guide which I did one afternoon but I found the best way to go about it was to just give the guide a rod and ask him to have a fish aswell. Their casting skills are phenomenal. I only fished with flies I tied myself and besides the fish liking them, the blokes I went with took great pleasure in rummaging through my flyboxes and relieving me of more flies than the fish took :laugh: The Island of Kiritimati is between Fiji and Honolulu and about a 5 hour flight from Fiji. I can't wait to get back there as I have some unfinished business with a couple of 10lb+ Bonefish that bricked me on more than one occasion so until then I'll just go back to restocking my flyboxes with some little treats for them to chew on. So until then I'll have my memories and photos to keep me going until I return to the best fishing destination I have ever had the pleasure to fish in B) .Cheers Dazz

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Cheers for the report and photos fishnuts. Photos of sand lagoons on christmas island always looks so awesome. Walking around in a foot of water spotting and sight casting to tropical fish is a dream.Is it possible to fish the lagoons with light spin rods and small minnows/soft plastics?How awesome would that be catching bones on a soft plastic crab immitation using using say 15 pound braid and a small stella!Do they get big GT's on poppers there as well?What about other tropic fish like Marlin, Wahoo, Dogtooth etc they all there too?Is a trip like that really expensive? Given the remoteness i'd reckon the flights would be pricey.Were you over there when Richmond gave the Hawks a good ol' whipping?

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Yes Nanman I was away when the Hawks got a whooping, my wife told me on Sunday night when I got home. They did it to us last year too if I remember correctly so it wasn't a real big surprise :angry: .As for your questions, I asked the guides whether bones take softies and they said you might get to the odd one or two but definitely not as many as you get on fly. There are huge GT's , Sailfish, Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna, Marlin and all other sorts of Tropical lure munchers to be caught there. 5 Sailfish were caught by one of the guys that fished with me, he was there the week before we arrived and then fished all week with us aswell. I had a shot at a 50lb GT but came up short, one of the other guys in our crew got a 50lber at Huff Dam on fly, it was a beast.It costs about $5000.00 for a weeks fishing including everything except grog so as far as I'm concerned that is a very cheap holiday considering the amount of fish caught and the beauty of the place. Hope that helps you out and I hope the Hawks do better now that I'm home :laugh: Cheers Dazz

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Absolutely excellent report and beautiful pictures, fishnuts...Have you had a chance to compare them with the Milkies up North?http://www.swoffa.com/saltwater-fish/milkfish.htmlI haven't, unfortunately, but I'm lead to believe the Milkies and Bones are similar fight-wise and would like to hear a valid comparison of both species...Cheersaf

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Milkfish are amazing. Caught plenty on bread. Nothing goes harder for its size than a milkie. I reckon for their weight and size they'd out-do a kingfish as well.$5000 from adelaide for everything...flights, guides, accommodation etc is excellent value.

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AF I saw heaps of milkies while I was over there, they are like Trumpeters "Everywhere".A few blokes foul hooked some at Huff Dam one day then chucked them over the rock wall and watched 80+lb GT's smash them B) Milkies are fast but from what the guys I fished with said, bones have them by just a touch. Milkies are also very hard to get to feed as they only eat algae but they can also be caught on bread when in the mood. So for ease of catching and speed you can give me Bonefish any day.Milkies look cool Though.Cheers Dazz

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