North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine October 2017 | Page 38

year. During that time, I’ m happy to report that the overall size of the island’ s bonefish has increased. In fact, a couple times I’ ve reached for my GT rod only to realize that I’ ve mistaken a couple 15-pound bones for a trevally. You’ ll still find a thriving population of small bones to cast at, but those who want shots at the big boys can find them... if you’ re willing to hunt.

Since 2010 the giant trevally fishing has improved, too. That’ s because fewer lodges are chumming these fish, which means they are not putting bait on a fly to increase an angler’ s chances of hooking one. All that method did was make it more difficult to take GTs on a fly. Now, the fish have to pay attention to flies and anglers are getting more shots at them while wading the long flats found on Christmas Island. Offshore fishing, which is a nice diversion from flats fishing, is great off Christmas Island with shots at tuna, wahoo,

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Corrie schools of milkfish, ranging between 10 and 40 pounds, stacked in the foamlines feeding on surface plankton and vegetation. To access these fish— especially the large ones— you fish from a boat. The fishing can be fast, but you have to change direction often and you need to keep your line tight to hook these fish, which can suck in and spit out a fly quickly. When you do hook one they don’ t give up— I consider them to be one of the hardest fighting fish in the sea, making long runs, acrobatic jumps, and deep runs toward the bottom. For sure, these milkfish are worth a day away from the flats.

After searching for milkfish, we moved around the island and found a pronounced currentline. We quickly set out an array of teasers for marlin and sailfish. This was my first time chasing these billfish on a fly and we were lucky to have Simon Corrie as our guide. His Christmas Island and bluewater fishing knowledge is unmatched.

kind of‘ forgot’ to take the hooks off of his popper and hooked up on a nice GT. He yelled‘ whoops.’

sailfish, marlin, milkfish, mahi, red bass and GTs. Basically, there’ s a whole world off the coast of Christmas just waiting to be explored... if you can pull yourself away from these GTs and bones on the flats.

Following is a day-by-day rundown from my most recent trip to Christmas Island, which should give you an idea of what a trip here might look like. If it sounds like something you want to do— and believe me every dedicated angler ought to do this trip— you can book with North 40 for a trip of a lifetime in 2018.

DAY ONE

We woke up super early and made a long run to the bluewater, setting our sites on the area’ s milkfish, which take advantage of filter feeding options on outgoing tides. We found huge

Even so, as we made several passes through these current lines and feeding birds, we only had one hit to show for our efforts. The hit turned out to be from a large tuna that never resurfaced. And we never touched a billfish.

Continuing down the coast we started throwing poppers for GTs and red bass, just outside the breakers. While doing so, Corrie kind of“ forgot” to take the hooks off of his popper and hooked up on a nice GT. He yelled“ whoops” then continued to laugh as he landed the fish. We were all very happy for him.

With hooks removed, April Vokey, who joined us on this trip, was up on the bow throwing a popper behind a teaser. Crump and I were on the back absolutely destroying the red bass. We were like two kids crappie fishing for the first time, giggling uncontrollably as three- to five

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