Christmas Island Feb 2012

Sorry, still catching up on things at work and around the house, and Boogie is still on the island with clients.

We got into some great bonefishing as well as some decent GT's up to 40-45 pounds.  Of course once I left the island, Boogie and clients hit a run of 50+ pound GT's, several in the 70 pound range and one brute pushing 100 that pulled the hooks after 45 minutes.

Lot's of papio sized trevally and medium sized omilus (bluefin trevally).  It was an amazing site watching schools work the edge of the reef waiting for the high tide to push up on it.

We didn't get much time to work offshore, but did witness the local canoe fishermen catching 40-60 pound yellowtail only 1/4 mile off the beach at a ridge that dropped from 300 feet to over 1000 feet (the max I could record on my FF).  The wahoo bite was a bit off last week, likely due to the full moon.

And when all else failed we hit countless snappers such as ukus (grey snappers), paddletail snappers, sweetlips, and various red colored ones.  Equally present were a variety of groupers.  All of which were great eating.  These were all caught jigging in 30-100 feet of water.

The possibilities are endless.  We fished a lot of different styles including popping, jigging, fly fishing, and trolling.  By the end of the week, we were getting it dialed in and this week Boogie and the guys are still working it.

I'll have a more detailed report soon, but needless to say, I can't wait to get back.

-Allen

..... GT's up to 40-45 pounds.
.....Lot's of papio sized trevally and medium sized omilus (bluefin trevally).
.....40-60 pound yellowtail
.....we hit countless snappers such as ukus (grey snappers), paddletail snappers, sweetlips, and various red colored ones.  Equally present were a variety of groupers. 

-Allen

Oh my God, I'm hungry now!

BTW, I meant yellowfin tuna, not yellowtail.

-Allen

Aloha Gang....

I am finally back home and am recuperated from a great trip to an awesome place. Christmas island is an area loaded with fishing options. In the 2 weeks I was at the atoll I just scratched the surfaces of the possibilities of the kayak fishing here. If you want to hook into big Giant Trevally's on a kayak this is the place for you. We caught upwards of 70 ulua in 2 weeks. All of these fish caught in the lagoon were released as part of their conservation policy to protect there sport fishery. We only kept 2 out of the 70 GT's because we could not revive them. There are a ton of bone fish at Christmas if that's your thing. The fly fishing is excellent here. There are so many flats and ponds in Christmas island it would take a life time to learn them all. Our local guides were very knowledgeable and had 30 years of experience fishing the atoll. They always put us in the right place and took good care of us. so inside of the atoll is a lot of fun.

The damashi and jigging in the off shore waters did very well as Allen said. Anywhere between 30-100 feet deep, we caught us a lot of bottom fish species all of which were excellent eating. We caught lots of good eating snappers and groupers as well as some massive goat fish. During the first week with Allen we got to do some kayak fishing but were obligated to a kite board story which cut into our fishing time. However we did have some fun times kayak fishing together.

In the following week I had some clients who fell in love with an area we called Ulua Pancake. This small round flat in the middle of the lagoon offered great GT fishing. In the end my clients just wanted to go here everyday to nail the GT's. so again i barely got to fish the off shore waters around the atoll.

So we know the lagoon is loaded with GT's and Bone fish... off shore jigging also worked very well.. we also discovered they have off shore ahi koa's (tuna houses) just off shore about 200 yards.. these are mooring balls anchored to the bottom so the local canoe fisherman can tie up to them and fish.. they moorings range anywhere from about 100 feet deep to 300 feet deep, right where the atoll drops into the abyss. These local canoe fisherman are building reef and training fish in the ancient style called dropping stone. What they do is take a whole milk fish and cut it up into chunks. They take the chunks of chum and wrap them up in a leaf with a piece of rock. Then they take a handline with a hook and put a piece of milk fish on it. They then wrap the handline with the hook around the leaf with the rock and chum in it.  Then they drop the package overboard. When they feel they are at the depth of the tuna they pop the line releasing the leaf with the chum and the rock away from the hand line with the bait on it. This ancient old school style knocked down a couple of big tunas in the 70 pound range while we were out there. When local angler drop stone they build the koa (home) from years of dropping stones in the same spot. they build reef structure every time they drop a rock. To this rock pile is an anchor chain and a ball with lots of growth for baitfish to dwell on. These are very similar but even better than a FAD (fish aggravation device). The constant chumming keeps the tuna at the koas. So from my experience in Hawaii these ahi koa are loaded with fish. We however did not get a lot of time to explore this area. I did try some trolling in this area and saw 2 yellow fin tuna in the 50 pound range surface in front of my kayak in about 60 feet of water. So I am looking forward to more off shore kayak fishing in this area next time.

We also went to another off shore are called Ono alley. This area had a really fishy feeling and again we caught some stuff bottom jigging. I lost something really big jigging from the kayak. Allen had a decent surface strike that we felt was an Ono strike but it came unhooked. Unfortunately we did not stay here long. So for off shore fishing we didn't do as well as we had hoped to but then again we did not spend much time off shore fishing..

Most of our time between both trips was focused around the Ulua Pancake inside of the lagoon.. I catered to what my clients wanted to do and this was it. All day battling GT's. Here at Ulua Pancake we can just about guarantee Christmas island GT sleigh rides. It is very consistant and will make traveling anglers happy.

I am planning a return trip on May 22nd-29th if any one is intrested in coming down get in touch with me asap. The trip is just about filled up and we are looking for 1 or possibly 2 kayak anglers to join us. the price for the week is $1,400. This includes 7 nights at the lodge, 6 days of fishing, all meals, 1 guide per 2 anglers, a truck to get around, all the kayak gear, and lots of fun. Contact me ASAP if you are intrested in kayak fishing Christmas island at boogied@hawaii.rr.com

We are still waiting for our professional photographers pictures from the first trip. When I get them I will post them here with a few more reports. Aloha

Here a few more shots of Christmas Island
www.christmasislandkayakfishing.com

You football fans will know Jim Mora's famous "playoffs" rant.  That's the voice I hear in my head when Boogie D says those GT are "big."  "Big Giant Trevally?  Really?  Those are GIANT giant trevally."  Thanks for sharing the awesome pics.

You football fans will know Jim Mora's famous "playoffs" rant.  That's the voice I hear in my head when Boogie D says those GT are "big."  "Big Giant Trevally?  Really?  Those are GIANT giant trevally."

Of course the one I'm holding is a LITTLE Giant Trevally.   

-Allen

i couldnt help myself Allen...

Just got Boogie's forwarded copy of the Hemispheres Article today. Great write up. Should get a lot of hearts pumping and minds racing in flight.....

The article is online now ... http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2012/05/01/big-fish-little-boat/?pid=1257

-Allen

Nice write up.  That article turned out really well...

My only criticism of it is that it's so one sided in view. Behar could have fleshed it out better with less about him and more about the whole crew.

Still, really do hope it generates lots more interest for the new business out there.