Christmas Island Feb 2012

Mauri!

It all started on a fishing trip, over a few beers after a long day of fishing.  I had asked Boogie-D what his dream trip was.  He didn't hesitate in saying Christmas Island.  This was 2 springs ago on our first La Paz trip.

After over a year and a half of working on this trip, we finally decided last night that all systems are go.  You would not believe how incredibly hard it is to get kayaks out to the middle of nowhere.  There is only one flight a week to Christmas and kayaks don't fit on it.  There are shipping freighters that make sporadic stops to Christmas, but you never know the schedule for one until a few weeks before it sails.  And then there is the once-a-month freighter flight, that is sub-chartered, from yet another charter airline.  Things go slow in the South Pacific and we have to keep reminding ourselves we're on South Pacific time.  After a lot of digging and patiently waiting for responses, we score.  The first kayaks are getting shipped out there this week.  Did you know that there are no kayaks on Christmas Island at all?  Well, there are a few dugouts ...

On again, off again communications with a writer.  The story plan was on the editors desk at Outside and Mens Journal.  Not rejected, but not accepted.  Patiently waiting for months ... before finally getting rejected.  Dejected, we decide to go it on our own.  This is, after all, a dream trip, and we're hell bent on making dreams become reality.  Late this summer, a dark horse magazine comes through.  I won't say what magazine for now, but I will say they have 12 million readers per month.  What a roller coaster ride we've been on.

Christmas Island, aka Kiritimati, is the largest coral atoll in the world. Technically, at 7 degrees north of the equator, it isn't even in the South Pacific.  It has a storied past as nuclear testing grounds in the 50's.  It's also a pilgrimage destination for any serious flyfishing bonefisher.  The flats are absolutely loaded with them.  But it is not just the bonefish that draw us to this destination.  The edges of the reefs hold monster Giant Trevally.  And just offshore in the blue are large schools of tuna and wahoo.

Feb 7 marks the date of the media trip, and we're opening up the following week, Feb 14, as a client trip.  I know that's not too far off, but things came together quickly after months of hurry-up-and-wait.  And since we're going to be out there already, we thought we'd offer a client trip.  PM me for more details.

Kam rabwa!

-Allen

WANT!

I don't even have a kayak yet, but if I thought I could afford it I'd be there in a heartbeat.

WOW ....    I can't wait to hear, read .... watch details about this trip as it sounds amazing.
Have you learned a good bit of Gilbetese in preparation ? 

Great stuff Allen!

WOW ....    I can't wait to hear, read .... watch details about this trip as it sounds amazing.
Have you learned a good bit of Gilbetese in preparation ?

I'm pretty sure the official language of Kiribati is English.

Both English and Gilbertese are the official languages.

-Allen

Epic trip and one for the bucket list for sure!

Allen, you just have to slap a NWKA sticker on a rock somewhere for future folks to try and figure out where the hell that came from.   

Aloha Allen and NWKA gang.. well, as Allen said above its been one long road from La Paz to get us to this point.. i cant thank Allen enough for helping to turn the dream of kayak fishing in Christmas Island into a reality. when the going got tough, the tough got going.. it been an exciting, bumpy, and challenging journey to say the least.. i am still having a hard time grasping that this is all really happening now. it will be like Christmas eve everynight till we get to Christmas.. LOL.. I am currently working on the official press release.. and the revamping of our Coastal Kayak Tours web site to accommodate the bookings and prices. We have also secured the domain name Christmas Island Kayak Fishing for additional support.. that will be coming soon to.. but like Allen said February is just around the corner and if you would like to be among the first in the world to kayak fish this remote coral atoll contact Allen asap for a special NWKA introductory rate.. I hope some of you NWKA can get away for a Christmas break.. talk to you all soon.. ALOHA

Aloha gang...

Well after a lot of hard work i am proud to say that Christmas Island is open for kayak fishing.. Living in Hawaii  I have had a lot of opportunity to fish for the hard fighting giant trevally..  And in Hawaii we have good trevally fishing.. however i was drawn to Christmas island because of the fast and furious top water popping action for the trevally there.. a friend of mine, Ben Wong, was just at Christmas Island this last May of 11'.. you can check out the recent TV episode here   http://www.benwongtv.com/episodes.php?id=96
I spoke with Ben recently about his trip and he told me that all of the giant trevally action you see in the episode above were caught in about an hour just outside of the lagoon reefs.. Ben informed me that for the offshore portion of the episode they made just 2 passes on the ledge and caught an ono and a bill fish.. Ben suggested fishing has improved over the years thanks to their governments conservation efforts. Ben made it very clear to me that there are a lot of #100 pound trevally inside the lagoon that come in to feed on the large schools of Milk Fish...

Christmas is long known for its Bone fishing on the fly and in this episode below shot May 11' you will see some of the action inside of the lagoon  http://www.benwongtv.com/episodes.php?id=97 
we are excited to explore the kayak fishing at the world largest coral atoll.. I was mostly interested in kayak fishing the off shore waters around the atoll for big game like tuna, ono, dorado and the sail fish that frequent these water.. talk about bird piles Christmas has got some thick ones.. but after talking with Ben he said i will want to spend some time kayak fishing in the lagoon.. there is 120 square miles of pristine, calm,  flat, lagoon water loaded with fish because it is all catch and release..  if you follow captain cook diary you will find his men got lost in the lagoon for 3 days when they first tried to explore it.. I cant wait to get lost myself..

Christmas Island Kayak Fishing is wide open and ready for exploration.. There is a lot to learn about this place.. There is a large variety of fishing options here and anglers will be able to choose whatever type of fishing they want from fly fishing to offshore big game hunting.. An out rigger boat is available for either offshore or lagoon kayak mother shipping at a rater of $150 dollars per day this includes fuel and guide and can hold 4 kayak anglers.. we certainly want to appeal to the current flying market and kayak fishing packages will be completely flexible to accommodate all anglers.. and anglers will be able to design their own packages to meet their needs

so yeah if you want to be among the first kayak anglers to ever explore this exotic area get in touch with Allen..  I am working on a new web site and a press release coming soon but not soon enough.. but if your interested the dates for these very first kayak fishing trip will be Feb 14th-21st  normal rates will be $1,850 dollars and our introductory rate will be $1,500 dollars not including air fare.. this rate is based on 2 anglers and double occupancy.. these are week long customizable kayak fishing packages which include 6 days of fishing and all meals... are you ready to battle fish all day long for a week? I am.. Aloha

Whats the projected airfare looking like from west coast USA to Christmas Island? 

Air Pacif services Chritmas from Honolulu $850round trip

mainland round trip to hawaii.. depend where your at.. from nor cal
$450 round trip.. we realize air fare is a large cost so thats why we are offering the lowest fishing packages avaiable on Christmas Island..

The overall price would be well worth this epic adventure and I'd be all over it, but being an OCD controlled preparer/planner I have to pass on this round.  I hope to be reading about those that could put it together and get to go.

Allen -  want to try a couple of the sw flies i tied for this adventure? might be the closest i get to Kiritimati

Allen -  want to try a couple of the sw flies i tied for this adventure? might be the closest i get to Kiritimati

What do they look like?  I'm only bring fly rods appropriate for bonefish on the flats.  So if they are bonefish flies, then SURE!   

-Allen

wonder if one of these would work? I've made some others also. will post soon. particular pattern you'd prefer? send a link or pic.