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

Let me know when you line up Palau...

Allen,
I'm from Guam. I have the hookup out there! LMK.

Didn't you guys read the part about trip ideas getting "started on a fishing trip, over a few beers after a long day of fishing",  Let's fish!  Then you can talk to me about your dream trips.

-Allen

If you land a ( giant ) GT out of a kayak that would be amazing and quite a chore. Make sure you have lots of pictures cause I will have to live that dream through you.

Why wait then? Enjoy. Kind of sad but hey. thatsfishing.

 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 me at guides@coastalkayaktours.com I am working on a new web site and a press release coming soon but not soon enough.. so if your interested the dates for these very first kayak fishing trip will be Feb 14th-21st  normal rates are $1,850 dollars but our introductory rate will be $1,500 not including air fare.. rates are 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

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Why wait then? Enjoy. Kind of sad but hey. thatsfishing.
[/quote]
Thats a nice one but not a Giant GT.

Aloha Gang.. just wanted to let you guys know that all bookings for Chritmas island must be paid for one month in advance to the lodge.. so the deadline for the very firt trip is Jan 14th.. I know its not much time to get ready but it will be worth it to be amongst the very first to ever kayak fish Chritmas Island.. more ino and web sites coming soon. aloha

I'd be in be in but my WAF account will never be high enough to miss my 20th wedding anniversary.  I'll have to catch you next year.

Very cool, Boogie, I might be interested if you guys do a trip next year.

Very cool, Boogie, I might be interested if you guys do a trip next year.

Of for sure we'll be scheduling regular trips.  When you're ready to go, just let us know.

-Allen

Allen,

Not sure when you are heading out, but I wanted to wish you luck with the inaugural Christmas Island Kayak Fishing Expedition!   

I will be looking forward to some killer pictures when you get back. Try to get some close ups of those mantis shrimps, those things are weird looken.

Scott

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 yellowfin tuna 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

Okay, where's the CI pictures already???   

I have to live my exotic fishing adventures through you!