North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine October 2017 | Page 38

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

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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