By Pete Gray

Pronounced “Ki-ris-mas,” Kiritimati Island has a large lagoon that gives it the largest land area (125 square miles) of any atoll in the world.  Kiritimati is part of the Republic of Kiribati  and they speak their own language along with English. . It is a sovereign nation of 33 islands spread over 2000 miles of the Pacific Ocean.   Christmas Island is certainly one of the most remote- exotic destinations in the world that is so easy to get to, just a 3-hour, 1300 mile flight from Honolulu.  The atoll was discovered uninhabited, on Christmas Eve 1777 by Captain James Cook.  It’s claw –shaped landmass encloses a huge lagoon that has a great tidal flush through its 3-mile-wide opening to the Pacific Ocean.  In 1975, the Kiribati government declared the entire island a wildlife sanctuary, mainly because it is a nesting and breeding area for at least 30 bird species.  The bird population is thriving despite U.S. and U.K.  atmospheric nuclear testing was conducted above Christmas Island in the late 1950’s.  The testing flash-blinded and killed millions of seabirds, but left no residual radiation, proven over and over by testing.  More birds nest on Christmas than any other oceanic island.  There are over 5,000 people living on Christmas Island.  English is taught in the local schools, and the guides and help at the Villages of Christmas Island (the lodge we stayed) spoke well.  Precipitation averages 35 inches a year, but little is retained because the island sits on porous coral rock. A  few wells we saw on the way from the airport to the lodge provides most of the water to the island, good for showering and hosing your gear off, but not good for drinking.  We had ample bottles of fresh water available for that purpose.  The temperature is tropical- high 70’s at night and mid 80’s during the day.  Slightly humid but few mosquitos.

Christmas Island is famous for bonefish on the expansive flats, but the offshore fishing can also be good.  There were 2 “Super seiners” and two “factory processing boats” at the island.  There is supposed to be a 200-mile closed zone around the island.  We saw very little tuna compared to previous years, so my fear is the these rules are not being followed.  The flats were also very tough for bonefish and trevally compared to when I was there 13 years ago. The word is during Covid, the island was closed to outsiders, with no flights and only 1 boat every 6 months.  The people had to eat, so they set gill nets on the flats and caught many of the fish.  13 years ago a good day on the flats was 20 to 40 bones a day. This trip less than 5 a day per person and on a good day a dozen.  Still, with the tough fishing, it is a fun experience.

The boats for both flats and inshore as well as offshore are quite unique. Thirty foot outrigger canoes build right on the island.  They are very comfortable and extremely sea worthy.  There are 4 boats, 4 anglers per boat.  Harold Davis had a group of 12 of his friends and they chose to stay on the flats all day. My fishing buddies were Steve Pinard, John Textoris and Patrick Gee.  We did the “Christmas Combo” – flats in the morning and inshore/offshore in the afternoon.

Our first day of the 6 fishing days was cloudy and rainy, so we opted to go offshore for tuna first.  When it is cloudy, it is very difficult to see the fish on the flats, which is essential. We made a long run trolling up the island and found some terns with yellowfin tuna under them. We caught 5- 20-to-30-pound fish and then moved on to concentrate on the inshore species.  GT’s (Giant Trevally) and reef fish. The reef fishing was certainly the highlight.  Using small flat fall jigs, almost every drop produced a variety of species including coral trout, sweet lips, grouper, trevally and other reef dwellers.  The guides wanted to keep everything. They either ate or sold them to the local villagers.

Day 2 we had some sun and started our day fishing in the flats for some bonefish and trigger fish.  Patrick Gee landed a couple of nice triggers on spinning tackle along with bonefish and a couple small trevally.  Steve, John and I stuck to the 8 weight fly rod, and with the assistance of our personal guide caught some fish.  Every day they rotated guides, and everyone had their own.  The people are very kind and fun to be with. When we went to inshore fishing in the afternoon, John was the king of the popper, he caught 3- 40 pound GT’s, Steve caught one too.  The bites were few and far between, but super exciting when they hit.   The remaining days we did the same program…flats in the morning and inshore in the afternoon.  Then to cool off, jump in the warm crystal-clear waters off Captain Cook Island in the middle of the atoll opening for some of the most incredible snorkeling I have ever seen. Then crack a beer and head back to the lodge.

There are a few lodges at Christmas Island, and in the 3 visits I always stayed at “The Villages”.  It is a very comfortable place that will take up to 16 anglers.  Each room had a full bathroom and two beds, plenty of bottled water to drink and a cold shower, which was fine with the heat.  Previous trips the food was not good, but this time they really improved the food, and it was quite good.  Our price was $3390 per person that included 7-night lodging, all meals and 6 days of fishing.  Quite a bargain for such a remote place.  The airfare is expensive.  $1600 per person round trip from Honolulu.  There is a once-a-week flight on Fiji Air every Tuesday, so it’s your only choice!

Though it was not the epic bonefish and trevally fishing that used to be available, Christmas Island is a great adventure.  It is a beautiful place with friendly people, good accommodation and a variety of species to catch. Hopefully the bonefish population with be rebuilt and it will again become the best place to catch bones on the flats in the world like it used to be.  There is another island in the same country 200 miles away called Fanning.  Apparently, this rarely visited island still has great fishing for bones and trevally, but is super hard to get to and accommodations are like camping.

If you want to book a trip to Christmas Island, check fishingwithlarry.com.  Guy hosts guided trips there several times per year and will take good care of you.