I've been twice, but it was a while ago. 2002'ish I went with a friend for GT and arranged the trip through Frontiers. It is a beautiful place and we caught some fish, but the guide and boat were poor and I was not thrilled with the trip. Long story short, when I contacted Frontiers about my disappointment with the trip they were great and gave me and my friend a free return trip, at the time of our choosing. We did have to pay for air fare, and I was OK with that. The second time back (in 2003 or 4) my friend and I concentrated more on the flyfishing for bonefish and that was awesome. I'm not the greatest fly fisherman, and I was worse then, and I caught 20+ bones a day, no problem.
At that time--a decade ago--the feeling among fellow fisherman on the island, and people I spoke to here in the US, was that X-Mas Is. was in decline. Some people I spoke to had been going to Christmas for over 10 or 15 years, and they all felt that the fishing for bones, GT and 'cuda had gone down hill. Many more Kiribati citizens had migrated to the island and they were subsistence fishing the bones and GT very heavily.
I have heard that the government realized how valuable tourists and rec fisherman are to their economy and have since put in, and enforced, protections for the bones and GT, but I have not been back to see first hand.
The drawback to going to Christmas Is. is the travel time, especially from the east coast of the US. You have to fly to Hawaii one day and then fly on to X-Mas another 3 or 4 hrs the next day. Too much hassle for me anymore.
BUT the beauty of Christmas Is. is worth seeing if you don't mind the bother of getting there. The flats are seemingly endless and you can wade fish to your heart's content--I really enjoyed that my second trip. And the tropical sky and water are gorgeous, as are all the various sea birds you see. I have always been glad I went. Research and check with people that have been there more recently than me, and if the fishing is still good, go. It is an awesome place. BTW, my best GT was about 35 lbs, boat caught. He absolutely
exploded on a big polaris-style popper. I can still see that hit in my mind's eye. I can't imagine one that is 50+ lbs, but they are there!
Almost forgot--we caught some yellowfin too, just trolling Bombers between flats on our 7' ft plugging rods. It is the Pacific and very deep--we were in bluewater just a half mile off shore. Very cool.
Hybrid Mode
