Ikari House Christmas Island Fly & popper fishing for GT'S

Peter we have just returned yesterday from a great trip. Everything was very well organised and so glad we used your company. Take a little getting used to looking at the itinerary with all the time and date changes so we could have easily gotten in to a muddle.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the big Bones and triggers, never caught them before but what great sport.

Ian

Everyone travels to Xmas in search of GT's, after watching your video countless times my group was all fired up.

All though our action was never as good as the video, the GT fishing chasing them with a fly rod was brilliant.

I have never felt so apprehensive before, when standing on the flats with a pair of big GT's working down the end of the flat, looking at my rod I though never in a million years do we stand a chance. But the advice was spot on so a massive thank you.

between the 6 of us we managed 42 Gt's on the fly for the week biggest was 109cm see pictures attached.

Christmas Island is not just about the gt...

We had an amazing time and yes we had some great fishing for it's but our group found everything else just to tempting. We had a full moon week so big tides and perfect conditions for big bones.

Everyone also had much fun chasing, bluefins, triggers (they are amazing little buggers)

Best boats on the island and in our minds best guides, lodge nice and clean, big rooms, air conditioning and great food each night.

I was part of group of 6 anglers and this was only my third saltwater fly fishing trip. So not the most experienced angler in the world, but the guides made this a trip to remember.

They are so softly spoken and very patient, unlike my last two trips as I always felt that is was wrong.

All in all a far more enjoyable trip and the best one I have been on so far.

Its a long way to travel but I believe its worth every mile.

Have to start saving as I would love to return with the group next year, wife permitting...

My big passion in life is trotting the globe for some of the biggest and hardest fighting fish on the planet. Many people I have met on my travels have told me the best holiday they ever had was Christmas Island. Therefore early in 2014, I phoned Peter at Sportquest to book a place on one of their trips, but was disappointed to be told that the 2014 trip was fully booked, therefore I booked a place on the November 2015 trip. This would give me over 18 months to get together all the bits and pieces required as there are no tackle shops on the Island.

My bags were packed months before the trip. As it was my first trip, I wanted to take everything I could possibly need, but needed to keep my check in bags at not more than 23kg. With BA World Traveller Plus, you can check in 2 bags of up to 23kg each. Up to 23kg carry-on luggage is allowed but this is not much use as the final leg of the Journey is with Fiji Airlines where carry-on bags are restricted to 7kg and one check in bag of 23kg, therefore there was always going to be an excess baggage charge for the rod tube.

Travelling via the USA, a hard non zip case with a TSA lock is essential so that was over 4kg of my check in allowance gone and I ended up throwing things out to get down to 23kg. I didn’t want to risk getting expensive reels damaged or stolen in a lightweight zipper bag that could be opened with a ballpoint.

You need very little clothing in hot countries,but here its so hot you need to cover up to avoid sunburn. The problem is you need something warm to get to and from Heathrow and this becomes a burden when you get there. Wading boots can be worn on the plane to save weight and cameras went in my pockets.

All my clothing went in my carry-on bag, a very lightweight rucksack – zip off trousers, long sleaved fly fishing shirt, buff, polaroids, baseball cap, fish grabbing gloves and one pair of shorts and a t shirt. Although I was well under 7kg and had some extra capacity for tackle, it was all the sort of items that might be stopped by security as they could be used as weapons. Therefore I didn’t risk it. Things are now getting ridiculous and if I really wanted to kill someone on the plane, I could do it with my bare hands.

The big day finally came and I drove up to Heathrow Terminal 5 in the early hours. Check in and security went without any hitches and we all met up for breakfast at Huxleys restaurant on the airside. The 11.5 hour flight to LA went smoothly with some good films to watch and a few hours sleep. It was then through immigration, collect the bags to re check in and a short walk to Terminal 4 for the flight to Honolulu. It is vital not to miss the connection to Honolulu as there is only one flight from there to Christmas Island per week and if you miss it, your holiday is over. Those who have visited the USA will know what a pain the queues at immigration and customs can be and I sometimes get the impression that they want you to miss your connection. On arrival at Honolulu, it was a short taxi ride to the Outrigger Reef Hotel on Waikiki Beach where we spent the night.

After breakfast it was back to the airport for the 5 hour flight to Christmas Island with Fiji Airways. There was an excess baggage charge of $100 for the rod tube. We arrived at Cassidy Airport around midday the following day as we crossed the date line. Getting through immigration went smoothly and then there was a desk to buy a fishing license for $50. It was then onto the minibus to the lodge where the rest of the afternoon was spent assembling rods which were stored on racks outside the rooms with hose pipes to wash off the saltwater after each day. As there was an odd number of people on this trip, I was the lucky one to get a single room and didn’t have to put up with anyone else’s snoring. The rooms are clean and air conditioned with a shower and maid service every day.

Each evening Peter asked us each what we wanted to do the next day and then met up with the head guide to sort out the boat allocations. You can choose between wading the flats or going offshore popping and trolling or switching between methods and with 2 angers per boat, there is usually someone else who wants to do the same, so boat partners are changed most days. The boat allocations for the next day go up on the notice board after dinner.

Breakfast is at 5.30 and the trucks came to take us to the boats at 06.00. I decided to start offshore as I had done a lot of popper fishing before. We soon found that poppers were catching GTs for the first couple of hours, then it went dead. Chucking out big poppers as far as they will go and working them back is very tiring so we were glad to have a rest when we switched to trolling. I hadn’t planned to do much trolling, but had brought a few deep diving Rapalas for the wahoo. On the first afternoon I latched into a huge sailfish on the Rapala, which nearly emptied my Ambassadeur 10,000 on its first run, but after that came in fairly easily. It was hauled onto the boat for a photo before releasing and we estimated it to weigh around 150lb. I then latched into a yellowfin tuna, which always fight hard, but near the boat it went off on an unstoppable run. I slowly brought it back and saw that a big shark had grabbed it but let go alongside the boat and I swung in half a tuna. The following day, one of the other chaps latched into a sailfish, but it came off. Over the week, my best GT was estimated at 90lb and on 2 separate days I had 7 GTs.

I fished a couple of afternoons on the flats for bonefish after the tide had brought them in. The guide trimmed down my bonefish flies with a pair of scissors until there was hardly anything left. It was then a case of standing still and waiting for bonefish to swim past, often just roll casting to them about 5 yards away. With many years experience under their belts, the guides are experts at spotting bonefish and often pointed at fish I couldn’t see. We were catching bones in very shallow water, less than a foot deep. When hooked they will go off on scorching runs if you let them, but my 10 weight outfit with 20lb fluorocarbon leader didn’t give them much of a chance.

Over the week, trolling along the drop off proved to be the most productive method, not only for GTs, but also for barracuda, wahoo, tuna and a few weird species such as coral trout, job fish and goat fish. I also had another tuna bitten in half by a shark. I also saw a marlin jump out vertically one afternoon. With most people after the GTs and bonefish, the big game fishing offshore is untapped. On my next trip I intend to try some shark fishing as well as trolling with a 4 rod spread for the marlin if I can find a boat partner with the same ideas.

I didn’t explore the night life on the island as 12 hours out on the water is very tiring and after dinner all I wanted to do was sleep. On the final night there was a party for us with entertainment from a sexy local dancer in a grass skirt and songs sung for us by the lodge staff and guides. They roasted a pig for us that had been freshly killed that day. We had to be up early next morning for a 4.30 am departure for the airport and I was hoping that something would go wrong so that we would miss the flight and have to stay for another week. I escaped the charge for the rod tube on the flight back to Honolulu and didn't have to pay any departure tax.

I agree with those who say it was their best ever holiday and I didn’t want to leave. Despite having already blown my holiday budget for 2016, I have booked a place on next year’s trip. As an accountant I often point out to some of my more tight fisted clients that life is for enjoying and they can’t take their money with them when their time is up, but they can leave their debts behind.

Well what can I say that hasn't been said before about these trips to Christmas Island?

Yes it does take a wee while to get there and back but man is it worth the time sitting on planes!

I caught 4 new species on this my second trip and a PB GT of around 90lb, catching a fish like that on a popper was something I wanted to do but I was equally proud of my first proper GT on the fly.

There was a few red letter days and they were all for different reasons, such is the diversity of this fishery.

The lodge is very nice and always clean, the staff are always very attentive and serve some very nice food.

The guides are all very good too, how they see some of those fish is beyond me but they do and they love being out on the flats with you. It always helps when you love your job.

The group of guys (and lady) that came together made a great trip and excellent trip!

Peter was extremely helpful in working on a focused vacation plan for GT popping, and was able to provide the details of the daily schedule, the characteristics of the boats and guides, and what to expect. I was very happy with the attention provided to anglers in terms of daily boat availability, and with the knowledge of the guides and boatmen - key components of making my first trip for GTs a success. The results were amazing with several large GTs landed during the week, double hookups and lots of action on both poppers and stickbaits.

If anything the temptation was to alter the planned fishing program to spend time targeting the tuna, wahoo and saillfish landed by members of the party with simple trolling gear - I plan to return and blend targeting GTs with poppers and stickbaits with some time spent trolling targeting bait balls further offshore. Planning the mix of gear to bring is important.

The trip was what I wanted it to be - uncomplicated logistics (Peter has done the work in advance) and a great fishing experience.

ONE OF THE BEST HOLIDAY FISHING TRIPS EVER.

FOOD ACCOMODATION FISH MOST IMPORTANT THE TRAVEL ITINERY WAS PERFECT

MANY THANKS
DAVID

This was my second trip to Christmas Island and following a very successful trip last year I had decided to stay on for an exta week. On the way we had a day of rest in Honolulu and found a very good tackle shop on Pier 38 stocking big game and popping gear. They told us about the excellent GT and big game fishing around Honolulu and next time I intend to stop there for a few days and give it a go.

As it was very windy for the whole trip on Christmas Island and a lot cooler than last year, I decided to concentrate on the deeper water offshore. Popping worked well for the first couple of hours then died. One morning I had 10 takes in the first hour on a Halco Roosta. When the popping died, we switched to trolling. One tip when trolling with the rod in the holder - use a rod with a stout butt and check the drag. My boat partner Ray lost his rod and an expensive reel when the butt snapped behind the reel following a violent take. Anyone going on this trip should take a good stock of Rapala X Rap Magnum 30s. They produced more GTs than everything else put together.

The only slight problem was the sounder on the boat not working and for a lot of the time weren't sure how deep it was. When we hit water less than 30ft, the lure would snag on the bottom. I lost 18 Rapalas through snagging the bottom or being cut off on the coral by big fish. I had squeezed in the barbs on the trebles so that any lost fish would ditch the lure and not starve to death.

My scoresheet for the trip showed 128 fish over 13 days including 41 GTs to about 80lb, a big wahoo weighed at 65lb which gave one hell of a fight, 20 coral trout, 19 Bluefin Trevally to 20lb, 18 Barracudas to 24lb, 12 red snappers, 9 yellowfin tuna, 5 rock cod and 2 black tip reef sharks.

After catching a big sailfish last year and seeing marlin jump, I spent a fair bit of time trolling skirted lures and teasers. I had 6 hits from sailfish but they weren't opening their mouths and taking it properly. I hooked one, which came off after running about 50 yards. The guides told me most of the sailfish caught are hooked in the gill cover. I had rigged up my lures with marlin strength hooks and would probably have done better with smaller, finer wire hooks.

On the last night we were treated to a banquet with a roast pig and entertainment from a sexy dancing girl in a grass skirt and singing from the guides and lodge staff. Just like last year, I didn't want to leave and it doesn't matter how long you stay on Christmas Island, it isn't long enough.

Had great fun with a great bunch of people & caught plenty of fish, what more could i ask for.

All the tips + hints in your pre - trip information were really useful and helped make the trip much better than going blind.

I caught my personal best Bonefish, I also had Trigger fish, Bluefin Trevally & the highlight of the holiday a Milkfish of 13 lbs from the fits.

I had many chances at GT's which were very close to being captured, but that is what makes fishing, fishing. I would return anytime to complete the unfinished business. A truly remarkable place.

I thought the pre - trip information was very good, although the guidance on GT flies to take did not tally with the guides preferences, i.e. GT mullet flies were preferred over poppers / deceivers. There was also limited access to the "back country" our allocated day was Thursday (1st day) &; it was not made clear to us that this was prime GT fishing area.

The layover in LA on the return journey could have been reduced & the service on the American Airline flights outbound & return was poor for a 5 hour flight.

However, this was the best fly fishing holiday that I have undertaken & the communication with Sportquest has been exceptional.

To say i was bitterly disappointed would be an understatement.

On arrival we were told that a single GT for a week would be a good result and i never saw one (other than Matt's) for the first 5 days and never got to cast at one at all.

The best part was getting back home again!

Highlights were the quality of the GT fishing - lowlights were the service on the American Airlines flight between LA and Honolulu.