Day 1…
Checked in at FIJI airlines, no problems with my checked bag or cary on. I know several people had some fairly heavy bags and ended up paying a overweight fee. My checked bag was under 50 lbs but my carry on was more like 20 lbs instead of the allowed 10 lbs.
Fly was very nice - 737-200, good lunch and a movie. 3 hrs on the money and we were on the ground at Kirimati. Customs & Immigrations and Fishing license was quick and easy. $50.00 for the fishing license. About a twenty min ride to The Villages. Got assigned to our cabins, cracked a beer and waited for dinner.
This is the map painted on the wall of the dining room. It shows the different flats and where the lodge is:
Day 2 … First day of fishing: Guide - Tootene
Up for breakfast at 6:15am, grabbed my gear and walked the 40 yards to the beach and the waiting boats. They have a white board where the post which boat you are in and who your guide is each day. Your guide comes to your cabin and picks up your rods and takes them to the boat for you.
I actually lost count on how many bones I caught the first day, over 18 I know..
First day count:
- Bunch of bonefish
- Picasso Trigger
- Grouper!
- Blue Fin Trevally
- Yellow Snapper
I hooked a big trigger but he made t to his hole and we had to break it off. Lost a few bones throughout the day, biggest one I landed was a little over 4 lbs.
The wind was exceptionally strong today - casting was tough but not impossible! All my casts were under 35 feet, I did catch a few bones blind casting where the blue water meets the flats - those casts would start out at 40 - 50 yards - with the wind…
Day 3 - Second day of fishing - Guide - Daniel
So today, my guide Daniel worked with me to get where I could SEE the bonefish! We spent about two hours just working on seeing the fish. By the end of the day I was doing pretty good at picking up bones at around 30-35 feet. Beyond that was outside of my range so far!
Today was a bonefish day - all caught spot and stalk. I think around 6-8 fish today. Had a few shots at triggers but could not hook up.
Day 4 - Third day of fishing - Guide - Beirita
Today was 20mph sustained winds and LOT of clouds.. Fish were very hard to see. Caught a few bones, had a shot a a trigger or two. White caps were the order of the day!
Day 5 - Fourth day of fishing - Guide - Menty
A great day! The winds dies down a lot and the sun shined all day. Sighting fish was much easier - as easy as that can be LOL! There were three of us that spent the remaining days specifically targeting Triggers and GTs. The focus paid off as I caught a big Yellow Margin Trigger and a big Golden Trevally today along with a couple Yellow Snappers and a few bones!
My guide Menty was great and I learned a great deal from him. He explained the strategy and approach each time to went to a new area and man could he cast!!! He could nearly throw the entire fly line on my 12 weight directly into the wind - with a huge brush fly on! Definitely made me feel inadequate LOL!
Day 6 - Fifth day of fishing - Guide - Beia
Well the wind was back with a vengeance today. We spent the majority of the day on 9 mile flats - basically we would cross each flat sort of down the middle, moving very slowly looking for cruising GTs. Then we would work the edge of the flat - walking along where the green water met the blue water. The GTs hang in the bluewater and move up onto the flats following the schools of Milkfish and Mullet. You generally don’t have much time for a shot at them - usually 20 - 30 foot casts, often dead into the wind. We would also blind cats into the bluewater and strip the fly back as fast as possible. With the wind, I backcasted until I thought my arm was going to fall off!
Caught a couple BlueFins and Snapper, nothing much today. I carried two rods - a 10 wt and a 12wt - with rigged with GT flies. Saw some BIG bones on the flats but since I did not have a bonefish fly tied on, there wasn’t much chance they would really take it. I hd couple follow it a long way before losing interest though LOL!
Day 7 - Last day of fishing - Guide - Takita
We pulled out all the stops today!! My roommate Justin still had not caught a trigger and I was without a GT so we really got in the zone trying to fulfill our goals. The guides knew this and they really worked hard. Alas, 11 hours of hard core flats fishing as we both failed to connect with our chosen quarry. I did catch a bunch of Ladyfish and a BlueFin. The Lady fish are fun - they really jump! Problem is they take the fly deep in their mouths and trash about 2 inches of tippet so you have to retie after every catch.
I didn’t get my GT but I did finally see two and had legitimate shots at them. The first (25-30 lb size) was a quick short cast of 20ft. I started stripping and the fish missed the fly. There wasn’t enough room for him to try again so he headed for deep water. The second opportunity was a similar size one but he came at the fly from the line size and cut me off!
Summary - Probably the best fly fishing trip I have ever been on! There were 13 people in camp, two wives that fly fished a little and 11 guys. 5 of us were the totally focused, serious types - gear nuts, tying flies at night, etc. We were from different booking companies - most through Yellow Dog. There were two from the UK - great guys, serious fly fishermen. They were there for two weeks - after all, its a longs ways from England!
In my opinion, the Villages is the only camp to stay at. All the other camps have to drive to the lagoon each day in trucks to get to the boats, the Villages is right on the beach. 100ft and you are climbing aboard to head out. Also, all guiding at The Villages is one on one, my understanding is the other camps that is an extra fee.
Here are pictures of my cottage:
They rotate guides each day so you get to fish with 6 different guides. I had one that was young and I wasn’t really impressed with but the others were fantastic. One of my guides had 22 yrs of guiding, a couple had 11 or more.
No complaints about the food and there was always plenty for me. I did take a bag of cliff bars for extra energy if needed. They give each person 4 bottles of water each day, after that you purchase additional water. I simply kept a couple empty bottles, filled them from the picture and put them in the fridge for water around camp, at might and to brush my teeth with.
The one basic FACT OF LIFE - The better you can cast, the better your chances of hooking up (I think we all already knew that but I thought I would restate the obvious LOL! ) The wind blows pretty much constantly and we had one day that was pretty much sustained 20 MPH winds. No question I need to keep working on my “QUICK” casting - the ability to put a fly accurately on a spot 30-40 feet out in a matter of seconds straight into the wind - especially with a 12 weight!
Fish Pictures!!
Other notes
- Laundry is done daily for $20.00 for the week
- The bar has plenty of beer and sodas and they are not expensive
- Rooms have fridges and they bring you a pitcher of water as needed. You cannot drink the tap water (sorta like Mexico)
- No internet and no cell coverage
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Flies:
As far as bonefish flies are concerned, there are really only two patterns that I needed, and they can be tied pretty basic. If you want to truly target Triggers, you need some flies tied on REALLY heavy, strong hooks.
The Christmas Island Special and the Worm Fly were magic for everyone in our group - 99% on size 6 with different weighted headed for skinny water and deeper water.
For GTs - the guides preferred 6/0 brush flies in red/black and black/silver - matches Mullet and Milkfish. I had some in 1/0 , 2/0 and 4/0 as well - worked better for the BlueFin and smaller GTs.
More to come!
