The big boat was used only for navigating the labyrinthian channels of the huge lagoon. All the fishing at Christmas Island is done on foot, wading the firm sandy bottom, a flats fisherman’s dream. The bonefish were plentiful, if not huge, but very hard to see with scudding clouds obscuring the light off and on all day. At times all we could do was stop wading and wait for the sun to break through. More than once, when the light flashed back on, we discovered bonefish so close that casting to them was nearly impossible, with the heavy section of the line still inside the guides and only the leader and six feet of the taper in the air. Still, we caught enough bones to keep it interesting, and had the pleasure of blundering into other flats species, including queenfish, golden trevally, and a couple of small bluefin trevally.
The critter that really sparked my interest, though, was the brilliant orange-and-brown patterned triggerfish. Triggers can grow to 20 pounds, are of course much easier to see than bones, and are often found tailing in the coral around the deep holes they excavate while foraging. Triggers will attack a small and very slow-moving fly—if you can set it in front of them without hanging up in the coral. Once you hook one, your troubles are just beginning: their rock-crunching teeth can cut through heavy stainless hooks like they’re made of dental floss. And once hooked, a trigger’s first exuberant run often ends with a dive into a hole or a small cave, parting the tippet on the razor-sharp coral. Still, I would happily spend a week fishing for nothing but triggers. At least I can see them without a guide, even on a cloudy day.
Despite the huge numbers of bonefish cruising the endless flats, the fishing remained challenging—partly because the clouds only grew thicker over the next two days, but also because the bones were at times as finicky as house cats, forcing us to go to smaller and sparser flies for more consistent hookups. But that’s what makes bones such a great game fish, that and the ability of even a 15-incher to put a bend in an 8-weight stiff enough to launch a 15-inch trout high into the trees. It’s also nice to fish someplace where the flats are virtually limitless, knowing you’ll never wade the same water twice during your stay.
