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Duncan O'Connell

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Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 04, 2012, 11:23:40 PM
Just returned from Christmas Island, Kiribati from an epic popping, jigging and flyfishing trip around the region. The fishing was awesome (in particular the jigging) and the company superb. I'll keep my report short as a few of the other guys may want to put their thoughts down.
Life hasn't been the same since returning, as I can't get my daily dose of Zane's 'what I did in my dreams last night' or Le's card tricks (yep it is magic Kurt!).

Anyway here are a few pictures:

Duncan
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Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 04, 2012, 11:28:20 PM
A few more.
The Boobys were a real pain on this trip, particularly when fishing with stickbaits. They'd dive on them non stop until they got tangled or worse. Poppers tended to scare them off a little with the splashing, so they proved to be most effective.
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Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 04, 2012, 11:30:29 PM
Some more pics
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Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 04, 2012, 11:45:39 PM
Some more
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Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 04, 2012, 11:53:26 PM
A few more
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Jeen Raj

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 05, 2012, 02:30:41 AM
good stuff Duncan. Never seen a Gt that dark. That grouper is huge.

Jeen

Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 05, 2012, 05:04:14 PM
Hi Steve,

Here are some answers to your questions in red:

Hey guys, have always thought about trying out X'mas Island but have had mixed reviews about the place. Was told the weather is very unpredictable and only one small area of the island is fishable due to the boat's limited range. First of all you need to make sure people are giving you advice about the right Christmas Island, (in this case the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, rather than the one in the Indian Ocean when Australia sends assylum seekers). The forecast there for almost every day of the year is as follows: Easterly winds 12-15kn, partly cloudy with a chance of a storm, temp 27degrees at night -29 degrees in the day. I reckon that forecast is right about 70% of the time, the rest is either a bit windier or wetter: it's very rarely calm as far as I can tell. The harbour/Lagoon entrance is on the lee side of the island, so large areas are pretty fishable in most conditions. The traditional outrigger boats are pretty good to jig and plastic fish from, but can be harder to pop from. They go pretty slowly too, but Ikari House who we stay with has a big longboat which can do the long runs to the other end of the island - up to a 2hr trip, depending on location

Was also told that there's up to 90% chance of being sharked when trying to land your catch. I know that jigging can be productive there but never knew popping can be that fantastic (at least from the posts above). We have been sharked there, but most of the time it has not been any worse than most other locations I've been to. Yellowfin busting up on the surface seem to attract more sharks, but I think is the same anywhere

For those with good fishing experience there, would be great if you can share your thoughts on the comments mentioned above. Btw, are the popping grounds far off or totally located at a different area from the jigging ones? Also greatly appreciate if you can share some contacts of good charter operators via PM. Cheers!Anywhere that good popping has occured for us in Christmas Island, an equally good jigging spot is not far away. The dropoffs are so steep there that they can often be one and the same place, give or take 50m. The popping spots close to to the lodge didn't fire on this trip so we did put in some pretty long runs for good popper fishing. I have no idea if this is seasonal, bait/current related or just down to increased fishing pressure.
When jigging, the boats have no technology onboard for fish finding and so rely on visual marks off the shore combined with anglers dropping jigs to the bottom on colour coded braid to confirm their depths. It sounds pretty random, but at this stage it seems to be no hinderance to catching excellent fish on jigs. At some spots you'd swear there were a carpet of reefies just waiting for a jig. When chasing tuna, guides would either look for birds to jig under or failing that, just drift a depth contour that they have previously been successful on. Both methods worked.
Ikari House is where we stay, for a number of reasons, but particularly because they have the boats and guides for the job - most other lodges specialise in the the inshore bonefishing.


Cheers

Duncan
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Graham Blackmore

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 05, 2012, 09:08:30 PM
No pictures of Earl with fish?

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 12:43:38 AM
Too ugly by far. And its barely debateable weather dredging a 6" bush pig on a 600g leviathon could be considered anywhere near jigging-but still got a few fish though!!

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 03:27:46 AM
Hi Steve,

Here are some answers to your questions in red:

Hey guys, have always thought about trying out X'mas Island but have had mixed reviews about the place. Was told the weather is very unpredictable and only one small area of the island is fishable due to the boat's limited range. First of all you need to make sure people are giving you advice about the right Christmas Island, (in this case the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, rather than the one in the Indian Ocean when Australia sends assylum seekers). The forecast there for almost every day of the year is as follows: Easterly winds 12-15kn, partly cloudy with a chance of a storm, temp 27degrees at night -29 degrees in the day. I reckon that forecast is right about 70% of the time, the rest is either a bit windier or wetter: it's very rarely calm as far as I can tell. The harbour/Lagoon entrance is on the lee side of the island, so large areas are pretty fishable in most conditions. The traditional outrigger boats are pretty good to jig and plastic fish from, but can be harder to pop from. They go pretty slowly too, but Ikari House who we stay with has a big longboat which can do the long runs to the other end of the island - up to a 2hr trip, depending on location

Was also told that there's up to 90% chance of being sharked when trying to land your catch. I know that jigging can be productive there but never knew popping can be that fantastic (at least from the posts above). We have been sharked there, but most of the time it has not been any worse than most other locations I've been to. Yellowfin busting up on the surface seem to attract more sharks, but I think is the same anywhere

For those with good fishing experience there, would be great if you can share your thoughts on the comments mentioned above. Btw, are the popping grounds far off or totally located at a different area from the jigging ones? Also greatly appreciate if you can share some contacts of good charter operators via PM. Cheers!Anywhere that good popping has occured for us in Christmas Island, an equally good jigging spot is not far away. The dropoffs are so steep there that they can often be one and the same place, give or take 50m. The popping spots close to to the lodge didn't fire on this trip so we did put in some pretty long runs for good popper fishing. I have no idea if this is seasonal, bait/current related or just down to increased fishing pressure.
When jigging, the boats have no technology onboard for fish finding and so rely on visual marks off the shore combined with anglers dropping jigs to the bottom on colour coded braid to confirm their depths. It sounds pretty random, but at this stage it seems to be no hinderance to catching excellent fish on jigs. At some spots you'd swear there were a carpet of reefies just waiting for a jig. When chasing tuna, guides would either look for birds to jig under or failing that, just drift a depth contour that they have previously been successful on. Both methods worked.
Ikari House is where we stay, for a number of reasons, but particularly because they have the boats and guides for the job - most other lodges specialise in the the inshore bonefishing.


Cheers

Duncan





Ahhhhh...... It's a different place I was referring to. The one I was referring to is the one where Singapore sold it to the Aussies for $1........ Probably the one you said the asylum seekers are sent to!  ;)

Btw, why are there two different places with the same name?????

Mind sharing the lodging and charter costs (via PM)???? How many can the boat take? What are the flight arrangements like?

Thanks a million Duncan!

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 11:36:18 AM
You are probably not the only one who has made that mistake Steve.

Generally Christmas Island is used around the world to refer to the small Indian Ocean island just to the south of Java which is an Australian territory.  A very important island ecologically, but not especially well known for its quality fishing.

The Christmas Island referred to here is Kiritimati, part of the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific.

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 11:52:09 AM
Nice one Duncan - looks like you got onto a few good fish on the second week!
What depth did that big grouper come from?

Dan

Duncan O'Connell

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 12:13:38 PM
Here is a couple of pics of Earl - on the fly/jig (a bush pig with a couple of 000 ball sinkers on the nose to get it down faster!)
Also a Pic of Kurt with a small toothed jobfish - he caught three and reckons they pull like mad!

Steve and Mark - yes there is plenty of confusion every time the subject of the island comes up. Although the spelling is Kiritimati, it is pronounced 'Christmas' just as the country is spelt Kiribati and pronounced 'kiribass'. The airport code is CXI, so you often see the the abbreviation CXI used to describe Kiritimati as well. Until we started sending our assylum seekers to the Indian Ocean Christmas Is, I don't think most Australians had heard of either island!

Hi Dan
The grouper (a seven banded grouper according to the chart) came from the same spot off Korean that we jigged in the first week. I think it was about 130m, but Tony might be able to clarify. A first we called it for a yellowfin, it was running so hard. Then it turned into a shark and finally a grouper when it hit the surface.
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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 07:14:41 PM
picture time......

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Re: Popping Jigging and flyfishing CXI
March 06, 2012, 07:17:17 PM
ahhh and the rosy in all its beauty.....