Hawaii Boys at Kiritimati

[Nathan Tsao]

Just got back from a week in Kiritimati with the familiar partners in crime - forum members Charlie "gravy butt" Cintron, and Ladd Yoshimura.

The GT fishing turned out to be a pretty big let down due to what we all thought were some poor guiding decisions, but the trip was still a ton of fun with many new experiences for us all. Even though Kiritimati is only a 3 hour flight south from home, they have many species that we do not have in Hawaiian waters; especially the small and midrange size predator fish.

A few photo highlights from the trip:

Charlie into the best fish of the trip within the first 5 minutes. Giving his Black Hole 80N "Green Destiny" custom that I had built for him a good workout.


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My first ever Sweetlips Emperor, and the first time the guide has seen one hit a popper!


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Ladd with a nice one that consumed his stickbait in one gulp


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Myself on the outrigger plank bending on my WV80


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Cooling off after the fight


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Ladd is hooked up here with his self made Lunchbox Tornado popper. All of our popper caught fish came on Lunchbox lures this trip.


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Charlie also hooked up here with a green Lunchbox Tornado


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While Ladd and Charlie worked the plugs, i was having the time of my life working the bottom fish with small plastic grubs on a damashi rig. An awesome mix of snapper, grouper, emperors, and other delicious fishes. Sometimes i think i would rather be bottom fishing than GT fishing!


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When the morning GT bite turned off, we would head offshore and hit the bird piles or some excellent topwater tuna action. Triple hookups all around. School yellowfin, headed for the sashimi knife.


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Little jigging action; Ladd with Charlie's rod in his mouth, as usual 


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My first ever Red Bass, the guide says that they are a rubbish fish, but we all thought they were pretty cool. Nothing like this at home.


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Doubled up with Ladd from the shoreline, GT and Red Bass


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Fishing inside the lagoon was a fun time with some easy fishing. Not having ay reef around lets you enjoy the ride on light tackle.


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PE2.5 and a tiny popper produced this fun sized ulua
 

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My favorite fish of the trip was this MASSIVE BONEFISH that i caught on Ladd's new rod when he wasnt looking
 

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And last but not least, the best moment of the trip is when i reached into a hole on the flats and pulled out this huge frikken Mantis Shrimp by his claws!!! It was by far the gnarliest thing i have ever done, and absolutely the best tasting shellfish you can ever hope to eat. Not to be missed by anyone who likes to eat shellfish!


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I am missing a bunch of pictures that Ladd and Charlie should have on their computers, hopefully they will add in a bunch of then that i have missed.

[Mark Harris]

Well done guys.

Getting the guides right is so important when you are fishing unfamiliar grounds.

Pound-for-pound, Red Bass is one of the least rubbishy fish I can think of!  The larger ones will put a serious bend in GT gear and if you get one on light tackle they will usually bury you. Really good fish.

[Ed Nicholas]

Nice report bro, always cool to see guys fishing new places. That mantis shrimp is bad ass!

[Charles Cintron]

I thought the Red Bass was fun, first time I have ever seen and caught them. I really like all the tropical fish we caught down there that we don't have in Hawaii, very nice to look at. Montezumas Revenge put a hurtin on me for three days down there . I'm the guy that travels the most and the only one to get sick go figure, nothing like drinking pepto out on the boat while fishing I'm just glad I didn't have to go while out on the boat I'm sure there would have been a flurry of flashes and pics from the guys haha.

Nate sticking his hand in the Mantis hole made for a lot of suspense on the last day, I was ready with my camera to film some pain lol! but he pulled it off big thumbs up

I'll definitely go back in the future but probably with Ikari House.

Aloha to Duncan and the guys at Fishhead we met them briefly at the dock at the end of our first day. Too bad we weren't staying at the same place could have had some beers and chat more.

[Nick Bowles]

Nice one guys, looks like a great place and awesome to catch some fish from the shore even if not to many geets! Always good fun to fish new places and experience new things! Charlie maybe a chum trail could have worked??

Big hats off Nate for playing with a mantis, got to have big onions!! Lot braver than me!!

Cheers,
Nick

[Dustin Porlas]

Awesome report guys and love those action shots.

[Nathan Cefai]

Well done mate, a nice destination to fish..

[Charles Cintron]

The chum trail would have surely brought them in lol

[Josh Tan Peng Siong]

Awesome, definitely a nice place to be fishing from.

I do have a agree that bottom fishing with rubbers can be quite interesting when the GTs are not biting, catches a lot more varieties too.

I'll like to try popping from shore sometime in the future.

It was a good read.

Cheers.

[Felix Neuer]

great pics and report.
I really do like your "lunchbox". 

[Evan Gluck]

Amazing report and pics.  You guys always look like your having a blast out there. 

[Duncan O'Connell]

Nice Pics Guys!
Good to catch up with you over there. Some beautiful custom rods you guys had too
I'm definitely not sticking my hand down a Mantis hole! One of our guys was really keen to do it, but the guides wouldn't let him.
That red bass is very nice, not a rubbish fish at all especially when you get a good one landbased like that. Pretty cool to see a sweetlip on a popper. did you eat it? They're one of the best eating fish on the island.
I would have liked to catch up again but we always seemed to be the last back in each night and I couldn't remember where it was you were staying. For the best jigging and popping experience over there, I would recommend Ikari. They have the experience and most importantly the fast boats to hit the distant points when close in reefs are a bit slow.

I'll put up a report shortly

Cheers

Duncan
Fish Head

[Dan Smith]

Nice.  Doesn't look like the GT fishing was all that bad.

[Luke Wyrsta]

Nice work guys! 

[Ladd Yoshimura]

Many milkfish got turned to chum on the lagoon flats.


The small game outside of Paris flats was insane!  All day long!








Lunatail on the GTFC Wahoo 100.


Whatever hit this job while Charles was bringing it up was enormous.


More GT actions, not as much as we expected, but still super fun.






All white Carpenter Gamma did some damage.




Looking forward to returning.