Christmas Island 2026
We have spots available for our Annual Reno Fly Shop Christmas Island 2026 Hosted Trip, with prime time dates of Feb 17th-24th. Peak season for top notch Bonefish, GT, and trigger fish fly fishing opportunities. One of our guests, Bill Swift, prepared the trip report below.
2026 Details
Where: Kiritimati or Christmas Island, Kiribati
Staying at: Sunset Horizon Lodge
Guided by: Christmas Island Outfitters
Hosted By: Reno Fly Shop
When: February 17th-24th, 2026
What: 6 Full days of fly fishing for Bonefish, Trigger Fish, Travally, and more
Interested in more information : Please call, text, or email Matthew Killam at killam.matthew@yahoo.com, 619-822-3499 or Jim Litchfield at jim@renoflyshop.com
2025 Trip Report from Bill Swift - Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers
A few of us Tahoe/Truckee Fly Fishers (TTFF) members spent a week fly fishing the saltwater flats on Christmas Island late February, 2025. The trip was organized by Fly Water Travel and hosted through the Reno Fly Shop. Of the 12, 5 of us were with TTFF. Thanks to our member, DickG, for pulling this together starting over a year ago! A great time for all, lots of stories, lots of spectacular fishing! A great time.
I have dabbled a little bit in saltwater fishing here/there, and this was my first major saltwater trip. Here is my write up on the trip, trying to include "what I would want to know" if it was my first trip.
The Island
Christmas Island is way out there in the Pacific Ocean, a 3 hour flight south from Honolulu and just over a hundred miles north of the equator. Primarily known for its bonefish fishing, it is also known for a number of other target saltwater fishing like the apex predator Giant Trevaly (aka GT), other Trevaly species, and the enigmatic Triggerfish. Yes it is an island but it really is a massive "atoll" which is a ring-shaped coral reef that surrounds a lagoon, hence most of the fishing is in "the lagoon" which spreads for miles, predominantly shallow, and provides many large and named "flats" used for stalking bonefish. The slightly deeper water on the flats attract the triggerfish with the dropoffs for deeper water open to a wider array of gamefish like the GT. While most of the fishing is on the flats, fishing on the ocean side and in the blue water is also popular.
Each Day
We were there for 6 full days of fishing. Each day typically started with breakfast at 6am and then loaded up on to the trucks for a short ride to the boats at 7am. We usually had 3 boats for the 12 of us. Each boat would take 4 anglers and their guides to various areas. Each day would typically visit 3 different areas for 2-3 hours each, with the boat nearby. If mid session things were not working, the boat would move us to something new.
An alternative to the daily boat ride was the truck option. This would allow a group to instead take a drive to alternative location inaccessible by boat. These can include a drive to fish the surf at the Korean Wreck or into the Backcountry.
(7am..rooms to the left.. dining behind..truck in front ready to load up)
The Fishing
Stalking the flats looking for bonefish, seeing fish, positioning in the wind, waiting for the right time to cast, casting, recasting as the guide says again 2 ft to the left, watching for the fish to see the fly, slowly strip, strip, strip, the fish ideally follow the fly, and follow the fly, and follow the fly, strip, strip, and then feel the tug, strip set, and then clear the fly line away from the reel as the fish really feels the tug and takes off with the reel screaming, lifting the rod for the flex and pressure, watching the backing fly off the reel, and then finally getting an opportunity to reel it in...is a blast! Do all this in a super beautiful place, no shortage of fish, tons of opportunities, tons of excitement, yes this is why we travel to Christmas Island!
(BillS and a Bonefish..)
Now of course, it is fishing, so it doesn't always happen that way. There were some sessions where you would go 20-30 minutes without seeing a fish. There were some sessions where you would see 40-50 plus fish and for one reason or another only land one! Maybe your cast was missing the fish, landing the line over top of the fish or they simply spooked. Maybe you hooked the rod/pack/shirt/hat/pants/guide instead, maybe it was not stripping fast enough and snagging the bottom, or stripping too fast and getting the fish to ignore you, or embarrassingly doing a trout set. Or if you get the strip set right but end up setting too weak, or strip setting too strong. Yep, you fish for 6 straight days you can really build a long list of what can happen.
And of course, sometimes, believe it or not, it might not be you. As one guide laughed through a rejection ..”Mr. Bone is not hungry, let’s find another”. Another flat, another day, will often result in another story.
I think it was either DickG or JeffO who said "it can be easy, it can be hard" and that was spot on. At times it seemed very easy and at times not. And, have to say, a little tough fishing can make the great fishing even greater.
(loading up a boat in the morning)
The Setup
So you jump off the boat in knee deep water and off we go. For bonefish, an 8wt rod with a 16lb flouro leader was the norm, 20lb worked just fine and also allowed a tighter drag.
Our 8wts also worked for the plentiful trigger fish. If just fishing for trigger fish, 25lb section of tippet is better as they like to jump back into a coral hole, tighter the drag the best to help prevent that. A 10wt to 12wt rod was the trevally rod and would have 6ft of 80lb leader material.
Typically you fish with the 8wt and the guide carries the "big rod" as...out of nowhere a Trevally would appear and you have to be ready. The 10wt vs 12wt is a discussion on GT size, and one could debate whether that is a >40lb or <40lb discussion. Sometimes, the guide would just stop, slowly pull line off the Trevally rod and help get everything ready. Excitement level ratchets up majorly!
(MIchaelL on the edge of glory)
Once on the flat, the guide would take that look into the fly box, choose one and tie on with a small loop knot. And thanks to all of you on the fly tying forum, especially BruceA ..thanks for the guidance.. the guide did not have to make my flies sparser! For ankle and shin deep water a size 8 with small bead chain eyes would likely be chosen, for knee deep it could be size 6 with medium bead chain or smaller nickel, for deeper areas maybe small lead or medium nickel eyes. The Christmas Island Special was usually the fly of choice with Orange and Tan being most popular, sometimes a Pink, also sometimes a worm fly or a Gotcha fly for bonefish. I brought dozens of flies. I lost maybe 4 to fish/coral. I had 5 destroyed by fish, but then I was mostly fishing for bonefish.
Different guides, different water, different times all equaled different flies. The key was variety.
The crab fly like a Flexo Crab would be 99% the fly of choice for trigger fish. A 4-6 inch long big brush fly or baitfish fly for the Trevally, with black or black/purple very popular unless you are MichaeL and the tan rat looking one would be a major major winner! Now that all said, I caught a smaller GT on a size 8 orange Christmas Island special on a blind cast over an edge and had numerous trigger fish follow my tan/orange worm fly so...go figure.
One guide's rule of thumb was a couple follows to rejection was a good indication of fly change time. If the bonefish follow but do not take the fly, it seems more likely a strip speed issue so keep trying, then make a call. Trigger fish guidance was keep using that crab fly…and keep trying!!
I wore a hip pack, precisely to keep me from bringing too much with me. I also had a waterproof bag for other "stuff" that I kept on the boat while wading. Pro tip: make sure the waterproof pack zipper is fully closed! Simms Flats Boots with thin neoprene socks/guards were fantastic and super comfortable. Hoodies, Buffs, Gloves almost required as the sun was strong. We all had good glasses. Some wore leggings, some wore pants.
(rods on a boat ride..my large but small 8wt reel on the left)
Takeaway #1 - Managing Expectations
Early in the trip, after the first full day of fishing, RFS host Jim Litchfield, made the comment that the most important guidance was to “manage your expectations”. We all read lots to prepare, watched lots of videos, talked to lots of people, and we all had xyz goals, but you really had to pretty much deal with what is given. Sure, wanting to catch a 60lb GT is great goal but if all you see that day is bonefish and triggerfish, so it goes, and it is all good.
Great example was one day, we only had 2 boats instead of the usual 3 to head out to the various flats in the lagoon. So a group of us rode a truck to the edge of the lagoon, sort of near the airport, and worked the flats there. We sort of got lost in the woods on non-existent jeep track paths getting there, navigating fallen coconut trees along the way, then dumping out maybe a half mile from the water as low tide and walking in. Have to admit we kind of were giving each other the side eye..no idea how the day will play out. Confidence in our guides to lead us to an amazing place allowed us to keep the faith.
Turns out we walked across that area of the lagoon from flat to flat, and each of us had our own highlight reel here/there with many good sized bonefish, some super exciting trigger follows and chomps, even some GTs crazily darting around and wreaking havoc!
(small GT...DickG and MichaelL found 10X!)
The other key point on expectations. We didn't know what we didn't know.
As the days on the water went by, we learned more, became better at seeing the fish, actually spotting them farther away and watching them move on the flats looking for food. Then we found ourselves only casting to fish we could see and then see how they reacted. What was interesting was while the sun was out you could see fish. When a cloud appeared, we stopped moving or casting, waiting for the cloud to clear so we could see fish again and move and cast. I got better at the strip set, and after losing a few, better at reaching the line away from the reel and lifting the rod tip when a hooked fish realized it was hooked and raced away sizzling the reel.
Each day, for the most part, we would say that was great, maybe best day…then say something similar after the next day. Sure, some days were less than ideal, but yes, this was a very very good time that seemed to just get better and better.
(day's schedule: angler/guide/boat/lunch)
Takeaway #2 - Casting is Key
We thought we were pretty good casters, now add 15-20 mph wind and oh my, now we all have a major challenge trying to toss a fly on an 8wt 40 ft. Usually we cast with the wind, but with that type of wind the back cast gets tough! Especially tough when the guide says “again but farther and 2 feet to the right”! We all vowed multiple times…”must practice casting more…in the wind”, even DickG! Off shoulder casts worked well. Sidearm casts too.
Interesting story. One of the guides on one flat asked me for my 8wt rod, then went ahead and cast with bunch of energy, fast line speed, energetic hauls and then laughed and said “don’t do that, stop trying to control the rod…let the rod do all the work”, then slowed it all down with easier casts still with lots of rod bend. Great advice and despite the heart racing as seeing the fish moving into and out of range, the slowing of the motions helped casting accuracy amazingly, and also helping deal with the wind.
Takeaway #3 - Great Time and Thanks
I had a great time. As mentioned earlier, each day seemed to get better and better, mostly as I learned as I went along. The best times where we found great setups in the flats were where there was a steady influx of fish, and where they are easier to see. Each of the guides were extremely good at finding these setups.
On day 6 of fishing, we were just walking and slowly stalking a large flat on a slowly rising tide. The guide pointed left and asked “see that”, I responded “the weeds?”, and he replied “the tails!”. Sure enough a whole bunch of bonefish were tailing, so we slowly approached and he helped positioned me to cast with the wind, and then we just started picking them off coming and going and then after a few of those addressed the fish tailing in the weeds, and they too just loved those CXI Specials. And we just kept it going. Amazingly good times when it all comes together, the visuals, the casts, the follows, the takes, the strip set, the sizzling run of bigger fish.
The pre trip coaching and guidance from JimL of Reno Fly Shop to get us ready was great. Jim and Griffin were great hosts. Thanks!
I would also like to thank Rick of Fly Fishing Specialties who helped me with some key gear. Both Jim and Rick have been there many times and were key to help us with “everything we need and nothing that we don’t“.
Fantastic to have local fly shops that support TTFF so well! Also thanks to Michael for all the stories, thanks to JeffO for always being ON and SarahB for always bringing the energy and that fresh fish for dinner! And of course thanks DickG for pulling this together. Till next time!
(BillS and DIckG early in the day thinking...bright future ahead!)
