I cast again and hooked what I hoped was going to be my first ever bonefish. It made a good run and I was enjoying the experience. Somewhere around mid fight my guide walks up really close and tells me to hand him the rod. I was very reluctant until he told me there were 2 gt’s cruising the flat we were on. I handed off my first bonefish mid fight for a chance at a GT. I took the 11wt and started running through waist-deep water while trying to get my rod ready to cast. I finally got within 50 feet and I heard my guide yell “throw now!”.
I did one false cast and then fired. My fly fell right in front of them both. It took a second and then one exploded on my streamer as I started to strip. It ran way out and we were worried it was going to run over one of the many coral reefs in the area so we called the boat to come pick us up. The boat finally made it to us after 20 min or so. It took me out to another flat where would have a better chance at landing the massive fish.
After another 30 minutes, I had won the battle and reached down into the water to hold my prized catch. It was completely surreal. It’s what I had come to Christmas Island to do but the experience was so much more than I could have imagined and the fish was even bigger than I could have dreamed.
As I released the fish I couldn’t help but think of how extremely lucky I was. Anyone who has fly fished much knows that there are many things that can go wrong when dealing with big fish in shallow water." Congratulations on a great trip, Brent!
For more information about Christmas Island please email Camille @ yellowdogflyfishing.com (Camille Egdorf McCormick) or call 888-777-5060.
