Fly suggestions – Christmas Island fly suggestions

 

This fly box is very much a work in progress. I am pre-occupied tying flies for the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships at the moment so have had to do the unthinkable and have purchased a range of Fulling Mills Xmas Island Specials to start my Christmas Island fly box off. I will find time to tie the rest of the flies I need and will add other venue specific flies to this post over the next few months.


Bonefish

Fulling Mills Xmas Island Special Orange

 2016-01-31 16.29.02 An essential pattern for targeting bonefish on the flats. Originally designed for use at Christmas Island, this pattern has become a bonefish classic all around the world.

Size
954204 4
954206 6

Fulling Mills Xmas Island Special Special Pearl

 2016-01-31 16.29.22 An essential pattern for targeting bonefish on the flats. Originally designed for use at Christmas Island, this pattern has become a bonefish classic all around the world.

Size
954204 4
954206 6

Fulling Mills Xmas Island Special Pink

 2016-01-31 16.29.22 An essential pattern for targeting bonefish on the flats. Originally designed for use at Christmas Island, this pattern has become a bonefish classic all around the world.

Size
954204 4
954206 6

Prawn fly

 On the flats you will find that the depth can vary from just a foot or two right up to your arm pits. This fly is tied with a lead shot as it's weight so it is well suited to those deeper holes.

Crazy Charlie

 charlieg If the Clouser Minnow is the quintessential blue water fly then the Crazy Charlie is perhaps the same for inshore waters. First tied by American Bob Nauheim as a flats fly for bluefish this fly has proven to be a very versatile fly pattern. The original was tied both, with and without a tail, with sink chain eyes, a slim body and a wing that helped keep the fly inverted and riding point up. There have been many variations and adaptations. My version is based on the original tailed version and works well in estuaries on bream, whiting, flathead, taylor etc. I tie all my Crazy Charlie flies dressed relatively sparsely ley and generally tie them about twice as long as the hook shank and trim them down on the water if a shorter fly is needed.


GT's

Deceiver

 Designed by Lefty Kreh in the 50’s this fly or class of fly has stood the test of time. In terms of popularity with salt water fly fisher folk it probably runs second only to the Clouser Minnow. Tied mainly in white on size #2/0 to #4/0 hooks this will be the main fly in my arsenal for GT's when on Christmas Island. I have chosen it in preference to the clouser minnow mainly because it can be tied without any weight which will help me with the longer casts that are likely to be required. The second benefit of the lightly dressed deceiver is that it can be used in my articulated popper combination below.

Articulated poppers

 Poppers are a bit harder to cast than a normal fly because of the wind resistance but if you slow your cast down a little I’m sure you’ll soon get the hang of it. They are a useful tool to have in your arsenal and when pulled quickly within sight of GT's often gets them fired up even if they are half hearted about chasing your clouser or deceiver when its fished alone. These articulated poppers are as simple as it gets. Thread your tippet through the hole in the simple closed cell popper head and tie on any unweighted deceiver, clouser, thing or a dedicated popper tail and your in business. The popper heads are quite fragile but as they are inexpensive to buy or make you can have a few replacements on hand.

Clousers

Going to fish these on #10 weight SA Titan floating line with 80lb core and 40lb tippet so have a combination of Bead chain eyes for surface and sub surface and a few dumbbell eyes for deeper presentations.



Last Updated: January 31, 2016
Author:
Categories: Bonefish