Christmas Island Ultimate Gear List

Christmas Island is an intimidating place.  Its often the farthest, most remote place that most fly anglers have ever gone, and may be the only place like it that many anglers will ever go.  Its a gateway to extreme travel, and its a big trip to prepare for, especially if its your first time doing something like it.  We stayed at Sunset Horizon Lodge, which is booked through Fly Water Travel.  Even if you are staying at one of the other four outfits on the island, this should all be relevant and be useful in helping you prepare for this trip.

Packing for Travel

Most folks will check a bag.  You could easily do this trip without a checked bag, but you would be living dangerously with little to no backup fishing gear, and you also will likely be forced to skip an important step; gifts for the locals.  We cannot emphasize how poor this island is.  They have very little.  Bringing something as simple as school supplies, soccer balls or shoes can make a huge impact on their lives.  Playing soccer with local kids was one of the highlights of the trip.

Clothing:  I am guilty of bringing too many clothes.  They do have a laundry service at Sunset Horizon Lodge for a fee if you need it.  You really just need 2 sets of fishing apparel, maybe 2 sets of lounging apparel and a clean set for travel day, plus a packable rain jacket.  I brought home at least 2 pairs of clean shorts, 2 extra shirts and more.

Flats Pants:  I have worn both Orvis Skiff Pants as well as shorts over leggings.  I don't think either was better or worse.  I did notice that the Orvis pants drag in the water, which is why folks go with the shorts and leggings.  It's such a minimal amount of drag, it's not causing a problem at all.  You will not be any less or more worn out after the day of fishing with flats pants.  However, shorts and leggings look sort of silly, so that's the trade-off.

I love a good sun hoodie.  The Orvis PRO Sun Hoodie is fantastic.  Great fit, comfortable.  No complaints.  I also like a good collared shirt like the Sage Guide shirt or Orvis PRO Guide shirt.  I like that those type of shirts have pockets on the front.  Its quite convenient to have that fly box in your shirt pocket.  I will still take the overall comfort and sun protection of the hoodie if given one choice.

Gloves:  Sun gloves were a sort of last-second thought.  I had never liked fishing gloves.  My experience was mostly trying to wear big, thick fishing gloves in cold weather.  Nope.  Sun gloves were great.  I really appreciated not having sunburnt hands on the daily.  I will wear them every time I fish the tropics now.  It was one of those "I can't believe I ever did this without" moments. 

Funny hat:  Another last minute addition was my wife's wide-brim gardening hat.  That was another game changer.  The sun is brutal at the equator.  Baseball hats are not the best tool.  They leave room for sunburn and bad reflections.  The wide-brim floppy hat brought me absolute relief from the extreme sun.  Its not that hot, it's just unrelenting. I felt much better with my vision from under the shady wide brim of the gardening hat.  

Buff:   Otherwise called a neck gaiter.  On top of everything else, do not forget the Buff.  Even under a sun hat, I will get burned.  I wore that buff covering my nose, mouth and ears almost nonstop (and still got burned).

Boots:  Solid, strong wading boots with rubber soles are required.  You do not need to get a "salt" boot specifically.  The salt boots are typically just lighter in color to absorb less heat, as well as including a non-marking sole.  While darker colors do absorb heat more than light colors, if you have some nice rubber sole wading boots, you likely do not need to buy new boots.  BOA lacing systems and Korkers' boots with replaceable soles are not compatible with the wading conditions that you will face.

Ironically, the neoprene booties for float tubes or kayaks are often called Christmas Island Booties.  That is a misnomer.  They will not hold up at Christmas Island.  Do not bring them.  The guides will make fun of you and your feet will hurt at the end of the first day.  By the end of the week, those boots will be unusable.

Socks:  Without neoprene wading socks, wading boots are big, hard, uncomfortable, and sure to cause blisters.  Bring a pair of neoprene wading/guard socks as well as a couple pairs of cushy hiking socks to wear under them.  Keeping your feet in good shape should be a top priority.

Sunglasses:  The unsung heroes of our first trip were yellow lenses.  Both the Costa Sunrise Mirror lens as well as the Smith low-light igniter lens were fantastic.  We fished several sessions with more clouds than sun.  The yellow lenses made seeing bonefish much easier in the cloudy conditions.  Not too bad when the sun came out either.  I will bring 2 pairs of sunglasses again and consider wearing the yellow lenses quicker.  

Fishing Gear

Rods / Reels / Lines:  On my first trip, I brought too many rods, too many reels, too many lines.  As the host, I wanted to make sure that we had our bases covered.  I wanted to be Johnny on the Spot if someone broke something.  However, our group did a great job at preparing ahead of time as well as keeping their gear safe and secure on the trip.  We had very little in the way of broken gear over the week.  I had multiple setups that were never used.  Here is what to bring:

• 8wt setup:  The bread n butter bonefish setup, will deal with triggerfish when needed.  I caught almost all of my triggerfish while bonefishing. 
• 9wt setup:  A backup for your 8wt, as well as the rod to use if its really windy or you are targeting triggerfish from the get-go.  I used my 9wt Sage R8 Salt more than my 8wt on the last trip.  It is not too much for bonefish, and it was easy in the wind.
• 10wt setup:  This is both your blind-casting GT rod as well as a backup Triggerfish rod.  If you bring these three setups, you will be just fine.
• 11wt or 12wt setup:  If you are targeting GTs, then an 11wt or 12wt is helpful to have on your side.  If you are not going to take a couple of days to hunt for "geets", then the 10wt should be fine to have on hand for when the situation presents itself.  Even if you do target GTs, then the 10 should be fine most of the time.

I did bend a 10wt as far as it will bend on a fish.  A 12wt would have been helpful.  I likely would have a picture of a big GT attached to this blog if I had been using it, but I wasn't...  SO I will put a picture of a small GT instead... 

That's also the thing: you never know when you will have that shot.  Often you only get a couple of seconds to make your shot at a GT.  Deciding to switch rods when you see a GT is like deciding to put on your seatbelt as the car is rolling over in mid-air.

Tippet:  You will not need 12# tippet, or anything smaller than that.  16# and 20# fluorocarbon tippet is perfect for bonefish, 20# or 25# fluorocarbon is for triggerfish.  This is I used RIO GT Mono 100# test on the GT setups.  I had a fish break that too...   One tapered leader per is just fine.  I only used a tapered leader on my 8wt.  The 9wt got a butt section of 50# fluoro and another section of 25# fluorocarbon tippet.  The 10wt and 12wt both had only 100# mono.  

Lines:   You can fish floating, tropical fly lines all week.  Having a spare between you and a partner for your bonefish rod is a good idea, maybe a backup for the 10wt as well if you are feeling good about it.  Lines can break pretty easily getting caught on coral.

Flies / Boxes

I prefer to have two boxes of bonefish and triggerfish flies.  One lightly weighted, mostly bead-chain eyes.  One heavier with lead and brass eyes.  I brought one other box with about 6 GT flies.  I did bring another box with backup flies, just in case I lost a box, but that was unnecessary.

Packs:  There are a million thoughts on this.  My preference is to have a waterproof backpack on the boat with snacks, extra lines, extra flies, and a spare reel.   The backpack, for me, is too much on the water.  It gets in the way, is too heavy and wears on the back.  I prefer a sling or lumbar pack on the water.  It must hold fly boxes, a bottle of water, tippet, tools and a packable rain jacket.  Any more than the basics will cause a mess and be harder to find something when you really need it.  I have a ton of sling packs, but I went with a lumbar pack on this trip, mostly because I did not have one and I wanted to try it out. 

Other Items

Spare rod carrier:  There was only one that we used that received rave reviews.  The O'Pros spare rod holder was the only one we tried on the trip that proved to be an improvement over shoving a spare rod in your belt.  If you are next to a guide, he can carry your spare rod.  As the host, I am sort of sent off on my own, so I have to carry my own spare rod. I really wish I had one of these, and will buy one before the next trip.

We did have some biting bugs on a coupe of occasions, as well as rats and cockroaches...  The evenings after it rained certainly brought out the critters.  Some of us brought Thermacell mosquito repellents.  They are a nice investment if you venture into mosquito country often, but maybe a bit overkill just for this trip.  I had mine on for an hour on two separate nights as I was getting settled into my room.  Most of the bites happened while sitting around the communal table after dinner.  It was not needed on our trip, but its nice to have for a variety of outings. Mine gets used several times per year.  It is indispensable in certain areas around here.

Water Filters:  One thing I did not bring was a water filter.  I had heard about a new water filtration system at the lodge.  It had been installed a few weeks before we arrived.  It was already broken, so we had very limited clean water.  One guest did bring a gravity fed water bottle filter, which certainly helped his peace of mind.   The nightly drinking water was boiled tap water, which also has a funky taste.  Some of the bottled water even had a phosphorus taste to it.  The water filter would have made rationing water much easier. 

Tying Kit:  We all tied way too many flies for this trip.  However, we found that the triggerfish wanted a big bonefish bitter, and we did not have many...  Craig had a couple of nice sessions tying up winners for the next day.  You could easily leave the kit at home, but if you have the room for it, there might be a moment where you are glad you have it.

First Aid Kit: 

Beyond the basics like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, a couple of items were very handy.  The first is cloth tape.  While gloves did a great job with sunburn, it is easy to burn or chafe your fingers where you strip the fly line in.  Taping a finger helps with that.  

Pepto-Bismol.  It comes in chewy tablet form.  This stuff really helps if you experience any diarrhea.  Nobody on our trip had any tummy troubles, but many of us took some on the first day just in case.  It may have prevented any "situations".

Antibiotics.  We had a doctor on the trip.  He prescribed a variety of antibiotics as well as anti-nausea medicine to bring on the trip in case of emergency.  Someone on the trip ended up with a skin infection on his foot.  He took the doxycycline and never missed a beat.  If it weren't for those antibiotics, it could have turned into a nasty infection requiring evacuation.  Two others brought home skin infections as well as me.

I came home with a MRSA skin infection. This could have been very bad. I feel lucky to not have lost a leg or my life. It started basically on the plane on the way home, and blew up to needing attention immediately within 2 days.  Three weeks later, I am still recovering and very limited with movement.  Had this happened 5 days earlier without a doctor on the trip, I would be in a different situation.  

My advice is to make a doctor's appointment, get an antibiotic prescription for skin infections, and another for respiratory infections  Then make sure you get some basic training on how to identify the need for those in the field.

Global Rescue:  This service will fly a plane to CXI to pick you up and get you to a doctor.  Sure, your trip is over, but you're alive. For the $200, it is nice to have in your pocket.

Lotion/Sunscreen:  I brought some thick hand cream along with Reef-Safe SPF 70 sunscreen and pure zinc for the nose.  I covered every exposed inch of myself as best I could as often as I could, but I still got a good sunburn twice.  I think that applying lotion to my hands and face every night helped ease the pain.

Alcohol:  I am not much of a drinker, but dang, rum sure tastes good after a day of fishing in the tropics.  While I did find a little store that had some bottles of wine for sale, but stocking up at the duty-free store at the Honolulu airport is a better idea. 

Positive Attitude:  Its vitally important.  You are as far away from help as you can get in the world.  You have only what you brought with you.  This is a once in a lifetime trip for most everyone that goes.  Even a little negativity can become infectious.  Wake up every day and decide that today is a top ten day.  Spread that around to the group. 

- How was your day? 
- One of my top-ten. 

I don't care if it rained all day and no one saw a fish.  You are doing a nearly magical thing.  Who among us thought when they were a kid that they would be traveling to the farthest reaches of the earth to chase a fish with a fly rod?  This place has a storied history, and you are now part of it.  There are only a small amount of people are anglers.  A smaller amount are fly anglers.  Only a tiny fraction of fly anglers will ever be able to travel to this place.  This is one of the most incredible things you can do as a fly angler.  Even if you did not see a fish today, consider where you are in the world, and what you had to do to get there.  The effort and love you put into this vacation should make every day there one of the best of your lives.