In my opinion, one of the best guides currently working on Christmas Island is Ari (and not just because she complimented my casting).
In a place that is fairly male-dominated, Ari is a female guide working out of Christmas Island Lodge.
I had her for 1.5 days and very much enjoyed having her. She not only saw the fish and knew where they’d be, which probably all the Xmas guides can do, but she communicated well. She asked questions. She gave feedback.
The first day I had her as my guide, Phil had told her that I likely needed some sort of therapy due to my blown shot at a big GT earlier in the week. So, she set out a path for the two of us to walk that would give me multiple cuts and points to go in search of trevally. She developed a plan, quickly, that would maybe do the trick, or at the very least it would set me up to be in a good position.
In one cut we found some working bluefin and I managed to get one to hand. When I gave her the phone to take the pic, she’s the one who put it on portrait mode and took the shot below… which is rad.
The next day, I was with Ari as we were fishing the last water we’d fish… and what did we find? A GT on the edge of a channel. It was a 20-25 pound fish, or there abouts. Not huge, but a very nice fish for sure. I managed to get a good cast in and got a follow, but the fish saw us in the last 15 feet and waived off (which is how my previous trip had ended as well… but… that’s for another time).
Ari consistantly put me in a good position to get the shots I was looking for and she checked in with me to make sure we were on the same page.
Tags: bonefishing, Christmas Island, Christmas Island Lodge, flyfishing, trevally, Xmas Island
