Christmas Island's Greatest Gift - The Wily Triggerfish

Over the past 20 years I have made at least 14 trips to Christmas Island. In the beginning, I was like most; I just wanted to catch some bonefish, or whatever else swam by and improve my game with the help of some the kindest and most skilled guides in the saltwater world. On my early trips to the island, we always saw plenty of triggerfish but we never pursued them, as they were considered consistently uncatchable. But as the years went by, attitudes and techniques for effectively targeting these ultra-spooky, curious, colorful, clow-like creatures shifted. These days, when I am preparing for my trip to the world's largest coral atoll, my thoughts are focused on triggers, as for my tastes, they are the most interesting and challenging fish on the island. Here are the reasons why.  

Target Rich and Strong of Spirit 
Christmas Island is home to three primary species of triggerfish: the Titan (also known as Mustachios), the Yellow Margin, and the Picaso. Of these the Yellow Margin and Titans are the largest and most sought after. Most that are caught by guests are in the 2-to 5-pound class, but they can grow to 10 or even 15 pounds. For reason we will discuss later, your chances of hooking a monster trigger are slim, because they will be onto your tricks! On Christmas, the Yellow Margins, (sometimes calle Peach Faced) are the stars of the show and account for the majority of the triggers hooked. Both species are very strong and due to Christmas Island being a coral-based based ecosystem, they are numerous.

Special Targets 
There are certain flats habitats on Christmas Island that triggerfish favor. The guides know which areas are consistently visited by triggers, and many of them, but not all, have prominent coral structure that their prey shelter in. Additionally, they are broad bodied, brightly colored, and they constantly "tail" while feeding, making them orders of magnitude easier to see than bonefish. In the bonefishing game, moving slowly and allowing the fish to "appear" is often vital. When hunting triggers, however, you can move quickly, exploring every dark spot and coral clump on the flat, hoping some will reveal themselves to be fish. This is particularly valuable on challenging low-light/overcast days when seeing bonefish at even moderate distances seems near impossible.

They Demand the Best
In addition to stating that triggerfish are "notoriously ill-tempered" the Behavior section on Wikipedia's triggerfish page reads, "they are known to exhibit a high level of intelligence for a fish and have the ability to learn from previous experiences." The bottom line is that these are the spookiest fish on the atoll's flats and a cast we would consider the perfect presentation for a big wary bonefish has about an 80% chance of utterly failing when directed towards a triggerfish. You cast, and they bolt! The saving grace is that feeding triggerfish move very slowly enabling anglers to approach and present to them with extreme caution. The basic premise is to understand that they always feed facing into the tide's current, no matter how slight the current may be. Next the angler will position themselves up current of the fish and cast roughly 20 feet above the fish and 15 feet beyond the fish. It's a long lead. Like in river fishing, mending up current might also be beneficial. Now comes the hard part, which is patiently letting the fly swing towards the fish and gently striping it off the bottom to enable it to continue moving towards the fish. Since the pull of the tide can be nearly imperceptible, this swing and drag set up can take minutes, but when executed properly, the fly eventually ends up in the fish's feeding window, and they will be unaware of your intensions and clever execution.

Crafty Critters that Fight Dirty
When a Christmas Island triggerfish is hooked it is hard to say if the angler or the fish is more surprised. It is a great moment and one where you hope you took the time to tie on a heavier hook and tippet than when targeting bonefish. Because they are built to feed on critters with hard exoskeletons, their mouths are buck-toothed, hard and powerful, and they often crush or snap saltwater hooks as if they were toothpicks. If the hookup goes as planned and you are on a wide open flat, they will scurry of on a solid run, but if there are coral structures around, which is often the cases, they will typically head straight for them, often disappearing into holes or burying themselves under boulder-sized coral heads. Ideally, you can keep them from reaching their hidey holes, but to do so, you will need to pull on them relentlessly, stressing your tackle to its limit. If they make it to cover and disappear, well then, your guide will need to get involved, following your leader down into the darkness and hopefully finding a tail that he can grab and start pulling on. Whichever way it goes, getting one of these remarkable fish in hand is real treat and milestone for any saltwater angler worth celebrating.

All and all, targeting these curious, ultra wary fish is fun and addictive making them one of my favorite saltwater species. Likewise, if you want to target them Christmas is land is hard to beat, as it has a year-round season, it is relatively easy to reach and in expensive as compared to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, and it remains one the world's best triggerfish fisheries.