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The Cocos Keeling Islands comprise a large atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean, representing Australia's most remote piece of real estate excluding Antarctica. A visit has been on my bucket list for decades, especially since its reputation as a flats fishery for flyrodders has been growing exponentially with each passing year!

Dismayed by the prospect of imminent military "upgrading" of the airfield on West Island in response to China's southward expansion, and possible erosion of the unspoiled laid-back island charm, I realized I
had better get cracking! So when a spot opened up on a week-long flyfishing odyssey with Hello Backing, organized by local fisho 'Wattie" of Angling Adventures, I jumped at the chance!

The mainstay is bonefish of course, there in large numbers, with permit, bluefin trevally, and triggerfish also present. For the true enthusiasts, GTs to a metre will trash your gear, and bump-head parrot fish will likely drive you to despair. And sadly, the prolific black-tip reef shark population is beginning to learn that following wading swoffers around is the means to an easy feed of bonefish! Makes for exciting fishing!

Despite the sharks I still managed a few 20-plus bonefish days, even with a couple of rain days thrown in. The best results for me were wading and sight-casting to tailing fish, or stalking the bigger specimens "shark-finning" or "belly-scratching" in the real skinny water of a run-in tide. Also spent a half-day trolling teasers outside the reef with the 12-weight in my hands, but failed to attract a bill into the spread. Only saw 3 permit, and managed to elicit a curiosity follow from one but sadly no realistic shots. There's always next time!

Here's a few pics from the trip:

Average fish were 45 to 50cm fork length.

A bigger fish at 58cm fork fength sight-cast in less than 100mm of water!
Words cannot describe the speed of these fish in such skinny water, or the ripping sound the leader makes tearing through the shallows with rooster-tail of spray flying! Highly addictive fishing!

Nice bluefin trevally taken in exceptional circumstances. Laid out a perfect long cast to a trigger seen tailing on the coral flat, landed a foot away. He zipped straight onto the fly and tailed on it, but wouldn't eat. So I moved the fly just a smidge, and the bluefin askari accompanying him dived on the fly and I got a nice hook-set. No probs, it was my first bluefin and I really wanted one anyway, so all good!

Silver biddys were common on the flats and would accompany tailing bones in the shallows. Particularly difficult to distinguish in the rain! Although small, they go hard for their size, and are great eating. ...at least, when served up by the Malay ladies at Tropika on West Island!

An average fish, but again, context. Along the beach inside the northern end of West Island are the so-called "surfing bones". Need to see it to believe it. Bonefish deliberately wash themselves up onto the beach with the waves and try to grab small crabs that momentarily surface as the water washes over them! The window for casting a small creature-fly is tiny, and its positioning relative to the surfing fish is critical. I had watched a few surfing bones for a while a few days before, and on the last afternoon decided to have a crack. First cast, on the first fish I saw. Bloody miracle!

Managed to avoid the GTs (!) with the exception of a single ~40-pounder bow-waving the shallows that absolutely inhaled my perfectly placed #2 shrimp-fly right in front of my 3 buddies, all of whom were smart enough not to cast! I strip-struck hard and the fish just exploded, leaving my line dangling. ...and my buddies laughing their Rses off! The 20lb fluorocarbon leader was shredded! On that occasion at least, I was rewarded with the results I deserved!

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Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
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www.marrakai-adventure.com.au

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