STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY ED CUMMINS

Did you know that there’s an island called Christmas?

Yes, Virginia, there is.

Set near the equator halfway between Hawaii and Fiji, Christmas Island, which is also known as Kiritimati, offers world-class fly fishing for such revered fighting fish as bonefish and trevally. And it sports endless white sandbars, bright sunshine and the chance to stalk “big bone” quarry in shallow water.

Local angler Ed Cummins will take armchair travelers on a trip to Christmas Island during the Thursday, Dec. 7, meeting of Trout Unlimited Hemingway Chapter. The meeting, open to the public, is held from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight at Whiskey Jacques in Ketchum.

Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, has historically had a reputation as an incredible international bonefishing destination characterized by hard white sand, coral and turtle grass. But it also offers golden, bluefin and giant trevally, as well as the opportunity to catch triggerfish and milkfish.

Those who venture out of the flats into deeper water can hunt for tuna, wahoo, Mahi mahi and sailfish.

Those who can stand to put down their fishing pole may also revel in Christmas Island National Park, which comprises 63 percent of the island.

Cummins himself started his fishing odyssey at 6 when his parents introduced him to the sport on the opening day of trout season in New Jersey. The rivers were high and muddy but offered stocked rainbows that were willing to take the young boy’s worm dangling from the end of an Eagle Claw No. 6.

Cummins progressed to a fly rod, presenting poppers to bass and bluegills in farm ponds. And now he enjoys trout fishing at home in Idaho and, of course, bonefishing on Christmas Island.