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| Welcome to the Shorefire Webpage. Shorefire is a sportsfishing charter located on Christmas Island, 2600km northwest of Perth, Western Australia. Mark Rochfort, the owner and operator of Shorefire, has many years of fishing experience on Christmas Island. The island is approximately 135sq km of which 63% is a designated national park and is surrounded by a narrow coral reef beyond which the sea plummets to almost 500 metres within 200 metres of shore. With 80km of coastline and rising to over 360m above sea level, the geographical nature of the island provides a well sheltered leeward side. This means that during our active fishing season the chance of not going to sea due to bad weather is minimal. Many of the fish illustrated on this site were in fact caught within minutes of our launch ramp. Shorefire has operated since 1994, making it the longest running fishing charter service on Christmas Island. Your skipper, Mark Rochfort, is a qualified coxswain and has fished the island’s waters for over 20 years. His vast experience is unequalled amongst local charter operators. Shorefire is a predominately sportsfishing charter with a focus on heavy tackle jigging and popping for species such as Giant Trevally, Yellowfin Tuna, Dogtooth Tuna and Wahoo. With an emphasis on catch & release fishing, Mark offers a unique fishing experience from his home on Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean, 2600km north-west of Perth, Western Australia. Shorefire offers a fully equipped tackle shop on the island ready to service the visiting angler. Offering a wide range of fishing equipment at competitive prices, you won't need to worry about running low on lures or jigs while you are here. For those of you gearing up for your trip to Christmas Island, Shorefire recommends Bluewater Tackle for all your tackle needs including custom rods and quality reels. The staff at Bluewater Scarborough are regular visitors to the island and can advise you on suitable tackle for fishing the island. What style of fishing is available? Christmas Island is home to some truely large fish that will test even the best quality tackle. There is a variety of fishing available on the island but Mark has a particular emphasis on the following fishing styles. Popper Casting This is Marks prefered style of fishing. The visual spectacle of a big surface strike is truely awesome, however the technically difficult nature of heavy tackle popping means this method is only for the experienced angler. Commonly targetted species are Giant Trevally, Yellowfin Tuna, and Dogtooth Tuna. Jigging Whilst not as spectacular as popper casting, jigging is a very hands on style of fishing that gets the blood and heart racing. The deep dropoffs around Christmas Island make jigging an especially productive form of fishing and due to the uniqueness of the Island, you can be jigging in 300 metres of water shortly after leaving the boat ramp. This physically demanding method of fishing is definately not for the faint hearted! Trolling There are plenty of hard striking, fast running pelagic fish on Christmas Island which always makes “stand up” trolling an excellent option. All trolling is done with lures as our vast population of seabirds makes dragging baits almost impossible at times. Our trolling tackle is in the 30-50lb range to enable us to get fish to the boat before the local bad guys (sharks) get to the fish. We do not offer heavy tackle trolling. Fly Fishing We should not be confused with the world famous bonefishing hot spot of Christmas Island (Republic of Kiribati) in the Pacific Ocean. We have no flats to offer fly fishermen, only sharp drop offs into very deep water. However, if you are armed with heavy saltwater fly gear and wish to try your hand at our “palm burners” we will happily give it a go with you. |
Shorefire Christmas Island
PO Box 411 Christmas Island Western Australia 6798
✆ +61 8 9164 8925
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