Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
When I was a kid I spent a lot of time offshore chumming for sharks and bluefish. One day, in order to spice things up a bit, I fastened a clothespin to a string attached to a toy kite and snapped it to my fishing line. I baited a hook with a whole squid and set it out so that it was suspended right on the surface. In no time at all I had bluefish after bluefish hitting every “kite bait” I put out. I still remember how much fun it was to watch the bluefish attack the bait on the surface. A lot of years went by before I tried kite fishing again.
By the late 80’s I was up to my neck in the charter business. Spending day after day floating along while waiting for “something” to bite, I found many opportunities to experiment with new techniques and I finally got around to, once more, giving the old kite fishing thing a try.
One day, while shark fishing behind the Jackspot, I again rigged a toy kite, only this time I baited-up with a mackerel. The bait had been skipping over the light chop for less than an hour when a fin popped up behind it. Everyone on board watched in amazement as the mako circled twice then charged the mackerel. We hooked the shark and after a 30 minute struggle had it to the boat. We were amazed and elated that our little trick worked so well. But, was it just a lucky catch or were we really onto something?
Another mackerel was rigged and sent out under the kite. In a half hour we had another bite, only this time we weren’t watching and didn’t see the bite happen. Since we had already boated one shark, I readied the tag-stick for this one. But when the fish came into view I reached for the gaff instead. To our happy surprise we realized that this time we had hooked a 70-pound bluefin tuna!
Before that day was over the kite bait would hook a second bluefin, a couple of bluefish and the enthusiasm of one very excited charter boat captain. That was 26-years ago and ever since, a kite has flown from my boat almost every day conditions would permit.
Besides bluefish, bluefin and yellowfin tuna and a dozen species of sharks, the list of fish we’ve hooked from kites has increased to include king mackerel, cobia, bonito, false albacore, white marlin, dolphin, jacks, wahoo, big needlefish and even a cutlassfish. Over time, we have also refined our kite fishing equipment to include genuine “fishing kites,” and dedicated kite rods equipped with two release clips. We now use a wide array of live, dead or cut baits depending upon what’s available and what the target species are. Terminal tackle may include heavy wire rigs for large sharks, 60-100 lb. mono or fluorocarbon for tuna and dolphin or a #9 wire rig set out to handle most anything that comes along.
The Fishing Kite
Even though we started out using $2 toy kites, it didn’t take long to realize the advantages of using kites designed and sold specifically for fishing. Toy kites tend to fly up more so than fly out and they’re typically not very stable in that they tend to sway from side-to-side. Because fishing kites stay at a lower altitude, the drop-back of loose line (when a fish takes the bait and pops the line free of the release clip) is minimized resulting in a better hook-setting situation. Fishing kites are very stable aloft and are designed to fly in varying wind conditions, from very light to very heavy, without losing their flight characteristics. The first fishing kite I purchased had to be special ordered because no tackle stores in the area carried them. Now that kite fishing has gained popularity in the mid-Atlantic area it's easy to find both kites and kite fishing accessories in most local shops that carry offshore gear.
Anglers looking to buy their first fishing kite should prepare for “sticker shock” as they’re not cheap. Expect to pay over $100 per kite depending upon the model and manufacturer. I have primarily used Lewis kites and have always been pleased with the way they perform. Lewis kites come in various weights to accommodate different strength winds. I keep on board an extra-light, medium, heavy and extra-heavy wind model to cover most any wind condition from 5 to 30 miles per hour.
SFE makes a kite they claim will fly in 5 to 25 mph winds which eliminates the need for multiple kites to cover changing wind speeds. I had an SFE kite for a while and it did fly well, but it tended to fly higher and provided more drop-back than I liked, so when it was eventually lost (broken string) I replaced it with another Lewes kite.
Aftco makes a kite that they claim will fly in 4 to 16 mph winds. I’ve never used an Aftco kite so I can’t comment on their performance other than mentioning that there are certainly times when we’re fishing in breezes of more than 16 mph and I wouldn’t want to be limited to kite fishing only when it’s relatively calm.
Kite Rod and Tackle
Kites are flown from dedicated kite rods, which are often just old trolling rods cut off just above the first guide. They need to be short enough so that when the rod is in a gunwale rod holder, the kite line coming off the tip is about chest high and within easy reach when it’s time to snap a fishing line into a release clip. I prefer a 6/0 Penn Senator as a kite reel, but almost any sturdy, medium size conventional offshore reel will work. Anglers should avoid using small-spool reels on kite rods because even though only about 100-yards of kite line is needed, a small diameter reel will require too much cranking to get it in and it’s sometimes necessary to get the kite in quickly to rebait after a missed strike. I’ll mostly fill a 6/0 reel with 80-pound Dacron line and then put a top-shot of 100-yards of 80 to 120 lb. braid as the actual line that will be in the air holding the kite.
Two “Black’s” release clips are on the braided kite line to snap my fishing lines into. The clips will slide up the kite line to the swivel when the rod is not in use. Two barrel swivels tied to the line act as stoppers keeping the clips from sliding all the way down to the rod while fishing. The first stopper is about 100-feet from the kite and the second stopper is about 50-feet in from the first.
Deploying the Baits
Once the bait or baits are rigged and ready to go the first thing to do is get the kite in the air. Depending upon the boat, wind conditions and experience of the “flyer,” this process can be simple or a simple lesson in frustration! Fishing kites are very stable fliers but they need stable air to fly in. The air turbulence that comes off a boat, particularly a large boat with a cabin, bridge and other structure, can make it very difficult to get the kite aloft and away from the boat without crashing first into the water and you don’t want your kite to crash into the water because it probably will not fly properly again until it dries. Depending upon the boat’s configuration, the best place to launch the kite could be the bow, the stern or from the top of the flying-bridge. Since you can’t exactly run with the kite to get it up, it’s all about letting the wind take hold and draw it into the air by letting the line slip smoothly through your fingers.
The first line clip is about 100-feet from the kite, so that while the fishing line is being clipped to the kite line, the kite will be flying far enough away that it is not being affected by air turbulence from the boat. After snapping the fishing line to the kite line, the kite and fishing line is let out at the same time. Just enough tension should be applied to the fishing reel so that the bait is pulled across the surface and away from the boat. Once the bait or baits are at the desired distance from the boat (usually anywhere from 20-50 yards), the kite reel should be locked up and then the fishing line adjusted so that the bait is right at the surface with all the line and leader out of the water. If the bait is very light, the seas very large or at times when the wind is particularly gusty, the bait might tend to periodically be lifted out of the water. We try to adjust the line so this doesn’t happen, but some days flying baits are unavoidable and as long as the bait is in the water more than it is out it will still be an effective bait. In fact, sometimes I wonder if the action of the bait splashing back down into the water doesn’t help stimulate fish to attack it.
Getting the Bite and Setting
the Hook
Some fish will zoom right in and chomp a kite bait without hesitation, but most of the time they will roll beside it or make a pass or two under or around it before committing. Anglers should keep an eye on their kite baits and at the first sign of life grab the rod and be ready to react. Once the fish bites and the line pops from the release clip, there is going to be a lot of slack line in the water and that slack line can lead to trouble if it’s not taken up quickly and the hook cannot be set until the slack is gone. So to minimize the amount of slack, before the fish takes the bait I like to point the rod at the kite and crank in as much line as possible without lifting the bait out of the water. As soon as I know for certain that the fish has taken the bait (by seeing that the release clip is being pulled down), I’ll pop the line out of the clip by quickly snapping the rod tip back over my head and behind me (after making sure no one is standing there!). Then I throw the rod tip forward and start cranking like mad to recover the slack line. If all goes as planned, when the line comes tight, the fish will still have the bait, the hook will be set and it’ll be fish-on!
Kite Baits
Kite fishing is nothing new to southern anglers. Florida fishermen, in particular, have been using the technique to successfully hook sailfish, dolphin and king mackerel for more years than I can remember. But here in the mid-Atlantic region, the method has been much slower to gain acceptance. Up here the tools may be the same but the baits we use and the quarry we pursue with our kites can be quite different from those of our friends in the Sunbelt.
Southern anglers are likely to use live baits and they either drift or slow-troll from their boats while using one or two kites at a time. But kite fishermen up this way will almost never troll, opting instead to either drift or anchor as they employ dead or even cut baits such as bunker, mackerel, bluefish, spot, butterfish or squid.
Anglers don’t usually go out and “just” kite-fish. Instead, kite fishing is done in addition to the normal baits and lines they’ll run while either chunking for tuna or fishing for sharks. Such an approach not only allows anglers to fish more lines at one time, it also enhances their opportunity to catch fish that they normally wouldn’t expect using a traditional spread of baits and lines. For instance, shark fishermen usually land only sharks and bluefish, but if they also dangle a couple mackerel, small bluefish or butterfish off a kite, they may well entice bites from tuna, dolphin, wahoo or even billfish.
Wreck fishing usually only provides bottom fish, but fly a couple baits off a kite while you’re pulling on sea bass and you might just get yourself a shark, a dolphin or a tuna that you might otherwise would never have known was in the area.
Tuna
Tuna anglers will find that there will be days when their intended quarry pays absolutely no mind to kite baits and other times when every bite of the day comes from below a kite. Tuna fishing with a kite usually involves using live baits or baits that are rigged to appear alive. The small bunker we catch around the docks have been my all-time favorite live kite baits for tuna, but live spot, eels and snapper bluefish will also work.
When live bait isn’t available, dead butterfish will work fine for tuna as long as the baits are rigged properly so that they look alive. To rig a dead butterfish, we start by shoving a 2-ounce bank sinker through a gill slit and back into the gut cavity. The sinker makes for a weighted keel that helps keep the bait upright in the water and adds a little extra tension on the line so that on windy days there will be less chance the bait will be lifted from the water. A very sharp 6/0 live bait hook on mono or fluorocarbon leader is stuck in the back of the bait about a 1/2-inch in front of the dorsal fin and rotated so that it exits the bait just in front of the dorsal. This has the bait hooked from front-to-back not side-to-side. A length of light string or floss should be passed through the eye of the hook and with a rigging needle pushed through the bait just below it’s vertebra. The string can then be tied tightly around the top half of the bait so that the eye of the hook is held snuggly to the back of the bait.
By tying the hook-eye down, the point will remain pointed forward rather than rotating “up” when the bait is suspended from above. Running the string beneath the vertebrae keeps the string from tearing through the soft tissue of the butterfish’s back and keeps everything in place. Rigged this way, a dead butterfish below a kite will appear to be swimming on the surface in a very lifelike and tempting manor.
Sharks
While I know the offshore “snobs” don’t want to hear it, kite fishing was made for sharks. No sand tigers yet, but using our kites we’ve hooked threshers, makos, (great) white sharks and just about every other species normally caught in our mid-Atlantic waters. Hammerheads, in particular, are absolutely crazy in love with kite baits! Put a bait on the surface and you’ve got something that’s going to look good, smell good and peak the curiosity of most any shark around, kite baits are shark magnets! Shark baits under kites can be as simple or elaborate as the angler wants to make them. We’ve sent out fish heads, strip baits, fillets, whole fish rigged to look alive, used live bait and half-dead bait, and at one time or the other all have worked.
One thing that confounds a lot of shark fishermen is that when drift fishing, their chum is going out one side of the boat and their kite baits are on the other (downwind) side, but the sharks find and eat them just the same! It’s testimony not only to the shark’s amazing sense of smell, but also a good demonstration of how sharks don’t just hang out in the chumline waiting for a snack. The chum might attract them to the area but once there they obviously roam in and out of the slick and all around the boat.
It’s All in the Presentation!
The real magic behind kite fishing is in the presentation of the bait. Since the bait is suspended from the kite and held at the surface of the water, to any predator fish below, it resembles an injured or unsuspecting meal. Best of all, the line and leader are completely out of the water so that there is nothing there to spook leader-shy fish.
Kite fishing also allows anglers to fish one or two extra rods in their spread and if they’re drifting, their kite will be on the opposite side of the boat from the other lines, therefore, covering more of the water around the boat. Best of all, since almost any gamefish, at anytime, might pop up and inhale a surface bait, kite fishing opens the door for anglers to land a much wider variety of fish on any given trip. Experienced kite anglers know that this novel technique of fishing will not produce bites on every trip, but then again, there are some days when the conventional baits are ignored and all of the bites come to the kite rigs.
Kite fishing has proven to be such an exciting and productive technique that whether someone is sharking, chunking for tuna, bottom fishing, deep-dropping or wreck fishing, near-shore or offshore, it’s always a plus to have a “square-bird” in the air and a bait or two on the surface.
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
