Let's go find some water to fish in. Like I said it should be close to the inlet. Color changes are a good choice or right on the edge where it starts to drop off from 100 feet on down is the standard place.
Tackle can be conventional or spinning gear. 20-pound gear is ideal for the south Florida spindle beaks. There are several methods for deploying them. My most common method is to run two off the riggers - one long and one medium long - then one close on the flat line. The conventionals are fished with the lever up on the free spool button with clicker and just enough drag to keep the baits from just running out.
On spinners I double a piece of copper wire and wrap it around the shank below the foot of the reel. From there I bend a "hook" in it. I open the bail and let the taught line sit in this hook. When a fish hits it lets go to let the line drop back to the fish with no hindrance.
Now that's how I like to fish. It allows me to move around more freely than the "other" method, which is using kites. Kites allow the bait to be dangled beneath it, creating a great presentation and keeping the leader out of sight from the fish.
A typical kite rig consists of a short rod. A reel loaded with 50-pound Dacron or something similar and two clips. Me I use a Penn 49 Mariner reel. It has a narrow spool so I don't have to worry about spooling evenly when doing things fast. It also allows you to disengage the dog and use the handle backwards to achieve desired position.
The rigging of them sounds complex but really isn't. Good kite clips come with different size holes drilled in them. A swivel will pass through one's base, but not the next one.
I load the reel about 2/3 full and attach a large swivel that will eventually carry my #2 clip out. Next I add about 50 to 60 feet of line, slide that # 2 clip on, and then tie a smaller swivel and another 50 to 60 feet where the #1 clip is added. Then, a small snap swivel on the end attaches to the kite itself.
The kite is run out the 60 or so feet until the first smaller swivel catches the #1 clip. The line with the bait is set in the clip and both are let out another 50 to 60 feet where the second swivel picks up the #2 clip and that bait is attached. Then both baits are run out usually long way from the boat. The baits are worked as the kite raises and lowers with the wind to keep them paddling around on the surface. Some guys attach streamers of bright color up the line about 10 feet so they can see where their baits are…
The kites themselves have adjustable bridles to set the height and angle of the kite. Also many manufacturers build specific kites for specific wind conditions. Though I have a classic set of Lewis kites, SFE makes an all around that will fly great in 5 to 25 knots of wind using one kite. They are expensive though at about $130.
