Kites for Bluefin

[shoefish]

Okay, so in early December I was down in Miami fishing with boardmember Saltshaker30 for sails. One of the days he put out a kite. Now being a northeasterner that was my first go-round with a kite, and I have to say that I was impressed with the tactic.

Since then I have PM'd Jeff (Saltshaker30) about his thoughts on the particular kites that are out there and what I intend to use them for- giant bluefin, and he thought it would be valuable to have the discussion on the board.

So my questions:
I have heard through people that some guys use them off the cape, but do not know anyone personally who does this. Does anyone have any first hand experience using kites for gbft?

What kites are the best (or worst)?

Besides live bait, does anyone rig other baits on their kite lines (dead, artificial)?

And finally, for you NC boys, have you ever tried using kites down there? It seems where you have such a good troll bite that it would make sense.

I hope to have a good discussion on this topic, so please throw in your two cents, I'd love to hear it.

Shoe

[teamtuna]

Shoe, you may want to move this to the offshore board. But I'll say the SFE kites work the best because they fly in many wind conditions, we only used live bluefish (when you see the bite it is amazing).
team

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Shoe, I wonder about the same thing. Must not be a lot of people trying the kite for them. I wish I had one iota of input for this but unfortunately I have never done it for Bluefins. I have heard rumors of Giants being caught on Bluecrabs on the Kite. There are people on this board who can validate or disprove the rumors. Am I correct that the GBFT can be caught on the kite in very shallow water with bluecrab or am I confusing this with Tarpon. BOX? Biscuit? Beast? Gottafly? Was it tarpon or Bluefins the beast caught on the kite. Brian if you read this a reply would be tremendous. Hope you have been well. Somebody chime in and get this thread rolling. Shoefish contributes plenty of goods to the cause...Help the man out.

Shoe, we may have to talk the Nick's into giving it a go on the kite...If a man can catch a lightning bolt with a key and a kite then only God knows what kind of juice we can find down in BFT country with a little steel hooked to one.

HOLWACHAGOT

[Admin]

Moved as I did not know this was in Mix it up

[jawz12]

i try to fly the kite when i'm chunkin'...fly a live spot from the kite,it's pretty deadly...it looks like someone threw a grenade in the water when that big ol' tuna smacks the bait...

[slip slidin]

Sorry, but I do not have any experience with kite fishing personally. I know it is very popular in Florida with the guys targeting sails(goggle eyes are main bait of choice). I recently went offshore with a friend who fishes the king mackerel circuit and he said that he uses a kite often when he is king fishing. He had a helium tank in his console which he uses to blow up balloons to help the kite fly when there is no wind. I would love to see a bluefin explode on a live bait on the surface though. Great thread. Hope to read more info from the fellas that have some experience with kite fishing.

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

SHOE SOME OF THE GUYS UP AT HATTERAS USE THE KITES ON THE TROLL FOR LATE SPRING YELLOW FINS. THE KITES USUALLY PRODUCE BIGGER YELLOW FINS. MOST OF THEM ARE USING YUMMIE FLYING FISH OR A HOMEMADE VERSION OF IT AS FOR THE BLUE FINS I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE DOWN HERE USE KITES BUT I DON'T SEE WHY YOU COULDN'T. HOPE THIS WAS SOME HELP JAY ON THE BITE ME OUT OF HATTERAS MIGHT BE ABLE TO CARRY THIS FURTHER.

[Sea Draggin]

When they had the Hatteras bite up there 2 or 3 weeks ago, they were using kites up there from what I hear. Kites and dangler squids.

[SeaBiscuit]

When they had the Hatteras bite up there 2 or 3 weeks ago, they were using kites up there from what I hear. Kites and dangler squids.

What bite are you talking about Jim? The yellowfin one, or are giants showing up off Hatteras again?
Biscuit

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

I GUESS THE KITE GIVES THE IMPRESSION OF A POOR MANS GREEN STICK KIND OF SETUP. SEA DRAGGIN I'VE SEEN THEM USE THE SQUIDS ALSO SEEMS LIKE WHEN THE TUNAS WON'T BITE THIS REALLY GETS EM FIRED UP.