How to kite fish for bluefin
A kite keeps your bait skipping on the surface, far from the boat and with no line in the water. Here's how to set one up and fish it.
Bluefin that are feeding on the surface can be maddening. They’ll blow up all around the boat and ignore every bait you throw, because they can see the line, they can hear the boat, or the bait just doesn’t look right. A kite fixes most of that. It holds your bait on the surface, well away from the boat, with no leader trailing in the water.
Kites are one of the main ways the biggest SoCal bluefin have been caught in recent years.
How it works
The kite flies on its own line from a dedicated reel. Your fishing line runs up to a release clip on the kite line, then drops straight down to the bait. When a fish eats, the fishing line pops out of the clip and you’re fighting the fish directly on your rod. The kite stays up, and you can wind it in or set it again.
Because the line comes down from above, almost none of it touches the water. The bait looks like it’s swimming or skipping on its own.
The gear
- Kite. Kites are made for different wind strengths: light, medium and heavy. Carry at least two so you can match the day.
- Kite reel and line. A dedicated reel, often electric on bigger boats, spooled with kite line.
- Release clips. One or two on the kite line, set at different distances so you can fish two baits.
- Fishing rod. A stout conventional setup with plenty of line and a heavy fluorocarbon leader. Kite fish are often big, and you’ll be fighting them a long way from the boat.
- Bait. Rigged flying fish are the classic big-bluefin kite bait. Live mackerel and big sardines work too.
Setting it up
- Get upwind. The kite has to fly downwind of the boat, so position yourself upwind of where the fish are working.
- Launch the kite and let out line until it’s flying steady.
- Clip in the fishing line. Attach your line to the release clip and send the clip out along the kite line.
- Set the bait height. Wind the fishing line until the bait just skips or splashes on the surface. Too high and it hangs in the air; too low and it sinks and drowns.
- Keep adjusting. The wind changes, and so does the bait height. Someone needs to watch it the whole time.
When a fish eats
The bait disappears in a big boil and the line pops free. Point the rod at the fish, let it come tight and fight it like any other big tuna. Bring the kite down or out of the way so the fishing line doesn’t tangle with it.
No wind? Use a balloon
On a glassy morning a kite won’t fly. A helium balloon does the same job: tie it to the line above the bait, let it drift away from the boat and the bait hangs right at the surface below it.
Tips
- Practise before the trip. Launching and adjusting a kite in a light chop with fish around is no time to learn.
- Watch the boat’s drift. Keep the boat positioned so the bait stays in the fish’s path.
- Don’t crowd other boats. A kite line is long, and other skippers won’t see it easily. Give everyone room.
- Be patient. Kite fishing is slow until it suddenly isn’t.