Fishing tales aboard MAXIMVS: Flying the kite

[John F]

After more than 2 months out of the big blue due to a herniated disk and work (also the weather has been upside down), and with recent reports of finally some fish being caught, I was itching to launch.

The NE has been pumping every day and we decided it was time to try some kite fishing. So on the 24th we had a short session inside the bay just to try and play with the kite and see how it all works. If we could get a fish for the table that would be super!!!!

Launched at half past 7 and got back just shy of 3 pm. The plan was to troll for some couta and then catch live bait at the buoys.

The water temp was 24.7-25.6o C and very murky. We only found cleaner water around the ship anchoring area at the entrance of the bay. No couta or any other fish wanted our offerings so looked for bait in the shallows around Cockburn. The NE was pumping 12-14 knots (the main reason we didn't venture to the deep) and after a while we managed to catch some Russell's scads (about 12-15 cm long).

Put the kite up and rigged a couple of baits. the first 10 min were a bit chaotic... getting the theory and practice together takes time!!!!

We got it right eventually and drifted for a while. Got a bite and my brother fought a nice fish on the lighter setup. Must say it was a pleasure fighting a fish and still having more than one line in the water out of the way! We got to a point where we had 4 lines out: 2 on the kite, 1 on the baloon and another flat line on a small sinker. No tangles!!! Could have jigged or fished for bottoms if we wanted!!!

Anyway a nice 10 kg YFT was quickly reeled in and all necessary procedures (pics/bleeding/icing) were followed! Perfect hook up in the scissors with the circle hook!!!

We hooked a small hammerhead shark as well, which was released.

Came back trolling to see if a couta would grace our xmas table but it wasn't meant to be.

All in all a great day and awesome first experience with the kite. Definitely part of the arsenal on MAXIMVS!!!

Have a great 2019 chaps!

[Serra Moz]

Thanks for sharing BRADA !! Hope you had a blessed day with the family..... Not 2019 yet, but "tight lines" for 2019 !!

[FishStyx]

Thanks for the report Marcos... I must say, if you are unable to fish, last thing you want to see it idyllic weather and everyone else catching. Sound like fun tho. I had no idea that blokes kite fish off a boat, but as you say, it can help a lot to keep lines away from the spaghetti pot.

[John F]

It's very popular in Florida.... I'm hooked for sure. And with the constant wind here I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of it...

[HooknCook]

Nicely done Marcos!!

[peterblace]

congrats on catching my fish's brother Prego's son caught Saturday
and congrats on the kite fishing technique...a lot to explore...you need to go to the baloon shop next door and grab a helium baloon the night before lauching

[Cam Mundy]

Nice work on the kites its a great method of fishing but takes a lot of monitoring definitely not a set it and forget it method. I figured it wouldn't really catch on in SA as our boats tend to be trolling machines and pretty cluttered.

[John F]

Yeap you're right Cam.... gotta keep an eye on the baits all the time!!

It appealed to me for 2 reasons:

I like to experiment and try new techniques/methods. Can't stand trolling all day. in fishing or in life I hate monotony...

The second is after many years I realized I needed some exciting method to fill the mid day gap... In general we get bites in the morning and late afternoon. kite fishing seemed like a great idea to fill that gap whilst simultaneously fishing other methods (drifting dead baits, balloons, bottoms or even popping/jigging...

that fact that the wind blows 85% of the time here is certainly another factor.

[John F]

you need to go to the baloon shop next door and grab a helium baloon the night before lauching

Still trying to figure out a way of sorting the helium problem. BTW is helium readily available is SA? Can one refill helium containers?

[SAfish]

  Well done Marcos, I am sure you are going to catch a lot more fish with this setup.

[FishStyx]

Helium is not a problem... Like most gasses, bottles are rented and refilled at a cost. I used to have one of those advertising blimps that you can only fly on the calmest of calm days but the helium costs ended up grounding it.

[John F]

Managed to get a helium tank at a certain chinese-owned toys shop here, for 3500 mets about R786, which sounds good to me - that's about 175 mets/balloon. Should last a year...

Now, I need to find out if anybody refills it locally. According to the shop these are supposed to be thrown away...