A fishing kite should ideally be large enough to tow the longline out in reasonably light winds as well as strong winds over a range of tide rip conditions. It must also be stable throughout its wind range.

Paul's Fishing Kites have spent 14 years perfecting their Delta design kites. This is why our Delta Kites have such phenomial wind ranges.

Delta kites make the best fishing kites because they allow tacking of up to 60 degrees (simply by creating drag on the side of the kite you wish it to fly to).

This enables the kitefisher to fish in winds that blow straight up or down the beach or any offshore angle.

A quality fishing kite must have built in safety features to protect the kite should it enter the water.

Only kites constructed of the finest kitemaking materials and incorporating the most reliable safety features will stand up to the rigorous demands of kitefishing and be able to fly in all conditions that are fishable.

Fishers who want a big rig should choose the type of rig best suited to the area where most of their fishing will take place.

For those who intend to fish mainly the west coast a Dropper Rig will allow fishing in harbour mouths, channels and on the open coast in strong rip conditions that prevail when the surf is over 2 metres high.

Over an average year a west coast kitefisher using a Dropper Rig would be able to successfully fish around twice as often as a kitefisher using a Bottom Longline Rig.

There are three popular sizes of Dropper Rigs. The smallest is able to be run from any small fishing rod and reel combination on 8 kg to15 kg lines.

Because small fishing reels are unable to handle large loads over a long period of time, Dropper Rigs made up on small reels need small kites that do not provide too much pull, particularly in strong winds.

Paul's Fishing Kites developed their own design of Pocket Sled Kites expressly for this purpose.

Our Pocket Sled Kites get rigidity from the wind blowing down two tunnels on either side of the kite and the tapered body gives an additional ram air effect.

Unfortunately Pocket Sleds are extremely difficult to tack which means to fish these rigs the wind needs to be 45 degrees or more offshore.

Pocket Sled Kites are best suited to line weights of 8 to 15 kg as they only provide 250 to 750 grams of pull. These rigs are designed to be used single handed and run 2 to 3 hooks per set.

Thresher shark pictures from Robin Hutchinson

One of the most versatile single handed Dropper Rigs is a 20 to 30 kg rig run from either a 9/0 or bigger fishing reel or a beach reel using a Paul's Flexiwing Kite.

These rigs need a small delta kite that provides around 1- 2 kg of constant pull. Kite fishers using these rigs frequently run up to 10 hooks on the east coast and up to 5 hooks on the west coast.

Above : First time ever shark fishing with his Paul's fishing kites flexiwing rig, Robin Hutchinson caught this thresher shark and a snapper. The thresher shark was taken in the Bay of Plenty and was released after taking the only kite caught thresher shark pictures we have on file.

Using the delta type kite on this rig allows experienced fishers to fish with the wind straight up or down the beach or any offshore angle.

Because of the larger wind range of the delta kite, fishers with these rigs get many more fishing opportunities than those with the Pocket Sled Rigs.

The biggest Dropper Rigs are capable of setting up to 20 hooks per set and use mainline weights of 45 to 65 kg.

While some of these rigs only use a single delta kite, most kite fishers have either an auxiliary kite called a Skyhook, which is flown in tandem with the main kite, or they use two delta kites to keep the mainline airborne for up to 1500 metres offshore.

The kites on big Dropper Rigs should provide 5 to 10 kgs of pull to keep the mainline supported clear of the water.

As a general rule the best rig for those who are serious about catching quality fish and intend to do most of their fishing by themselves, is a mid sized Flexiwing Kite powered Dropper Rig made up on 800 metres or more of 20 to 30 kg line.

This would be the optimum choice regardless of where they will be fishing.

The kite on a Bottom Longline Rig is flown from 110 metres of 48 to 65 kg nylon and must provide from 3 kg to 10 kg of pull depending on rip conditions on the day and the size of the longline nylon being hauled out.

As with sails on a yacht, the size of the kite must be in balance with the weight of the gear being towed if optimum performance is to be achieved.

For those who wish to fish the clear sandy beaches of the east coast where the prevailing conditions are much easier to kitefish, the hugely productive kite powered Bottom Longline Rig is far and away the best choice.

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