May 20, 2003

"Bugger", I missed the club day fishing at Muriwai on Sunday.

On the Monday the wind is still right for the west coast, strong north to northeast. I had some catching up to do and did I ever!

Three sets of 10 hooks produced 14 snapper, five gurnard, two sharks and one kahawai that finished up as bait. That is a catch rate of 73%. Six of the snapper averaged around four kilograms each.

On the beach I had quite a group of Asian onlookers eager to help.

Of course, when the second set came in and I had nine fish flapping on the beach from the 10 hooks set, the whole crowd buzzed around me like blowflies in heat.

So I gave 3 gurnard and the 2 sharks to one gentleman who did not want me to return the fish to the sea.

By using Paul's Target Hooks, not one fish was gut hooked.

Actually, no trace has been lost either.

My onlookers wanted to know a lot more about kite fishing so I wrote down our kitefishing email address a dozen times or so.

I didn't mind giving the fish away either, I still had to carry over 30kg of snapper to the car with a smile.

May 2, 2003

Muriwai again, I just love that beach. Forecast was for 25 knots of northeast winds gusting to 35 knots. Who cares about the gusts or the rain as long as the direction of the wind is right?

Well, the met service was 100% right this time. It was a shocker of a day. Two more hardy kite fishers braved the elements as well.

My first set with my Super Kite ended with the kite taking a dive of no return about 100 metres out, the cross spar broke.

I retrieved the kite okay, no problems. I tried again with the Nighthawk Kite; this one also became very unstable in the gusty conditions and spiralled into the sea.

Fortunately, while pulling the line back in, the kite took a wave as a platform and took off again. Having a float on the kites saved the kites both times. I pulled the whole lot back in anyway.

A few more adjustments, I took the bottle float off and replaced it with 36oz of weights. The bottom weight on the mainline was changed for a Paul's "rolling weight" with 4 wheels.

To increase stability, I put the bridle and drogue from my Flexiwing Kite on the back of the Nighthawk Kite and used the Flexiwing 10-hook section as well.

The first set took off and did it ever go as the winds gusted to 35 knots. Casting a worried eye on the Nighthawk I saw it was as steady as a rock and making good progress. By now one of my fellow kite fishers had gone home, the other was having a go with the surf rod.

The first set of the day produced two snapper, and one kahawai. I cut the kahawai up for bait straight away. The second set produced 2 more snapper, two gurnard and my first stingray, which made a right mess of my hook section.

Not mucking around untangling this mess, I just replaced the hook section with a new 5-hook section and away it went again. All day it rained and rained, but who cares when you're catching fish!

The third set was a beauty, three snapper, a gurnard and one trace bitten off hook from only 5 hooks set.

On packing my kites away I noticed in astonishment that the cross spar on the Nighthawk had developed a permanent bow without breaking. Guessing that when the kite took a ditch and became wet it also became flexible and worked on the principle of the Flexiwing Kite. The picture above was taken in my garage, the first dry place I came to when I arrived home.

We used a mixture of salted mullet and salted bonito for bait and generally caught four or five fish per set except for the second set that had about nine dogfish on it.

Due to these critters being about we lost about 15 hooks and a number of floating beads.

Photo Top: One of the critters and floating bead

Photo Left :

One of the better kahawai for the day

Keep up the good work on an interesting site

Cheers

Nathan Kean

I ordered two of Paul's kites last year and finally got the wind going in the right direction for my pocket sled. I set three hooks and put on some kind of rockfish for bait. WOW, I never had so much fun.

I couldn't believe I was actually kite fishing. I am from America but live in Japan and they don't do any kitefishing over here. If they do I've never seen it.

Anyway, I put out three sets and the first two got nothing but the third produced a shark. The locals couldn't believe it.

Back to my shark story. During the last set it was time to reel in to see what we got.

Well, the line was so tight I thought if I pulled any harder the line would snap.

It was out about 200 meters and I knew it was snagged on something.

I couldn't believe I was on the verge of losing my kite, gear and possible catch so I decided to swim out there and free it up.

Yes, this is how crazy this kite fishing stuff made me.

The water was real cold.

I swam out with scissors in my pocket just in case I had to cut the rig line.

My wife was watching all the time with binoculars.

I got out there, pulled the line free with a good pull, and felt it give. I could tell there was something there by the weight of it.

It didn't move so I thought it was seaweed.

I got to shore pulled it all in and low and behold a shark. My son was so happy. He had always asked me if every time we go fishing if we are going to get a shark like the video did. I took pictures and will send them also.

It was my first time and to get a shark was just icing on the cake for me. I just can't wait to go out again.

Regards Doug

P.S. I could swim out this time because of the calmness of the water and the distance was only about 200 meters. What should I do if its snagged and its out farther and the water is rough? How do I save my kite at the least?

Ed : The safety trace between the hook section and dropper line should be 10% weaker than the line between the kite and reel. If snagged the safety trace should break losing the hook section but allowing the kite to be retrieved. Personally I would never swim out to recover fishing gear after being tangled in it several times when I was a commercial diver.

Paul

Muriwai Report from Paul Frost

I recently went to Muriwai two kilometres up from stream. We had a nice northeaster of 10 knots but the kite longline rig got caught in the dreaded Muriwai Rip. Any suggestions or help please?

We did pick up a gurnard and a kahawai for the smoker!!!

Ed:

• A Skyhook will increase the pull and improve you chances of beating the rip.
• A Power Chute kite will vastly increase the pull and will beat all but the worst rips in very light wind conditions.
• The Mega Mouth kite provides so much pull that most people can't pull them down in winds over 15 knots (they walk them down). A Mega Mouth kite WILL beat any rip in winds over six knots.
• The running shot is a clever method of beating the rip if you don't want to purchase another kite.
• Rolling Weights allow the kite to tow the mainline out more easily and sometimes those with rolling weights don't use a float bottle further reducing the effect of the rip on the rig.
• Read Francis Sewak and Geoff Prestons reports in this newsletter re power chutes and mega mouth kites.

Hope this helps

Paul

Kite Fishing Report from U.S.A.

Mike Suarez of Maryland, USA, recently reported that he was using his Flexiwing Rig earlier this month in Cape Hatteras and caught a couple of large Blue fish and some Rays.