If the sight of a yellowfin tuna jumping into the air in hot pursuit of a fleeing flying fish doesn’t get a person’s adrenaline pumping, a complete physical exam is a good idea.
However, the awesome sight of a tuna leaping after a bait is something many anglers never get to see. Even better is the sound of a big offshore reel screaming as a yellowfin strips line from it after splashing back into the ocean with the bait in its mouth.
Capt. Mike Webb of Pelagic Sportfishing in Atlantic Beach supplies this sight regularly.
Last year while offshore of Atlantic Beach between the 90 Foot Drop and the Big Rock, his crew had been catching dolphins and wahoos for a couple of hours when he said: “Do you want to see something really special?”
Even though the fishing trip that was only a few hours old and had started well, his question seemed a little odd — but it grabbed everyone’s attention.
“What do you have in mind?” I asked.
I thought I knew what he was about to suggest and, having heard good comments regarding his success, I was curious to see for myself.
“I’ve been experimenting with trolling lures under a kite and sometimes it really gets the tuna excited,” Webb said. “I’ve been hoping we’d get enough wind to try it, and it’s just getting there.
“If we can find tuna, it’s really something to see and sometimes they’re right here where we’ve been catching dolphin, but just aren’t interested in these baits.
“Occasionally they go absolutely nuts and even jump all the way out of the water chasing the baits.”
Webb brought out a short rod with an older Penn 6/0 reel filled with 80-pound-test Power Pro small-diameter superbraid line and rigged it with several smaller swivels. Outrigger clips already were on the line. Then he brought out a kite unlike any fishing kite I’d seen.
Webb said the kite was a Parafoil 5 that wasn’t designed as a fishing kite but did the job well. He said he thought the kite was available at most kite shops (he purchased the kite at Kitty Hawk Kites at Nags Head).
Webb said the Parafoil 5 came in two configurations: one with a longer single tail and the other with multiple shorter tails. He prefers the multiple-tail version as it’s more stable in the air.
Webb unfolded the kite and attached its bridle to a small snap swivel at the end of the line on the short rod. He moved to the stern of the boat, held the kite up to catch the breeze and began feeding out line to let the kite fly.
Three release clips were sliding down the line and, as the kite reached about 75 feet from the stern, a small swivel came through the rod’s tip.Two of the release clips slid across and below this swivel, while the other rested on its upper eye.
At this point, Webb reached back for a stand-up outfit and attached an unusual-looking homemade flying-fish lure.He dropped the lure back behind the boat and attached the line to the upper release clip.
Now he began letting more line out on the kite rod and the clip went upwards and out, taking the lure with it.After about 50 feet of line, a second, slightly larger swivel came through the rod tip and the second release clip rested on its upper eye, while the third again slid across it.
To this, Webb added another of the homemade lures on a second stand-up outfit and began letting out more line on the kite rod.At about another 50 feet of line a third swivel, slightly larger than the second, came through the rod tip and the final release clip rested on its upper eye.
“If the wind were blowing just a little stiffer, I would put out three lines under the kite, but I don’t think it will fly right holding three today, so I’m only going to use two,” Webb said.
He turned the boat to work down the weed line, and we were quartering into the wind. Noting the direction of the kite off the boat, he let out a little more line, then locked the drag on the Penn 6/0, placing it and the short rod in a rod holder on the back of the leaning post.Now he was satisfied with the location of the kite and quickly adjusted the lures so they were skipping across the water.
With a broad smile and a wink, Webb suggested we pay attention to the lures if we wanted to catch the show.
The kite was off the port with lures dangling below, but Webb’s boat also trolled four conventional lines near a small weed line.
As a small dolphin crashed one of the conventional baits, pandemonium began.
Go to our archives to read the rest of this story, which first appeared in the April 2006 issue of North Carolina Sportsman. Subscribe to ensure you don’t miss a single information-packed issue.
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