Sunday while sailing under full sail out of Port Towsend on the NW corner of the rip at Point Wilson we caught lots of silvers in the 3 to 4 pound range and all were clipped.

There were only a couple others out fishing and one boat was flying a kite off the stern of his boat. Did not get close enough to see if he was using it like they do in some parts of the country to get live bait further out. Anyone know about fishing with a kite here in the Pacific Northwest? If so how is it done?

My Dad grew up on Long Island in New york, and told me about how they Kite fished to get bait out past the swells from shore.

They used a clip similar to a downrigger offshore release clip we use today.
Let the kite way out past the breakers, and give it a good tug, bait releases and drops into the water.

There has to be an offshore wind of course, but that was the prevailing wind on the east side of long island. They caught alot of blues this way.

I've never seen kite fishing in the NW, but I have seen shore anglers on the Columbia who rigged giant sling shots on the back of their trucks (we're talking 4'-5' high, 3'-4' across) to shoot their 2lb weights and bait into the middle of the river for sturgeon. Pretty impressive throws, let me tell you.

A couple years ago I saw some guys on the north getty on the Columbia using balloons as bobbers to get there bait out. They just let the wind carry the balloon out into the river.
But I havent seen any kite fishers around here.

I've also seen trolling with kites for sail fish. These guys where using flying fish and they let then skate on the surface.

I saw some kite fishing while I was in Sarasota Fl. earlier this year. Didn't get to do and don't know to much about it..

Could you imagine fishing one of the Bubbles around the PS and there where a bunch of people kite fishing?? You think people get pi$$ed now...

Kite fishing

They kitefish in New Zealand as well. I'm actually looking into this as an alternative to having to use one of those huge 15' surfcasters.

http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/htmfiles/kite.htm

I grew up in Port Townsend, and now have made it all the way across the water to Whidbey , and have never seen anyone kite fishing before.

As you suggested, I think they were just flying a kite, as I can think of no reason to bother with a kite when fishing.

I have a hard enough time with one line in the water, let alone a second and a kite!

I know that when I go fly a kite I use the lower end of my salmon rod and reel . Perhaps that is what you seen out there on the water?

Using a rod&reel to fly a kite works pretty good. But I don't think that's what he was doing. I should have mentioned that this guy had a commercial name on the side of his boat but can't remember the name, most likely a guide. It would be interesting to know why he was flying the kite because as said you really don't need one to catch silvers out there. Hey maybe sailfish or Marlin have traveled North!
Mystery unsolved for now.

A guy was trying to fly his kite without much success. It would get up about 20 feet then flip over and crash to the ground. I walked over to him and told him if he had more tail, it would be better. He said to me that he told his wife he needed more tail, and she told him to go fly a kite.