Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

Kite fishing makes sense .Why isn't it more popular?By Warren 0 . (Stormy) WeathersKites can provide the boatless fishermanaccess to waters that have beenheretofore available only to boats .Conversely, for boat owners, kites providea way to fish in areas where it isnot safe to take their boats ; the kite ineffect provides a half-mile long extensionto the fishing rod in the boat .Kites can also be used for trolling whenengines are stopped, to conserve fuel .In short, kite fishing makes sense .THE BIG MOUTH &PELICAN SLEDSBy W .O . (Stormy) WeathersPaul Sroka's laterally vented sledscaled down to two feet vertically,makes a great fishing kite . Never oncehas a two-foot Sroka shamed itself orembarrassed me by collapsing ordiving into the drink .In kite fishing there are times whena two-foot kite just isn't large enough,so I scaled the Sroka kites up to fourfeet, and ran head-on into the collapsething that has plagued the larger sledkites from the beginning . Having beenled to believe that vent shape and sizewould solve the collapse problem, Ibuilt a kite on which I could tapepanels with various vent shapes andarrangements . After I had tried ventsshaped like hearts, diamonds, clubs,spades, the Maltese cross, the swastikaand the bar sinster, I concluded thatat best vents only cured the symptomsof a basic fault in the sled design .I discovered that a sled collapses forthe same reason that a flag flutters inthe wind . In a slightly gusty wind,collapse starts in one of two ways : (1)A fold about two inches wide fluttersdownward in the middle of the centerpanel's leading edge . The wind catchesthis fold, exaggerates it and slams thekite shut . Or : (2) A flutter forms aninward fold on the bridle flap's leadingedge . The wind rolls the flap under,and the whole kite rolls up, sometimesso neatly that if you slip a rubber bandaround it, you are ready to go home .Fortunately, there is a way to virtuallyeliminate these two modes ofcollapse ; you merely angle the sticksinwards towards each other from topto bottom . In other words, you givethe kite a big mouth .Angling the sticks this way reducesthe chance of the covering materialbecoming parallel to the wind, aposition that causes flutter to develop .The big mouth scoops in enough air tobuild up a slight pressure inside thekite, which also helps to prevent flutter .As a result, the forms of collapse describedare no longer much of a problem .Why isn't it more popular? Many reasons,but probably the biggest is thememories of kites we flew as kids . Nobodywas likely to try fishing with oneof those, and if he did, he wouldn't trya second time . Kite fishing with oneof the 39¢ kites requires that the kitefisherman be more skilled as a kiteflierthan as a fisherman .But things have changed . Thanks tothe improved kites both on the marketand out of the home workshop, flyingcan be done in winds from about sixknots to around 36 knots . My ownchoice is a sled-type kite made fromwaterproof polyethylene sheeting(trash bag) . The kite rolls up neatly forMATERIALS• 1/8" diam . hardwood dowels• 3/4 " masking tape• 1/2" strapp ing t ape• Plastic trash bag, size as needed . (Forlarger kites you can split a bag downone side and across the bottom to geta double-size cover .)INSTRUCTIONSPrepare CoverLay the pattern out on paper first, asfollows : Fold the paper along thecenter line, making sure the fold isat right angles to the top (match thefolded halves) . Draw half your pattern,then draw a pattern inside thefirst, but % " smaller on all sides . Youshould now have the half pattern out-