How to Fly a Kite With a Fishing Reel
Make your way to any large body of water over the weekend and likely as not, you’ll see a rather large number of people standing around with fishing poles in their hands. Yet a good number of these people are not fishing. Many hobbyists have repurposed their old fishing rods into a new control mechanism for flying their kites.
Items Needed:
- A fishing rod with a reel filled with a 12 to 30 pound test line
- A kite
- A clip swivel
- Choose Your Rod: Offshore reels will work best for medium to large kites but if you’re planning on this being a child activity, then choose a simple, close-faced spin casting reel. Just be sure to tell the children to never press the release button when flying their kite or they’ll lose it completely.
- Attach the Kite to the Rod: If not already full, load your reel with monofilament line and fit it to the pole just as you would for fishing. Attach the clip swivel to the center of the kite on the cross bar and tie the fishing line to the swivel in a strong knot.
- Fly Your Kite: Launch the kite by allowing a small amount of slack in the line, and then leverage the length of the rod itself to direct the kite into the wind. Once the wind has truly caught the kite, slowly release the tension on the reel to allow the kite to gain more altitude. Once in the air, adjust your drag setting on the reel so that the kite will rise slowly and be easier to control. Allowing the kite to rise swiftly in a strong wind will make it difficult to stop and will risk breaking your line. When done flying, apply a steady tension to the line to avoid uneven spooling and reel the kite in.