This article has been published at https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-news/aerokontiki-gets-even-smarter/
Building on the technological achievements made by the Sports, and Strike models, the Evolution series AeroKontiki brings further refinement and additional features making it truly a world leader in Kontiki Drone Fishing.
The Evolution series, now with the ability to take a full 25 hook payload, out a distance of up to 1km from shore, means the Evolution is able to compete with traditional torpedo kontiki platforms. With the simplicity of connecting to any Electric reel, Game reel, or light winch, you can now quickly take your baits out to productive fishing grounds, and precisely drop them into place.
Peace of mind is provided with the AeroKontiki system, as it doesn’t leave your expensive hauling device out at sea, with risk to snags, breakages, or theft causing you to lose your investment. Instead the AeroKontiki uses a custom line release mechanism to drop the baits and sinkers into the water, and allows you to fly it back to shore whilst leaving your baits out fishing.
For those that want even more simplicity, instead of flying back to shore yourself, the AeroKontiki has an automatic and very accurate return to home function activated by a switch just on top of the controller, with a flick of this switch, it flies your AeroKontiki back to where it took off from, and will land by itself.
Setting up the AeroKontiki for fishing is easy, and with a few quick start-up procedures, it is ready to haul your line out. Set up your reel and connect the backbone, attach your baited traces to the backbone, choose and attach the weight of sinkers you need; this will vary according to the location and currents at the time. Generally an 8oz sinker at the start and end of your backbone is all you need. Once this is all set up, connect the battery on the AeroKontiki, and it will start getting GPS lock. While the Aerokontiki is preparing itself, connect the end of the backbone to the release mechanism located under the AeroKontiki. Now put your reel into free spool, it pays to check this twice, and you are ready to fly.
Just before taking off, stand back and check your surroundings, make sure there are no animals or people too close, and also check out to sea for swimmers, kayaks, and boats. It pays at this time to check on the horizon also for any boats that may be travelling, as they may cross your intended flight path. Once you have an all clear; start the AeroKontiki using the flight controls, lift off, and whilst lifting upwards, push slightly forward, this will ensure that your traces do not get tangled while taking off. Climb up to around 60 metres from the ground, this height will ensure all the backbone and sinkers are in the air. This height means baits are not washed out and have full fish attracting scent when they are dropped, and it also reduces drag whilst hauling them out. Now start flying towards your desired fishing spot. The Evolution series is programmed with a speed control so that the line is not pulled from the reel too fast; this ensures the longevity of the reel, as the AeroKontiki is capable of flying very fast.
Once you have reached your desired fishing spot, pause, look around again, while you are not touching any of the fight sticks the AeroKontiki will hover in place with its internal GPS system stabilising its location and height. Pausing here is important; as you want to be sure that there are no vessels or people near. The last thing anyone expects out on the water is a sinker and fishing line being dropped out of the sky. Once you are sure it’s safe, fly the AeroKontiki forward slightly again to straighten out the line, and after a few seconds, toggle the release switch and drop the line; now you are fishing.
Press the automatic return to home switch, and have the AeroKontiki fly itself back to the take-off location, and land by itself, or do so manually if desired.
The next generation Evolution has introduced such advanced technology that it can deploy your longline all by itself. By using an application on your Android mobile phone or tablet, you can select a drop location from a map (see right image) and the Evolution Aerokontiki will automate the whole process. It will take off, fly out to the location you selected on screen, drop the baits in the water, then fly itself back to the beach and land! Incredible, this is the stuff of science fiction legend.
Deploying your longline with the AeroKontiki is no longer the slow process such as that of the traditional Kontiki, you don’t need to get your feet wet launching, you also don’t need to wait half an hour for your line to get to its required fishing location. The AeroKontiki will literally have your baits in the right location in a few minutes, meaning more fishing time in the right spot. New features are being added constantly by the inventor and builder of the AeroKontiki, Kyle Parshotam of Envirobotics Ltd. This is a New Zealand company with all sales, assembly, and support being New Zealand based. Such feature upgrades are normally provided through software updates, which Kyle is happy to undertake by just dropping your AeroKontiki back to him, he can also give it a check over at the same time.
An example of constant innovation is the very recent safety feature which provides a “low shelf point”. This means that you cannot accidentally send the AeroKontiki into the water. Once you have flown more than 30 metres away from your take off site, the low shelf point activates, and then it will not allow you to fly down below 15 metres in altitude, it will also create a ceiling that limits your height to no more than 60 metres. Additionally to ensure you don’t keep flying out to sea, there is a geofence that will stop the Aerokontiki from going more than 1000 metres away from the launch site.
Most drones are designed to be “fast to manufacture” consumer devices, the AeroKontiki however is purpose designed and hand built to exacting standards, in order to make it a serious and powerful fishing machine. Because of this, the Evolution is capable of hauling out heavy loads, but this capability is not limited to fishing lines, it can also be used as a high performance camera platform. Heavy DSLR camera systems are no hassle for the Evolution to carry, or can even carry multiple action cameras in order to capture different angles simultaneously. There is ample space available on the AeroKontiki frame to custom install your preferred gimbal system.
The AeroKontiki is definitely not a kids flying toy, it is a sophisticated aerial vehicle, and as such there are custom insurance packages available to cover your investment. AeroKontiki has worked with AON Insurance and together have created a specific “AeroKontiki Aviation Insurance” (AAI). This covers you for an “agreed value” damage or loss, whether during use or in transit. It also covers you for malicious damage, and even liability insurance up to $500,000. Whilst we wish we never need insurance, this definitely gives peace of mind that you are safe and protected. Cover is available for your AeroKontiki and if desired can even cover your fishing gear. For those considering a Kontiki fishing system, you would do yourself a favour considering an AeroKontiki Fishing Drone, to find more information and contact details, visit the Aerokontitki website
Summary of features of the Evolution series AeroKontiki • Android App Control, send drone out automatically by tapping a map location on screen • 25 hook hauling capacity – replaces traditional torpedo kontiki’s • Faster GPS satellite lock and deployment • More than 1km range (limited by physical sight requirements) • Easy to learn to fly • Automatic return to home and landing system
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