Balloon Fishing

[camboy]

So Managed to get hold of some bait this evening and went down to the Sonwabe to finally test out my balloon Rig. Rigged up a full Pilly with 2 hooks no sinker and 2 balloons, one hook in the head and the other in the tail. Dropped the balloon in the water and waited.... slowley but surely the line went out.... but i had no idea where on earth the balloon went as the sun had just gone down and with the dark clouds covering it was completely dark. Reeled in the line and threw 2 glo stick inside one of the Balloons..... now i could see exactly how where i was laying.

Back into the water it went.....with the NW pumping the water was very flat which allowed the balloons to get out very easily. it took about 20 minutes for my bait which was fairly heave to get out about 360m. I could hardly see the balloons anymore. Sat there for about 10 minutes and then .... KNock.... KNock .... TUG.... VAS...... at least thats what i thought... started reeling in what felt like a solid fish (could've been because of the added drag of the balloons) ended up coming off the hook about 200m out. on inspection the Back end of the pilchard was bitten off.... ELF Perhaps?

What i did note is that when retrieving the balloons create quite a bit of drag in the water, this can be good if the fish is running away, but the adverse is also true once you have turned the fish and you're trying to retrieve line.

Second point to note is that when balloon fishing, Circle hooks are a must! There is just no way you will be able to set a hook while you are standing with 300m of line in the water suspended by a balloon, just no way you will be effective no matter how hard you try.

next bait was a light pilly Fillet on a 3/0 hook. this bait i really struggled to get out as the waves (the little that there was) just kept brining it back out. Then i made an interesting discovery.... by holding the rod straight up and slowley feathering the line out, you are actually able to FLY the bait over at least the 1st 2/3 breakers minimising the effect of the backwash. i would however advise a 3oz sinker perhaps as this works more effectively.

it then started raining and i packed up and hit the road. No fish Landed, but an insightful trip nonetheless. It is a work in progress, we will see how it goes....

 

[Abaddon]

Great post guy!

We have had limited success with our attempts in this pursuit but will get it right.

You using regular 'party' type balloons? I found they simply did not catch enough wind to get our large baits out to any desired distance. Often I tried sending say a whole yellowtail or some other combo of bait that would come in close to 1Kg. I then took to adding a condom along with the bright coloured party balloons. This gave me visibility as well as a larger wind surface thus enabling the rig to be moved.

Like previously mentioned, we had trouble making any progress as the wind was not playing the game on this particular day. I subsequently have not tried it again but will soon!

Brighton Pier offers a great platform to practice this method as it gets you behind the back line from the onset as well as giving you exposure to just about all the wind that is about. Anything with a westerly inclination will suffice although the NW are better in my opinion.. Not a wind that blows too often here in PE..

Will keep in touch and we see how this goes. May be interesting to post a monster catch using this method..

 

[DJP]

Cool post. The way you let out the line is similar to what fly fisherman call mending, by releasing the tension on the line you minimize the drag. I'm sure you will be successfully shortly, just a pity the NW isn't exactly the best wind for that side of falsebay, but that first NW after a few days of SE VAS! Good luck!

 

[camboy]

@abbandon Yes normal "party" Balloons were used (2 balloons) my bait however is nowhere near 1kg. i only target edibles at the moment

@DJP i know the NW is not the ideal wind for fishing, and the way it was pumping yesterday made the water as flat as it can ever get. the only problem with this Balloon fishing is, you need "the wrong" wind in order to get the rig out, so its a bit of a gamble. my theory is though, with your bait 300m out it doesn't matter which way the wind is blowing and what the waves look like, you are way behind it anyway so that shouldn't be that big a factor...... @least that's my theory, might be wrong

 

[kaspaas]

The problem with baiting up with fishbait and fishing 300 meter out, will inevitably attract inedibles rather than edibles. My experience with this method anyway.

 

[Richard Ohagan]

Hi Camboy, this method can be quite productive on ocation, you wont have to worry about the drag caused by the baloons when you have a decent fish on the line, when the fish takes a run it normaly pops the baloon, so they dont feature anymore, good luck with future attempts.

 

[Fluffy]

JIp buddy.put your balloons on a piece of 0.27mm line.tie it with a normal overhand knot x2,cut the line after the knot of about 1mm from the knot.so when you have a fish on you the presure from the fish or yourself would release the ballon on the knot.as well.that far out use a length of thick nylon(if targeting edibles) but stil put a bite trace on(hidden in bait). make the trace 1.5m or more.and if you can add a small ball sinker ontop of the hooks.since your balloon is floating on top with moving water(due to the wind) your bait will be on the surface totaly.....otherwise pop the baloon,put a 3 ounce sinker on the trace somewhere.and wait with the bait 300m out on the bottom atleast....

 

[Marthin]

camboy... but it could work VERY VERY well with a SE at any of the westcoast spots... i'm thinking ganzekraal, Bontkop, Haakgat, Melkbos itself towards Slabberts etc. Dwarskersbos.... you might be onto a winner here...

I would suggest like fluffy said above... 4kg breaking strain from baloon to a swivel with your trace coming from there... a decent tug by either yourself or a fish should break that off clean....

 

[griff]

When I am spooling on new line with a line counter I put thin markers on my spool so I know how far out the line is. First marker 400m from the leader, then 300m and lastly 200m. Don't bother any further as if you also use the reel for casting there is no point.
We went to family planning clinic and got a party box of government issue condoms. Work well one inside another and cost nothing, also come in a protective cover so leaving them in your tackle box they don't get damaged. If the wind is chucking use one in another, tie a knot at the bottom and attach to you main line with baiting cotton or very light line. If the wind is not to strong then do as above but put two of them on the main line.
With this way of tying on when the bait gets out, tighten up you line, drop your rod low, turn your back to the water run like mad and strike violently at the same time. The idea is to break the baiting cotton and your bait drops at that distance.
You can use the same technique to just transport out a live bait.
Wait until you hook a monster at that distance!!!! Arm pump like riding enduro. Resist all temptation to let out more line.

 

[camboy]

imported post

 

[Shawshank]

I used a balloon behind my boat in the Swartkops Estuary this weekend with a live mullet. The reason I chose this method is to expose the live mullet at mid depth and to prevent the line fouling on the bottom. This method will definitely be effective and will be attempted more often by me in the future. I am going to experiment with different methods and will be posting pictures soon.

 

[camboy]

I clearly am no artist

 

[kaspaas]

Marthin wrote:

camboy... but it could work VERY VERY well with a SE at any of the westcoast spots... i'm thinking ganzekraal, Bontkop, Haakgat, Melkbos itself towards Slabberts etc. Dwarskersbos.... you might be onto a winner here...

I would suggest like fluffy said above... 4kg breaking strain from baloon to a swivel with your trace coming from there... a decent tug by either yourself or a fish should break that off clean....

@Marthin, you might be onto something here. I've been toying with this idea for some time but didn't know how. From Slabber se Klip there is an open area in the kelp before you get the next reef. I have always said that one should get your bait in between the two reefs in deep water. OK, one will have to contend with the Cow sharks, but shouldn't one also encounter Geelbek and Cob there?

... and I have a whole box of Government issue condoms that have passed their "use before" dates that can be put to good use....

 

[Marthin]

correct

 

[Fluffy]

kaspaas wrote:

Marthin wrote:

camboy... but it could work VERY VERY well with a SE at any of the westcoast spots... i'm thinking ganzekraal, Bontkop, Haakgat, Melkbos itself towards Slabberts etc. Dwarskersbos.... you might be onto a winner here...

I would suggest like fluffy said above... 4kg breaking strain from baloon to a swivel with your trace coming from there... a decent tug by either yourself or a fish should break that off clean....

@Marthin, you might be onto something here. I've been toying with this idea for some time but didn't know how. From Slabber se Klip there is an open area in the kelp before you get the next reef. I have always said that one should get your bait in between the two reefs in deep water. OK, one will have to contend with the Cow sharks, but shouldn't one also encounter Geelbek and Cob there?

... and I have a whole box of Government issue condoms that have passed their "use before" dates that can be put to good use....

So dan moet ons dit mos uitry...

 

[kaspaas]

Fluffy wrote:

kaspaas wrote:

Marthin wrote:

camboy... but it could work VERY VERY well with a SE at any of the westcoast spots... i'm thinking ganzekraal, Bontkop, Haakgat, Melkbos itself towards Slabberts etc. Dwarskersbos.... you might be onto a winner here...

I would suggest like fluffy said above... 4kg breaking strain from baloon to a swivel with your trace coming from there... a decent tug by either yourself or a fish should break that off clean....

@Marthin, you might be onto something here. I've been toying with this idea for some time but didn't know how. From Slabber se Klip there is an open area in the kelp before you get the next reef. I have always said that one should get your bait in between the two reefs in deep water. OK, one will have to contend with the Cow sharks, but shouldn't one also encounter Geelbek and Cob there?

... and I have a whole box of Government issue condoms that have passed their "use before" dates that can be put to good use....

So dan moet ons dit mos uitry...

Ek gaan... sodra die warmer Kabeljou en Geelbek maande aanbreek. Trouens, ek reken ek mag hierdie naweek net so tussen-in die grassnyery, ens., ens., 'n tydjie afknyp om af te stap en dit te gaan toets. Kan nie kwaad doen om bietjie te eksperimenteer met stroppe, gewigte, ens., ens. nie...... Wie weet, ek mag dalk net 'n ou vroee kabeljoutjie optel... 

 

[kaspaas]

Sorry camboy, we went and hi jacked your thread... but you have now opened up a whole can of worms... eh .. that is, condoms.. he he

 

[Marthin]

NW saterdag of ek was saam...

 

[camboy]

No worries, that's the point of a forum. different members, different views, lots of knowledge insight and information floating around. We all learn from eachother

 

[Bushbuck]

hi guys

 

i haven’t had a chance to try it yet. but a few buddies of mine have had some luck by drilling a small hole in a smoothie (one of those round boiled sweets). tie balloons to it and main line to it. After a while the sweet dissolves in the water and your bait falls to the ground.

I just dont like the idea of the plastic balloons being discarded in the sea