Fishing with Balloons

[LadyFish]

I was talking to an old salt the other day and he told me you could catch one trout, string him to a balloon and he would swim back to the school. Then fish ahead of the balloon and catch all the speckeled trout you want. Is this legal?

 

[JB]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I don't know if it is legal, Ladyfish, but it sure works with crappies, too. I wouldn't be surprised if it would work with Mahi mahi as well.

 

[rwise]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I here it works well for sand bass, the only balloon fishing I have done was below a dam for catfish. Tie 3 or 4 balloons (the big ones) to your line with the bait about 15' deep. Let the wind take your baloons up to the dam and watch for them to stand up! 3 lay flat, if you use 4 it give you a marker. When fishing this way I like 100 lb test. If some thing pulls all of them under, well I never got those in!<br />Richard

 

[Link]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

LadyFish like JB I don't know if it's legal or not but it sure sounds fun! Oh hi Richard & JB.<br />Now I don't know if this is legal or not also but one day in the early 80's I was at a Marina and asked the owner if he was having any luck when I saw a pole with the line in the water.. he said ALWAYS! He said if you want to catch salmon take a live herring and put a hook through it's dorsal fin, with no weights.. just give it 2-3 hundred feet of line and let it swim. Because of the drag of the line it will appear hurt and any salmon swimming in the area will swallow it.. well we tried it three time that week and caught three salmon each!<br /><br />Link

 

[neumanns]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

Now you guys are gonna make me pull out the ol rulebook. Sounds like a neat trick as well as a lot of fun! specially the crappie trick, I'll bet it would work with any school fish.

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I would really like to try it this weekend and so far can't find any information on whether or not its legal. I sure don't want the Game Warden to be the one to inform me.

 

[grandx]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I'd be willing to bet, if it really works it will be illegal in TX waters... may have to venture to Louisiana for it to be legal. I'll try and pull the book out this evening and take a look, but it seems from memory that there is some general disclaimer in there somewhere about not doing anything to sway things to your advantage...

 

[jtexas]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

saw some discussion of this recently on www.texasfishingforum.com in the sandies/striper section.

 

[rolmops]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

We used the balloon trick for a different reason.<br />In the Red Sea where there are some spots with very long stretches of very shallow water and then a drop off.We used 1000 feet hand lines with the hook and bait attached to the balloon with some sticky tape.We would let the wind take balloon and bait until there was no line left.Then we would give the line a good jerk.The hook and bait would get free of the balloon and slowly sink in the deeper water where the corals and the GROUPERS are present.The Saudis on the other side of the Red Sea would get the balloons and we got the groupers.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

We fish here on the east coast with ballons for giant blue fin tuna and at times for shark and it is legal. You gave me an idea to try it on mackeral and blue fish as far as schooling fish go to keep track and fallow. We also use balloons for stripers by hooking macs for live bait and using balloons instead of bobbers. I would probably need a beach ball on the blue fish

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

This is a new one for me too. How would you run the stringer through the fish? How much line would you leave out?<br /><br />Interesting...not sure about the ethics though..

 

[rolmops]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

Flyrod,what do you think will happen to a wounded bluefish in a school of those crazy buggers??

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I really do not know what the out come would be with a blue fish hooked to a balloon around other bluefish. Would the others choump on it? When you catch a blue on a lure or a hook and release it the others don't choump on it. A blue fin tuna will eat it. <br />put a balloon on that fish and maybe there would be a differance. There is a project for this summer.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

It may fall into the same category as "Jugfishing". Rules vary from state to state, and within a state, rules can vary from lake to lake. Check with your local Parks & Wildlife dept for the rules governing your favorite fishin' hole.<br /><br />G'Luck!<br />Rex S.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

I don't have a copy of the book myself, but a friend tells me that it's covered on page 33 of the TPW Handbook. It is illegal to release a fish with a visual device into Texas waters.<br /><br />jtw

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

Thanks for the replys y'all.

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

In California only certain species can be used as baitfish. If it is a popular sport fish forget it. Monster bass love trout plants, and a few unethical fishermen have figured out that fact. No telling how many trophy bass were taken that way. Illegal as can be. Of course there are some very authentic artificial trout available now at a very premium price. Just tie on one of those $80 10" or 12" fake trout.... and promptly snag it on some sunken tree about 25' down! Ouch! Guaranteed what would happen if I tried it, anyway.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

JSfinn, I think it might solve your ethical delimma to just hook it through the dorsal fin using a soft hook with the barb cut off. that way if it got snagged it could just pull free. might want to use some kind of twine other than mono, though since that's been known to cause problems for wildlife and boat propellers.<br /><br />Similar trick I just heard about but haven't tried: if you catch a schooling striper or sand bass, set the rod in a holder and fish with other rods. The school will stay with the hooked fish for a while.<br /><br />Bearcat, have you tried some of the new braided lines? diameter of 65lb PowerPro is the same as 17lb mono. Just about unbreakable.<br /><br />jtw

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

JTexas, actually I do use a fine braid nowadays. Probably 17 lb- I like ultrlight setups. And I don't use $80 lures, either. I just have a history of losing lures (I could write a chapter for Pat McManus in one of his outdoor humor books!), though I sometimes make up for that by retrieving lost ones when the water level drops a bit. I think I'd want scuba gear aboard if I were using lures that expensive!

 

[jtexas]

Re: Fishing with Balloons

Have you tried this: hook a paperclip to a spark plug electrode & tap it down so it won't come off, then hook it over your snagged line and send it down. with any luck the weight will back the lure off the limb or whatever. Any weight will do, really, but only Texas Aggies use the plugs out of their outboards.<br /><br />Out of fairness to T A&M: <br />Q. What do you call a Texas Aggie 2 years after graduation?<br />A. Boss!<br /><br />jtw