Ballooning for Sharks - Please enlighten me :-)

[hsv2ko]

I do it sometimes if the wind is right and there isn't people around as I don't want lines crossing. The way I do it is just running sinker so you will have your swivel sinker and then just blow up the balloon and when you tie the know in the balloon run your line thru the knot and don't tighten it too much. So basically the balloon will hold the sinker weight up and u just let the wind wake it and keep releasing the line. Once you reach the distance tighten up the drag and pull the line hard few times and it will came out of the knot your bait will drop and balloon will keep going. Other option is do the same process and instead having the knot loose just do it tight and balloon will stay on line.

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
The size of the balloon depends on the wind the bigger balloon the faster it will go so if its really windy I just don't blow it up as much so it goes slower.
Hope that helps. Also thanks for the fast postage bought some stuff from you guys few weeks back:) Great service.

Wow thanks heaps, lots of info.

No worries re the great service. I love VIP service, so try pretty hard to dish it out. :a_goodjob:

Do you buy balloons from any particular shop? Natural or synthetic, any preference?

Thanks heaps
Amanda

Just a normal party balloon which is bad but haven't seen anywhere synthetic ones Will have a look into that. Also try to get the 30cm balloons as its easier to do the knot if your doing it alone I found out with smaller ones its harder to get line in the knot.

[SFP Chick]

I do it sometimes if the wind is right and there isn't people around as I don't want lines crossing. The way I do it is just running sinker so you will have your swivel sinker and then just blow up the balloon and when you tie the know in the balloon run your line thru the knot and don't tighten it too much. So basically the balloon will hold the sinker weight up and u just let the wind wake it and keep releasing the line. Once you reach the distance tighten up the drag and pull the line hard few times and it will came out of the knot your bait will drop and balloon will keep going. Other option is do the same process and instead having the knot loose just do it tight and balloon will stay on line.

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
The size of the balloon depends on the wind the bigger balloon the faster it will go so if its really windy I just don't blow it up as much so it goes slower.
Hope that helps. Also thanks for the fast postage bought some stuff from you guys few weeks back:) Great service.

Wow thanks heaps, lots of info.

No worries re the great service. I love VIP service, so try pretty hard to dish it out. :a_goodjob:

Do you buy balloons from any particular shop? Natural or synthetic, any preference?

Thanks heaps
Amanda

Just a normal party balloon which is bad but haven't seen anywhere synthetic ones Will have a look into that. Also try to get the 30cm balloons as its easier to do the knot if your doing it alone I found out with smaller ones its harder to get line in the knot.

Thanks for that,

You don't have to worry about finding the natural biodegradable balloons, I have a little something up my sleeve.

Interesting about the balloon size. I never thought about a smaller balloon being harder to tie the knot. I have fat fingers that are ridiculous when trying to do anything finicky, so good point.

thanks heaps again
Amanda

[kaotay]

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
.

Here's the post. It links to a couple more posts and the video.
viewtopic.php?t=6301#p70525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SFP Chick]

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
.

Here's the post. It links to a couple more posts and the video.
viewtopic.php?t=6301#p70525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Kaotay,

Do you balloon????

[kaotay]

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
.

Here's the post. It links to a couple more posts and the video.
viewtopic.php?t=6301#p70525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Kaotay,

Do you balloon????

Yup, one of the links in the above post has a report I wrote.
There are 2 balloon fishing methods. One just uses the balloon as a float for fishing top/mid water. 2nd method is to disengage the balloon and fish the bottom.
I just use any balloon I can get. I find braid better than mono when > 200m out, due to line stretch making it difficult to get proper strike tension with mono.
Another little tip, take into account sideways currents when deploying your balloon, it has equal influence as wind direction.
Haven't done much lately as prevailing winds have started to swing more S / SW. Need W / N / NW for where I fish (Willy)
Today's E winds, may be worth a go from East PPB piers, might get to the snaps in deeper water!
PS depending on where/when you fish it may not be necessary to balloon for sharks. Eg Lagoon pier.

[SFP Chick]

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
.

Here's the post. It links to a couple more posts and the video.
viewtopic.php?t=6301#p70525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Kaotay,

Do you balloon????

Yup, one of the links in the above post has a report I wrote.
There are 2 balloon fishing methods. One just uses the balloon as a float for fishing top/mid water. 2nd method is to disengage the balloon and fish the bottom.
I just use any balloon I can get. I find braid better than mono when > 200m out, due to line stretch making it difficult to get proper strike tension with mono.
Another little tip, take into account sideways currents when deploying your balloon, it has equal influence as wind direction.
Haven't done much lately as prevailing winds have started to swing more S / SW. Need W / N / NW for where I fish (Willy)
Today's E winds, may be worth a go from East PPB piers, might get to the snaps in deeper water!
PS depending on where/when you fish it may not be necessary to balloon for sharks. Eg Lagoon pier.

Thanks for that,

What balloons do you use, anything you can get your hands on? Or do you look for a particular brand or attribute/size etc???

[GTSHoon]

In relation to this, when is the best season to go put and target sharks land based???
Cam

[Basti]

being fairly new to this fishing game, I've never ballooned, but if I was to attempt it, a biodegradable balloon would have to be a priority. There's enough rubbish in our bay without adding to it imo. I can see that not having a convenient place to purchase them would be the one of the main reasons that most others haven't expressed a strong preference. I.e. more people would use them if they could get them

[kaotay]

We spoke about this few months back on here I can't find the actual post but there is a video I saw on youtube about it.
.

Here's the post. It links to a couple more posts and the video.
viewtopic.php?t=6301#p70525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Kaotay,

Do you balloon????

Yup, one of the links in the above post has a report I wrote.
There are 2 balloon fishing methods. One just uses the balloon as a float for fishing top/mid water. 2nd method is to disengage the balloon and fish the bottom.
I just use any balloon I can get. I find braid better than mono when > 200m out, due to line stretch making it difficult to get proper strike tension with mono.
Another little tip, take into account sideways currents when deploying your balloon, it has equal influence as wind direction.
Haven't done much lately as prevailing winds have started to swing more S / SW. Need W / N / NW for where I fish (Willy)
Today's E winds, may be worth a go from East PPB piers, might get to the snaps in deeper water!
PS depending on where/when you fish it may not be necessary to balloon for sharks. Eg Lagoon pier.

Thanks for that,

What balloons do you use, anything you can get your hands on? Or do you look for a particular brand or attribute/size etc???

aaah methinks you're doing product research!

My ideal balloon would be:
- long necked (easier to do the knot). I don't use clips
- big. Oversized in fact. Because the bigger the balloon, the "thicker" it is and less surface tension when underinflated. This helps reduce balloons popping due to wind buffeting it and hitting the hooks while you're working with knots or preparing to deploy. (always bait up *before* rigging the balloon)
- visible. Yellow/orange are best. Blue/green too close to water colour. White can get lost amidst waves/whitecaps in the day, but are best for night-time (you can put a glo-stick in the balloon too).
- biodegradeable, for that extra nice feeling of being a responsible fisho. Read that rubber balloons degrade well and are safe for fishies.

I use any balloon I can get, ($2 shops) so slipped in a few pink ones and "Happy Birthday" balloons when no one's looking.

[kaotay]

In relation to this, when is the best season to go put and target sharks land based???
Cam

I hooked (but didn't land) 2 this winter at Lagoon. One would think they're around year-round though.