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A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:04 pm
by rixter
I don't mind a bit of balloon fishing, as it works well getting the bait out further into deeper waters. The thing that did bother me was getting the balloon to release sometimes, and actually loosing a balloon for every fish.

In the end I came up with the following method, no more loss of balloons (if you wish to use them combined with this method) and a 100% breakoff allowing the bait to sink.

The following uses a 'Large' running float, you don't loose anything and everything is reusable fish after fish.

I've included some pictures below to help explain the loops required to make this rig work.

This rig locks the large float with your sinker and hooks just below it. Cotton is used to loop through the 2 loops and the top eye/hole of the swivel, and tie it off. Just like with balloon fishing , a decent yank back on the rod breaks the cotton and releases all the loops. This allows the float to run free again, allowing the bait to sink and the float to surface running free on your main line. The cotton loop can hold a lot of weight !.

The pictures should help explain it a bit more. Sometimes if there is not much current/but a bit of wind, or if it is a bit foggy or dark, I will tie a bit of mono line tight around the foam of the float, and tie a yellow balloon to the mono line , also with a small glowstick inside the balloon to help light it up a bit.
So, You get your Balloon back too if you use one also. The balloon can come in handy just to make it easier to see at a distance , and it also catches a bit of wind to help take it out further faster.

Hope you guys/gals find this handy, yell out if your not to sure about something to do with this rig.


Cheers, Rick

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:40 pm
by Misheen
Great idea! I usually tie the balloon around a loop in the line but when it tracks in the wrong direction I have to bring it in and lose the balloon.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 6:32 pm
by rixter
Misheen wrote:Great idea! I usually tie the balloon around a loop in the line but when it tracks in the wrong direction I have to bring it in and lose the balloon.
Thanks. It does work well, and doesn't even take a minute to do all the loops and so forth, once you get the hang of where to put/and join the loops with the finishing cotton loop. Also the cotton does work better than a small thin rubber band with this setup.

Oh , it's also important that the eye of the swivel is a tad bigger than the hole of the tube in your running float, so the swivel doesn't jam up into the bottom hole of the running float.
Also , if you 'do' use the balloon tied to the float, then only a small/medium float is required , as the balloon will float the weight of your sinker/hook and bait anyway.

Cheers , Rick.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:25 pm
by gecko61
great idea mate. very practical and easy. cheers

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:25 pm
by Misheen
You could probably tie the balloon to one of those easy rigs eliminating the float.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:17 pm
by rixter
Misheen wrote:You could probably tie the balloon to one of those easy rigs eliminating the float.
Maybe possible ? , it took me long enough as it was to work out a loop system to get the above rig to work . I'll look into it maybe, this seems to work fine for me as it is, but the less equipment required , the better I suppose. :thumbsup:

Although, Your could easily use the 'easy rig' setup below the swivel required in this setup, eliminating the fish feeling the weight of the sinker in your rig setup below the swivel.

Cheers , Rick.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:24 pm
by rixter
gecko61 wrote:great idea mate. very practical and easy. cheers

Thanks mate , it took me a while to work out this rig !. I did it all on paper first and did around 4 methods, and a good 2 days worth of thinking about it before I came up with this loop system to lock the float/ that was easy to do/ and that actually worked.
I'm no boy scout , so it took me a bit of thinking ! :grin: .

Hopefully it comes in handy for yourself and others , cheers , Rick.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:54 pm
by rixter
Thought I'de just give this thread a bump up.
Although it's my own rig, I'm not bumping it up because of that ! .
I Just noticed all the talk on balloon fishing lately , and I thought this might help a few people out. ;)

Cheers , Rick.

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:17 pm
by Basti
after a heap of searching, i finally found the thread i was looking for only to find the pics missing. did anyone save a copy of this by anychance? ir are there forum archives where the images may be?

Re: A different approach to 'Balloon' fishing.

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 8:36 pm
by Mallee
I can't see pics either