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When I'm fishing under a balloon, If I blow up a balloon to big, when I get a run and the shark goes deep, the balloon pulls the bait out the sharks mouth to soon. I generally tie the balloon to the leader so the balloon doesn't come off easy.

How do you rig your balloons?

How big are your balloons?

late start wrote: How big are your balloons?

Pretty darn big for doing the crazy sport we do.

So how many ballons have floated away and where would you like your offshore littering fine send to!

If you tie the ballon to the line and not the line to the ballon, then when a big fish takes it the ballon will slid up the line. And the ballon doesn't have to be that big. Good luck.

Morton

I have never had any balloons pull the bait out of a sharks mouth. The bigger you blow them up, the weaker they get.

Sometimes mine are large, sometimes small.

I run mine through the split ring that my leader and line are tied to. That allows the whole leader to be in the water.


In one year of fishing with balloons, I think two balloons have been broken off and floated away.........I guess I should give up fishing for allowing those two 2 inch pieces of rubber to litter our clean beaches.

Depends on my bait.

For dead or cut bait I perfer a small fist size ballon.


When using live bait I perfer a large ballon.


The ideal is that with smaller ballons it give the fish less pull when it takes the bait. When uising live bait I like to the bait to fight against the wind and keeps the live bait more were I want it.

but big ballons sound better going fast across the top of the water

Really Big Balloons
Really Big Balloons
Really Big Balloons

So I can see them and hear them pop

I blow mine up about the size of my fist, so i guess it's a medium sized balloon.

Newbie question here...what is the purpose of the balloons?

AggieAngler2003 wrote:Newbie question here...what is the purpose of the balloons?

It keeps your bait up off the bottom, and is used mainly for targeting sharks. Caught alot of jacks under ballons too.

Morton

AggieAngler2003 wrote:Newbie question here...what is the purpose of the balloons?

You can suspend baits off all kinds with little to no interference when fighting the fish.

Many different types of fish feed way above the bottom. Tarpon, sharks, jacks, kings, ling, etc.. When putting baits on bottom you limit yourself to bottom feeders. At times you will catch all types of fish, but to increase your chance of certin types of fish suspending baits can make a huge difference.


In all BS we should talk about how to tie the ballon onto different types of line. You can either make te ballon slide down the line or pop the ballon and reel it onto the reel.

I use surf leaders for balloons. I tie the balloon to the clip where I would attach the weight. First I blow up the balloon and tie it off. Then with the remaining neck material on the balloon, I tie it to the weight clip. The balloon does not come off but also will only slide up the leader to the top crimp, where the weigh would normally stop.

So maybe I need to just tie the balloon to the main line above the leader so it will slide easier?

I use rather heavy duty balloon and they don't pop.

And yes, bigger balloon sound cool shooting accross the water!!!!

late start wrote:When I'm fishing under a balloon, If I blow up a balloon to big, when I get a run and the shark goes deep, the balloon pulls the bait out the sharks mouth to soon. I generally tie the balloon to the leader so the balloon doesn't come off easy.
How do you rig your balloons?
How big are your balloons?

If it really is a shark it will not pull loose. P'bly a bait stealin Gafftop. And you want it pullin loose. I use heavy balloons also tied to the weight clip of a short surf rig. And I blow them up really big @ soccer ball size. Never had a problem. If it is a big shark it will take it.

A balloon tied anywhere below the swivel at the top of your leader will usually pop when the fish pulls it under. If it is tied on the line above the leader it will sometimes slide up the line and scoot across the top of the water as the fish runs. It is up to the individual fisherman where to tie the balloon onto the rig. As to size, the most common size is a 10 " balloon. Blow this up to slightly larger than a softball and it will float most any BTB bait. Anything larger than a volleyball gets a little hard to cast well.

here's my balloon



All kidding aside, no bigger than softball size and above the leader is where i attach mine. As TJ mentioned, big balloons give off a cool sound when zipping across the water.

rod, remember our double while we talked about the ballon rigs?

aceshooter01 wrote:rod, remember our double while we talked about the ballon rigs?

that was nutzzz...

rod dawg wrote:here's my balloon



All kidding aside, no bigger than softball size and above the leader is where I attach mine. As TJ mentioned, big balloons give off a cool sound when zipping across the water.

Very late to the game on this thread, however would a slip bobber work? While it may not make noise while sliding through the water, you can set the depth you want and forget it, and it will clear most of the guides on your rods.

I use balloon clips and blow up the balloons about the size of a small dodge ball. The ones you could really hum back in the day

This is a pretty old thread.

Last year I started experimenting with floats instead of balloons. A 4 or 5 inch oval float works great with no balloon debris to worry about. The float slides on the line with a stopper to control depth anywhere you want it.

bigfost wrote:Last year I started experimenting with floats instead of balloons. A 4 or 5 inch oval float works great with no balloon debris to worry about. The float slides on the line with a stopper to control depth anywhere you want it.

But how are the floats when looking for them on your return after a slay ride?

Kalait wrote: But how are the floats when looking for them on your return after a slay ride?

Not sure I understand your question. The float is hollow and slides up and down the line. It stays on the line during the fight. A line stopper is used to keep the bait at the desired depth. I use a small length of heavy rubber band or balloon tied on the line as a stopper.

bigfost wrote:

Kalait wrote: But how are the floats when looking for them on your return after a slay ride?

Not sure I understand your question. The float is hollow and slides up and down the line. It stays on the line during the fight. A line stopper is used to keep the bait at the desired depth. I use a small length of heavy rubber band or balloon tied on the line as a stopper.

Dat would be my bad, was thinking for anchor not bait depth. I am thinking of using slip bobbers to hold the weight of the leader, mainline. I had not thought of the waste of the balloons.