polo mint and balloon rig for getting extra distance

[The Austrian]

here's an idea: http://www.seaanglingorkney.com/species/shark.shtml

[hugo]

Jokes apart, 11 out of 10 for ingenuity and original thinking. Might just suit one or two problem locations I've been trying to fish. Thanks!

[gfkelly1969]

Jokes apart, 11 out of 10 for ingenuity and original thinking. Might just suit one or two problem locations I've been trying to fish. Thanks!

i hope it works for you,it depends on the tide and the wind,the first few times i tried it i didn't get great distance but the last day it worked great even against the tide,the only problem i had was that i ran out of line pulled the line off the reel when i got home and had 250m on it

maybe try 2 or 3 balloons on it to catch more wind to get it out to your spot quicker

best of luck with it,let me know how you get on

[davyp]

you should take that balloon rig an a full Mack to achill - see if you can hit into one one of the Tuna gitsea came across!!!!

now that would be a scrap on light spinnin gear

fair play - pick shows it works if conditions are right -

d

[gfkelly1969]

you should take that balloon rig an a full Mack to achill - see if you can hit into one one of the Tuna gitsea came across!!!!

now that would be a scrap on light spinnin gear

fair play - pick shows it works if conditions are right -

d

i thought of that as well when i read his report,would be great fun to hook one,it might be a bit slow getting the bait out some times but if i caught a tuna i wouldn't worry about it being slow

[gfkelly1969]

What colour balloons would be best. You used a green one in your last experiment. How did that colour fair out. And, do the balloons have to be roundy ones. I can get a packet of long ones in the Euro shop cheap. Also, I was wondering, if I put a hole in a tubor mint instead of a polo mint, would that work?

the colour wont matter too much but red or yellow would be easier to see,i used the green balloon because i had no red or yellow left but it was still easy to see at distance

round ones would be better because they would catch more wind and move the bait out quicker but try the long ones to see,you might have to tie a few of them together catch the wind

any mint or sweet that would dissolve in the salt water would work fine,i use the polo mint because they are handy but was thinking of trying a different sweet to see if it takes longer to dissolve

if you try it out let me know how you get on with it

[Surfrod]

I was thinking of trying Fisherman's Friends sweets, but though (a) they may not disolve quickly enough and (b) they may give off a liquorice scent trail that would not attract fish. I would be most eager to know what your thoughts on this approach are?
Also, just an addition to your theory. And bearing in mind you unbridled enthuasim for distance, hence your teachings on wind and tide directions. If one was to bring a catapult along with them and popped the baloon (whether red or yellow)at their own required distance, would you consider that an improvement or an impediment to your invention?

[gfkelly1969]

some times a sweet like the Fisherman's Friends that would that would take longer to dissolve would work well,if the wind was a bit light it would take the balloon longer to get out any distance so the slower dissolving sweet would be good in that situation

I don't know if the liquorice scent trail would affect the fishing much,maybe it might make some species of fish curious maybe it would turn some away,it might not make too much difference when you are using fish as bait

the catapult is a good idea but it might be hard to hit the balloon at distance if the sea was a bit choppy,if you have a good shot it would work fine
the disadvantage of busting the balloon is that the balloon would not act as a float on the retrieve and the busted balloon would only add to the litter already in the sea

[rustyhookthomas]

if you don't have a polo mint, try a pin-hole in the neck of the baloon!
by the time it gets out the baloon will deflate and sink at location,
maybe 2 or 3 pin-holes may be needed,testing will be required, just a thought.
really enjoying this topic

[Dave]

I must admit I like the lateral thinking of this rig, although admittedly its success is very much dependant on which way the wind is blowing on the day. Actually now that I think of it I've stumbled upon similar rigs on some American websites before, except they call them 'Life Saver Balloon rigs' because that's what Polo's are called over there but the principle is the same.

I've also seen a couple of other ways of rigging balloon rigs over the years but never actually tried any of them myself. The first way is to use a paper clip to attach the balloon, the thinking being that once the balloon is out at the distance you want to fish, you give the rod a sharp jerk and the rig is released from the balloon. I've seen this used for pike fishing but I don't know how well or otherwise it would work at sea.



The second way I've seen done is to simply loop a portion of your rig line into the knot in the balloon as you are tying it, again the thinking being that a sharp jerk of the rod should cause this loop of line to slip out of the knot and release your rig at the desired distance.




Edit: I managed to find a few images to illustrate what I was trying to describe.

[Surfrod]

I feel gfkelly1969 is really on to something here with his invention.
While Dave has just demonstrated, these devises are actually in operation, albeit in the USA.
It also goes to show the caliber of people we have discussing the item here. Not long after rustyhookthomas suggested putting a hole in the top of the neck of the balloon but up popped Dave with his illustration of just that.
I now to turn you attentions to one point that gfkelly1969 rose in an earlier posting.
I had asked what colour balloon did he think best to be more conductive to his theory, to whit he dismissed the green one. I now note that Dave’s illustration (exhibit 2) does in fact use a green balloon. I would be most enlightened if gfkelly1969 could shed some of his wisdom on this departure from his theory.
Incidentally I put the idea of manufacturing these devises to a person I know well in the IDA. He said he would look into it, but felt, at this stage, and I quote him, when he asked me “there’s nothing fishy about this though, is there?”

[gfkelly1969]

I must admit I like the lateral thinking of this rig, although admittedly its success is very much dependant on which way the wind is blowing on the day. Actually now that I think of it I've stumbled upon similar rigs on some American websites before, except they call them 'Life Saver Balloon rigs' because that's what Polo's are called over there but the principle is the same.

I've also seen a couple of other ways of rigging balloon rigs over the years but never actually tried any of them myself. The first way is to use a paper clip to attach the balloon, the thinking being that once the balloon is out at the distance you want to fish, you give the rod a sharp jerk and the rig is released from the balloon. I've seen this used for pike fishing but I don't know how well or otherwise it would work at sea.



The second way I've seen done is to simply loop a portion of your rig line into the knot in the balloon as you are tying it, again the thinking being that a sharp jerk of the rod should cause this loop of line to slip out of the knot and release your rig at the desired distance.




Edit: I managed to find a few images to illustrate what I was trying to describe.

2 very good ideas i will have to try them out,i will have to rig them a bit different because they both release the balloon and you can not retrieve the balloon,I hate to see the balloon litter the sea
my thinking is that at a distance on the sea it might be hard to release the balloon by jerking the line,first idea with the rubber band i think should work but the second one might be harder,
maybe i am wrong will have to try it out to see

thanks for the input i will have to try the ideas the next time the wind is right

[gfkelly1969]

if you don't have a polo mint, try a pin-hole in the neck of the baloon!
by the time it gets out the baloon will deflate and sink at location,
maybe 2 or 3 pin-holes may be needed,testing will be required, just a thought.
really enjoying this topic

that's a idea I didn't think of,I will try it out and see what happens

[gfkelly1969]

I feel gfkelly1969 is really on to something here with his invention.
While Dave has just demonstrated, these devises are actually in operation, albeit in the USA.
It also goes to show the caliber of people we have discussing the item here. Not long after rustyhookthomas suggested putting a hole in the top of the neck of the balloon but up popped Dave with his illustration of just that.
I now to turn you attentions to one point that gfkelly1969 rose in an earlier posting.
I had asked what colour balloon did he think best to be more conductive to his theory, to whit he dismissed the green one. I now note that Dave’s illustration (exhibit 2) does in fact use a green balloon. I would be most enlightened if gfkelly1969 could shed some of his wisdom on this departure from his theory.
Incidentally I put the idea of manufacturing these devises to a person I know well in the IDA. He said he would look into it, but felt, at this stage, and I quote him, when he asked me “there’s nothing fishy about this though, is there?”

the colour of the balloon wont make any difference to how the rig works where it could make a difference is when the balloon is at a distance it might be easier to see a red or yellow balloon
i found it a bit hard to see the green balloon but I could see a red lobster pot buoy further out quite easy
as for the idea of manufacturing the rig I don't think too many would buy them when they can make their own quite easy
if the person you know in the IDA needs a few questions answered about it I will pm you my number
let me know what he thinks about it

[Surfrod]

I’ve been perplexed over the idea of polluting the sea with so many balloons been flung out all along the coastline if gfkelly1969 theory took root.
For the past few night’s, I’ve ruminated over this problem and believe I have come up with a solution, in theory anyway, to it.
WHAT IF you do not use a balloon at all?
INSTEAD a lightweight coloured buoy, with a hole in the top of it.
AND, this is the best part.
ATTATCH a swivel to the hole in the top of the buoy AND to the swivel, attach say 5lb breaking strain line which in turn is attached to a small telescopic rod and reel, affixed to a rod stand on the beach. Similar to the pulling of the cord from the balloon theory, the same thing could be done to the line from the buoy.
NOW, the beauty of this, is, the coloured buoy doesn’t sink, it’s reusable and environmentally friendly.
I would welcome comment on the latest developments (have we decided on a name on this yet).

[Dave]

I have to say that whilst I do like the ingenuity of these rigs I'm a little confused as to what you would actually use them for, generally where I've seen them used is to get a bait that would be too big to cast out to the required distance out that distance. So if you simply intend to attach a 3 hook flapper or whatever then I don't think it would make too much sense if however you are trying to get big baits out far, I'd also consider looking into non return sliders just to throw another idea out there. Basically the principal is that you cast out your lead then attach on your rig and bait with one of these non return sliders and let it slide down your line out to your weight. I must admit that its not something I've used myself but it does seem to be quite a popular technique in places like South Africa, Australia and Hawaii, anyway here's a link that explains how its done.

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=21947&forum_id=10&page=1

[gfkelly1969]

I’ve been perplexed over the idea of polluting the sea with so many balloons been flung out all along the coastline if gfkelly1969 theory took root.
For the past few night’s, I’ve ruminated over this problem and believe I have come up with a solution, in theory anyway, to it.
WHAT IF you do not use a balloon at all?
INSTEAD a lightweight coloured buoy, with a hole in the top of it.
AND, this is the best part.
ATTATCH a swivel to the hole in the top of the buoy AND to the swivel, attach say 5lb breaking strain line which in turn is attached to a small telescopic rod and reel, affixed to a rod stand on the beach. Similar to the pulling of the cord from the balloon theory, the same thing could be done to the line from the buoy.
NOW, the beauty of this, is, the coloured buoy doesn’t sink, it’s reusable and environmentally friendly.
I would welcome comment on the latest developments (have we decided on a name on this yet).

there should be no litter from the balloon because of the main line running through the swivel that is attached to the balloon,when you reel in the main line it will bring in the balloon as well
the buoy would work fine as well but there is a few things i see wrong with the buoy,first you need to carry more gear then there is the problem of lines getting tangled when there is 2 lines going out
there is also a problem if you did hook up with a big fish,if the fish takes the buoy underwater you have a lot harder job reeling in,if the balloon is pulled underwater the balloon will burst and you have a easier time reeling in

[gfkelly1969]

I have to say that whilst I do like the ingenuity of these rigs I'm a little confused as to what you would actually use them for, generally where I've seen them used is to get a bait that would be too big to cast out to the required distance out that distance. So if you simply intend to attach a 3 hook flapper or whatever then I don't think it would make too much sense if however you are trying to get big baits out far, I'd also consider looking into non return sliders just to throw another idea out there. Basically the principal is that you cast out your lead then attach on your rig and bait with one of these non return sliders and let it slide down your line out to your weight. I must admit that its not something I've used myself but it does seem to be quite a popular technique in places like South Africa, Australia and Hawaii, anyway here's a link that explains how its done.

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=21947&forum_id=10&page=1

the main idea of the rig is for getting extra distance and to try and get to deeper water and bigger fish,in one of the tests i did the balloon went out 250m and then i ran out of line on the reel,if i had a boat reel set up i would have got a lot more distance
looking at the S.C.I Results 26/07/09 i see 276.79 yards is the top distance on the day for a 150g lead with the balloon rig you could easy get that distance with bait on

looking at the non return sliders i think they would work very good with the balloon rig,you could get the balloon rig out quicker without having a rig with bait on,then you could send out the baited rig after

[Dave]

why not save yourself all this bother and learn to cast? 90% of the time the fish are within 100 yards

Tbh I'd have to agree with Eric on this one, most of the time you don't really need to distance cast in Ireland to find fish, a reasonable or quite often a short cast will put you amongst them. The only practical use I can see for this type of approach would maybe be for putting large whole mackerel baits or whatever out a reasonable distance for Tope etc. The problem as I see it with using this type of approach with say a flapper rig is that by the time you actually get your bait out that distance would the baits not be washed out? As I said before I like the lateral thinking of these rigs and I'm always fascinated reading about other similarly inventive rigs and techniques used in other parts of the world but I can't see myself getting a pack of balloons for the tackle bag, not for the marks I fish anyway.

[Surfrod]

After a restudy of the initial theory and extensively investigating gfkelly1969 concept, I feel there is one major over sight that has yet to be addressed.
Retrieval.
Let us just procrastinate here for a moment and assume gfkelly1969 theory with his Polo mint actually works. A number of contributors have cast (pardon the pun) doubts on it, but for this point in time, we’ll agree it works.
OK, so we have enticed, say a blue shark, weighing in at about 100lb onto our bait say 400m out.
If we assume, we initially used a 12/13ft beach caster to launch our study rig, pray tell, how, do you gfkelly1969 propose retrieving such a deep water fish at such a distance out?