Tying off Balloons

[castamasta]

Hi all
Been a little while since i swum a livie under a balloon and back then i always had some old spools of 1kg pretest hanging about so tied off my balloons to a swivell at the desired length with that,now my ansa days are well and truly over and no more 1kg laying around i was wondering what everybody else uses to do same?
Cheers
Gav.

[choppa]

gav, on the "rare" occasion that i have a balloon on the line, i simply tie the balloon in a granny knot, but before pulling tight, have (in your teeth, or deckies hand) a loop of mainline that can be passed into the granny knot itself, (i hate trying to explain knots, but this is easy to do if you understand my explanation)

once the balloon is attached, you can then either lengthen the mainline loop to give a bit more resistance of release, or shorten it to release on the slightest bump

choppa

[Scott79]

I just tie the granny knot in the balloon with the mainline passing through it as you tie. It slides (with resistance) easily enough to adjust your depth.
Can be a bit of a pain getting the broken balloon knot off at the end of a session, but a small sacrifice for an easy method.

Depends what you are chasing though, Choppa's method would be better if you do require the balloon to part with the mainline, I tend to only use a balloon occassionally chasing mackeral, and it doesn't really matter that the balloon is still attached, it is usually quite small anyway.

Scott.

[Bad_Company]

when we were shark fishing we used to tie our floats on with cotton doubled .

[Si]

i tie my balloon with a granny around a simple loop made in the line. when fish takes it it just pulls off. not exactly environmentally friendly though.

[fishinwahbee]

ifish has a got a good boating tip showing you how to attach a balloon. Make a loop in your line. Tie the balloon around the loop with granny know. Cut the nipple of so it doesn't catch. Simple as and easy. A youtube search will see you with the clip.

[sleepygreg]

Why not just buy a spool of 1kg line ya stingy bugger - will only cost ya $10 and last years. Thats what I use.

[deckie]

when we were shark fishing we used to tie our floats on with cotton doubled .
What he said.
No need to reinvent the wheel.

[tunaticer]

I have always used the "I-fish" method described above, it is still adjustable by feeding the loop through with some care and it always comes free with a decent strike. No fiddling with little extra pieces of light line and no balloon on the line when fighting that fish. It also pays to have that balloon about 200mm diameter or bigger.

[cuzzamundi]

The simple making a loop on the mainline and tying balloon onto that works bes. Or, if you want to attach some line (any strengh, and about 15cm) to the swivel, just tie the balloon around it, and the balloon will come free when decent pressure is applied.

Try and use biodegradable balloons if you can, as the turtles are attracted to the colours of deflated balloons, and sometimes eat 'em, causing all sorts of issues for them.

Cuzza

[krusey]

i use rubber bands, cost bugger all from the newsagent and all you do is lassue the main line with your band and then tie the ballon on the left over loop which will keep the band tight

[whiteman]

Don't use balloons. I buy those orange floats that hold up small nets and a length of plastic tube that fits through the hole (Bunnings $5 for lots of metres). Thread the line through the 4" of plastic tube and float, loop the line at the desired drop length and jam it between the tube and float and float it off into the sunset. When the fish strikes the tube and float are still on the line and reused many, many times.

[nathank]

i used to use a snap swivel but tied the double and the leader to the same eye of the snap.. this would leave the snap sticking out.. put that through a small tear in the tag end of the balloon quick and no fuss..

[clevelandv8]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQEw6unnQU

[castamasta]

Why not just buy a spool of 1kg line ya stingy bugger - will only cost ya $10 and last years. Thats what I use.

:-[ good point ;D
I was just curious though,but why fix something that aint broke i suppose.
Cheers,Gav.

[castamasta]

Some great tips there guys,thanks heaps.
Cheers,Gav.

[Feral]

Just use a lump of styrofoam, put a couple of slits in it and wind the line around it once, get a good hit it just rips the styrofoam in half and your playing the fish with no impediment on the line..