Reply With Quoteyou can stop your baits getting under the arse of your boat buy driving it slowly forward, .....slow trolling
but it is hard to do if there is a heap of boats anchored over a reef with bloody floaters tied to pieces of foam.
Originally Posted by basserman
Generally there is not much current at palmy , and without a balloon the chances are your yakka would hide at the back of ur boat under the prop, yakkas arnt as dum as u think they know open water means death
They also sit in position a lot better under the balloon, stops them from running laps around your other floaters.
I'm not pushing for pollution, dont get me wrong, but it will take a lot to find a better solution.
Jas
you can stop your baits getting under the arse of your boat buy driving it slowly forward, .....slow trolling
but it is hard to do if there is a heap of boats anchored over a reef with bloody floaters tied to pieces of foam.
I too read with interest, naturally trying to find the combination of best results for both the fishing and the environment. Mind you as breakaways work on the principle of breaking off after a hookup I don't pollute that much....
Seriously though I do note the crap on the high tide mark when we walk down South Straddie and from that point I must wonder about the amount of glass bottles that float ashore and get smashed up, less of the foam is to be found but maybe its all been eaten by the turtles...
Rob, dunno how this slipped passed me (till now)
yeah it's a widely used method at Palmy and we don't have an alternative. Foam is generally used when there is little current, when the current is up I don't use the foam but having said this I use foam more often than not. As I am a regular to the Palmy area I cannot say I have seen enough foam for it to be an issue for me.
I do agree that it's not the best but surely everyone on here does not have a clean slate in the polution stakes.
Ifrequent the beaches around here and have not noticed foam turing up in huge amounts although that could be to the South Westerlies taking it up your way
cheers
Garry
Garry
Retired Honda Master Tech
you can stop your baits getting under the arse of your boat buy driving it slowly forward, .....slow trolling #
Good idea 100 boats Trolling around 1 square klm of reef boat rage would take on a whole new meaning [smiley=rifle.gif] how come we havent got a shoulder mount rocket launcher on here yet 8)
Garry
Garry
Retired Honda Master Tech
Sounds like some one should invent something here. Heres someones opportunity to make a cool million
how about using 6ft x 4ft peices of thick foam as break aways,when they break away they could act as shelter for dollies.
cheers mal
sounds more like the foam is necessary due to the fact that there are so many boats no one can move,gee that sounds like funcant wait till we get that up here >
Mal you are a genius
Garry
Retired Honda Master Tech
thanks mate
From another of the goldie contingent - have to agree with Garry and JB . Walk a mile in our shoes . Slow towing is only possible around the 'pack' due to the close proximity of all boats on the pick . If only spotties are around then anchoring is almost the only option to maintain order . Most of the regulars/ clued up guys use foam minimally but this description does not describe all of the fishers at Palmy / Mermaid . I see huge bits of foam that are not necessary . Myself , I rarely use foam just unweighted or slightly weighted baits but this only works with sufficient current . This year have experimented with reusable plastic round floats with some success . Most days it is just impossible to fish livies without a balloon as the buggas won't leave the boat and drifting is not a proposition with the boat numbers .
Chris
I also wathche ifish a couple of weeks ago where they spoke about the balloons disolving and not harming the environment. I did not know if they had special balloons, or if it was all balloons.
If it is all balloons, then that is great. If this is the case, isn't that the answer instead of foam (not just palmy, but anywhere).
Note that I have never fished palmy, but have wanted to float a bait out a few times but have been worried about poluting. If the balloon thing really is true, then I will start doing that and feel warm and fuzzy that I am not harming anything.
Cheech
Styrofoam is relatively much much harder to degrade than latex found in balloons. Disulfide (sulpher) chemical bonds in balloons and rubber bands are the target of sunlight and oxidation. UV irradiation markedly speads up the degradation process. My guess though, is that the balloons and rubber will degrade less once on the bottom (away from sunlight), but after a year they will be gone or at least heavily degraded.
Quite often in our lab, we get foam packaging particles which are actually made from wheat germ, and they slowly dissolve in water. They really look like styrofoam worms, but to get rid of them we actually put them in the sink and dissolve them by flushing. I'm sure that the manufacturer would know about different varieties that would dissolve slower. Perhaps they could be used as a temporary float.
When I fish (which is mainly shore based), and use a balloon, I use water bomb balloons, as they are smaller and more likely to pop. Furthermore there are plenty in a packet.
I can say that I have seen styrofoam with barnacles and algae attached, drifting in the ocean.
Ballons left in the sun and salt do eventually corode away. The problem with them is they are colourful, soft and turtles and fish eat it and it actually binds there gut up. A lot of dead turtles found down this way died of starvation because of blokages caused by balloons in their gut. I dont know what the solution is but have been thinking about it for many years and yes, I have, and still do use tiny pieces.
Getwet has the best idea so far
Cheers
just another thought.
we should all buy shares in ansell and all convert to using those edible condoms as floats.
we would make money as the share price should skyrocket with the huge sales growth and we would all be contributing to saving those balloon stealing turtles.
but make sure you take out some big chunks of polystyrine cause the dollies still need a home.
cheers mal
Posting Permissions