LiveBating/Ballooning

[team_mongo]

When you balloon and use a 2 hook snelled rig, do have the last hook through the nose and the closer hook through the tail, or vise versa.

I have been putting the closer hook through the nose, which might make the fish swim a bit strange.

Cheers
George

[mackmauler]

It works both ways, if there is current and there usually is the way you are doing it is best, the bait will live longer if there is current on if its hooked in the front end, if its a decent size bait and you want it to swim away from the boat a hook up the arse and a tug occasionally will have it scampering away.

[webby]

hi George, There 3 way s you can do it.
1. one just before the dorsal plus through the snout
2. one either side of the dorsal
3. or just a single near the dorsal
When snooding the two hook , have a bit of slack line between the hooks, this allows your bait to swim more freely and is not hindered by a tight line between the hooks.
I take it your after spotties, if so i use 10kg single strand wire , tie the first hook on then instead of tying to the second, just run the wire through the eye to your main line, when you have the second hook in place allow a little slack and crimp a split sinker in front of the eye to hold the second hook in place.
hope this helped
regards

[whynot]

Why is using a balloon better then using a normal float, when using live Bait

[team_mongo]

A balloon will pop of your line when a big fish pulls 200m of line in several minutes. If you have a float on your line, the drag on the line will cause it to snap.

[whynot]

Could you explain the rig to me.
ie length of trace etc

[Jewmaster]

I fish with a single hook through the fish and use a ganged hook (Hook from lure) just tucked under the skin near the tail it swims well and when the fish strikes you have 3 barbes waiting just on the tail, This works really well for salmon who smash and grab rather than swallow, have hooked alot of salmon and barra in the side of the face, much like hooking them on a lure.

My mate uses the same rig but uses a elastic band to hold the ganged hook in place near the tail, al works well.

[team_mongo]

whynot, sorry about the late reply, been fishing

This is the rig I use, aiming for big tuna..

Terminal tackle is a 8/0 Gamakatsu Big Bait circle, with a yakka pinned through the nose. If there are mackeral around I'll use a two hook rig, either heavy nylon or wire. the leader is 80lb about 1m long to a swivel. The main line is terminated with a bimini and terminal tackle connected via a cats paw. Connect a regular rubberband say 6-10ft from the hook - I use a double clover leaf connection. Better to have a look at the pictures. With the free end of the rubber band, I make another clover leaf loop, and attach it to the balloon. Some people just tie it on. Thats It!

So when the fish hits and drags the balloon, the rubber band will snap and leave your line free.

Just thought I drop a photo in of Wes with a 30lb Longtail as a space filler/end result!

Hope this helps. 8)

Cheers
George

[predator]

instead of a balloon...try a bit of polystyrene. #???

cut a square block...measure amount of drop and simply wind line around it....

make sure you pull line around the poly tight enough for it to cut in and hold the line....... when the fish strikes the fishing line cuts the polystyrene in half and no cotton or line fouling swivels....

[team_mongo]

Predator,

Have used polystyrene when dead baiting for mackeral. I like balloons because I like to let my balloons drift far from the boat, sometimes up to over >70m, and I can still follow the balloon on water above the waves and chop.

Polystyrene is good and a neat solution, as you said, no fouling of the main line, but is not suited to the way I live bait.

Cheers
George

[tideline_two]

on the east coast of the usa we used to baloon fish for our king mackrel.then people started noticeing that they were getting hits when they left their baits out while slowly moving to a near by spot.slow trolling was born! you can easily fish 6 lines with live bait by staggering the line lenght of the different rods.always run one bait right in the prop wash. that one will get hit more often than the others. i guess the fish are curious.put your motor in gear put the lines on and hang on! oh this is deadly for cobia. they like the spinning prop for some reason. i even painted one blade on my motor a chartruse green.if theres a cobia around he's gonna come look.

[dencor11]

Howdy,
Just note about using the polystyrene. I do a fair bit of mackeral fishing up at South West Rocks and sometimes the ocean is just a sea of broken styrene. stick to to balloons if you cancan.