So I was having a pretty good debate with my dad about the best way to balloon out bait. He likes to use a rubber band attached to his main line. Personally i like either just attaching the balloon to my main line or using some light mono. What do you prefer?
i use a small thred tied 2 the hook and then 2 the balloon. the thred always pops
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I use LifeSavers candy! "On Bridges"
I take 5 lifesavers thread mono thru tie it to the hook and the lifesavers. Then tie the other end to the Float.
Out it goes they melt and release the balloon......
ALSO good for piers with a west wind or strong current.
When fishing the keys bridges the preferred method for most of the guys in the shark club is to use sewing string and a balloon.When fishing the jetties in the summer on an outgoing tide we use a blown up garbage bag.When we get an offshore wind blowing (often the case when we fish Naples pier) or even on the beach we use a large garbage bag because it has a large area that the wind can push on until the bait gets out to where we want it . The life saver works but you have no control over when it melts.The trick is to use sewing thread.Depending on the size of the bait to be used you can use it single strand or double it so it does not break with the weight of the bait.
We tie a 2 foot section of the the sewing string first to the eye of your hook that should allready be impaled on your bait,then we blow up the balloon the size to be determined by the size of the bait (bigger bait=bigger balloon)and the wind conditions(a smaller balloon is affected by the wind less)then we tie the string to the ballon at the knot and GENTLY!!! lower the bait into the water and pay out the line as the current pushes it away from the bridge.You let out as much line as you want depending on where you want the bait to be.
What i typically do is put the reel in gear + drag clicker and set the rod down when the bait gets where i want it and leave the balloon attached for the first hour, like that any shark swimming near the top of the water colomn can pick up the scent of my shark bait.
BREAKING OFF THE BALLOON
After the first hour(depending on how much time is left on the tide) if there are no shark hits i will reel in the bait fast for a short distance to break the sewing string and allow the bait to sink so that now the bait is putting out the scent near the bottom rather then on top.Once you start using this method you can experiment and use what works best for you.Good Luck.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
Actually with experience you can accurately estimate how long till it melts.
But even so you "mostly" don't need to know because when it is out far enough just put the clicker on and set it down.
Unless you have a total hurricane of a current...
I use a water bottle or whatever else I can get, and a short piece of sewing thread..and I tie the bottle to my bank sinker..I find that it is easier to break my thread off this way, and I don't have to yank on my bait when I break the thread..there were a few times when I tied it to the hook eye, and it pulls on my bait and messed up my rigging when I set up to break the thread (buried the hook point in the bait). When I tie the thread to my bank sinker or snap swivel, it doesn't really pull the bait because the bottom half of my leader is limp with the bait suspended in the current and it just yanks the top half of the leader and the bottle and weight. I have only floated baits out off bridges..never tried it yet off a pier or beach but I'd like to try on a calm surf with a nice breeze blowing out into the gulf.
sometimes ill tie the balloon and put it through one end of my swivel(depending how big the swivel is)