BALLOON FISHING

Before I had a boat, I would get frustrated when I could see the Trout jumping and feeding on the surface, but I could not cast that far. I knew if I could get my bait or fly out to the fish, I could catch them. If only I had Jesus shoes, so I could walk on water. I later discovered balloon fishing.

To make it work well, you will need the proper conditions. You will probably want the wind blowing at your back, so that it will carry the balloon further then you can cast. Next you will want a simple balloon. Nothing fancy. The cheaper, the better. I like the small round ones that you can get at the Dollar Store.

There are a couple of different strategies. If the fish are on the surface, then blow the balloon up about half to three quarters of the way full. The wind or breeze will cause your bait to cover a lot of surface area. In these cases tie the balloon to your main line about 3’ above the hook. Cast it out and let the wind do the rest. This works especially well when fishing for Brown Trout. They tend to get spooked easily. Fishing a long ways off will preventing spooking the fish. That is also why you will need a lot of line out when trolling for these beauties.

The next way is if you want to drop your bait into a deep hole far from shore. This time you could blow the balloon up full. Tie it to your line and allow the heat of the sun to continue to expand the balloon until it pops. It will then drop your bait to the bottom. It’s sometimes difficult to calculate the exact location with this method.

The most calculating method is to use a thread to tie the balloon to your line. You don’t need much. about six inches is plenty. When the balloon has reached the correct location, pull hard on you line and the thread will break. A word of caution when using this method, you will need to cast gently. Otherwise the thread will break during the cast.

So get some balloons and give it a try. Let me know how it works for you.

Ken Bear Cole
Fishing with Bear LLC