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    ballooning Marine Parade Napier Archived Message

    Posted by GaryK on 19/5/2012, 5:57 pm

    The inshore waters were dirty today but with a holiday waning I needed to get out and do something. Well that something became ballooning the Marine Parade in Napier.
    The rig was a pink balloon, tied into my shockleader, a trace of 50lb fluorocarbon and a 5/0 Gamakatsu circlr hook. On the hook went a half a pilchard and out it went with the offshore breeze.

    balloon, trace, hook 2 metres.

    Once the balloon was out a few metres the bait was attacked by a kahawai. The tension on the line from the kahawai trying to pull the balloon under was suficient to set the circle hook in the corner of the kahawais mouth. A brief stuggle and a 2 kg kahawai came ashore.

    After landing more than a dozen I decided to try and not catch one> I started using bigger pilchards. More 2 kgers. I used two giant pilchards tied together. That lasted for a two metre drift just behind the little waves and was slammed by a kahawai that urned out to be 1.5kgs. So much for that idea. I found one huge pilchard in the bait box. It was not a lot smaller than the smallest kahawai I had caught. I floated it out. Nothing touched it at first, great, fifty metres out though the balloon skidded sideways then tried to submerge as a fish grabbed it. Visions of either a 3 kg kahawai or a kingfish were soon dispelled when another 1.5kg kahawai skidded through the wash to be released.
    That was enough. I had really enjoyed this pressure free sess
    ion with my favourite fish.

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