Saturday Morning

[Meat on the Table]

I was on the lake before 6am, by 7am, I had 12 in the livewell. Well by 7:15 the sweat had started to roll off the end of my nose like I was in a rain storm. I caught a undersized fish at 9inches. I decided to do an experiment, so I folded the hook by on itself, cut the line and tied a small balloon on the line with a 20foot leader. Threw the fish back, within 20minutes the fish no londer were showing on my depthfinder and the balloon was moving off. I followed the balloon about a mile to the mouth of the bay at the main lake ledge, where it stopped.Trolled over the balloon and saw the fish suspended about 15feet down over 50feet of water. Pulled the balloon and released the fish after thanking him profusely for the information. Did not fish the school anymore that day but the knowledge picked up will come in handy in hot future.

[jfraley]

Cool, I hadn't tried that one in a while. The balloon is too abvious for me to try. I usually tie a float on the end of the line. Thanks for the reminder, I will try this one soon.

[Matt Smith]

My guess is the thermocline is right below the fifteen foot mark, and that school was sitting right on top of it.

Would've been nice to hear whether or not they were biting there...

[wrwest]

That is an interesting idea. Good going...

[MAINEIAC]

Very interesting. Did not know they would move that much in one day. How long did it take them to go the mile?

[Bruce Carp]

I have wasted many days doing that. Sometimes they will travel and make a route only to return to the original site I caught them. very interesting, seldom stay in one site very long and move from structure to structure. interesting and enjoy the day watching the balloon or float move along. Thanks for stirring the memories.

[tkpaul]

I can just see it now, 250 balloons floating around my lake. I'm gonna try this. Thanks.

[ted]

Meat, was that a black or white crappie?

[HurricaneJM]

great idea.... i might have to try that sometime

[Jerry Blake]

It might be a good idea to make sure it's legal to track fish this way in your state before trying it. I wonder if a fish dragging a line and a balloon around acts and moves naturally. I would think that the stress would cause some erratic activity.