# Rubber band fishing



## Red1 (May 3, 2011)

When I was a kid growing up in the Cleveland area, it was common to fish in Lake Erie from the shore using rubber bands instead of casting. Does anyone know where I might buy that sort of rubber cord online? I no longer live in Ohio.


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## bones. (Mar 9, 2005)

Hobby stores have the rubber bands you are looking for. I fished the same way off the Cleveland break wall. Very effective way to fish off those rocks.


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## seang22 (Mar 3, 2014)

How does this work


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

u tie a brick to the rubber band ,and your line attached with hook to the other end to your rod/ then throw the brick out as far as you can. fish all day and no casting needed. quick easy fishing when perch schools were plentiful and close to shore. stinks bait may have some as he baut out all of the teds tackle store. the rubber bands were 50 ft long and stretched to about 75/100 ft.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

freyedknot said:


> u tie a brick to the rubber band ,and your line attached with hook to the other end to your rod/ then throw the brick out as far as you can. fish all day and no casting needed. quick easy fishing when perch schools were plentiful and close to shore. stinks bait may have some as he baut out all of the teds tackle store. the rubber bands were 50 ft long and stretched to about 75/100 ft.


Call me stupid but not sure how this works, Van? Could you try to explain it again without all the technacol termenalogy?


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

I agree with C J Stone your explanation need more clarification.


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## Eliminator (Aug 26, 2006)

you throw the whole rig out there with line attached rubber band and all, then when you fish normally and reel in the fish against the rubber band resistance, take off fish and rubberband snaps your bait back to the brick again, it's a 25' rubber band like they use to shoot off glider model airplanes with, it's a bunch of hooka if ask me. Never heard of it before but I guess it works, I would just cast it myself, not sure what the benefit would be. I'm no expert just explained it how I imagined it.


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## shake n bake (Apr 22, 2004)

I used to fish with that setup as a kid. The reasoning behind it is when you catch a fish, reel it in, rebait the hook & let it back out easy. You go to the same spot in the rocks without getting snagged every other cast or so. It worked great!!


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## bones. (Mar 9, 2005)

It was a great system for fishing in the rocks without getting snagged. Guys would take a boat to the outer break walls in Cleveland and do this. Some of the old time guys might remember when people used a trolley system for perch. The rubber band system replaced it. There used to be a boat that ferried people from the Edgewater ramp area to the outer break wall back in the 60 and 70's and this is how they fished. If you just used a regular perch rig out there you would lose it almost every time.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

bones. said:


> It was a great system for fishing in the rocks without getting snagged. Guys would take a boat to the outer break walls in Cleveland and do this. Some of the old time guys might remember when people used a trolley system for perch. The rubber band system replaced it. There used to be a boat that ferried people from the Edgewater ramp area to the outer break wall back in the 60 and 70's and this is how they fished. If you just used a regular perch rig out there you would lose it almost every time.


capt frank, or jack i believe. took you out to the outer breakwall on a 30 ft steel boat for a quarter. guys would be bringing in as many buckets of perch that they could carry. we used to canoe to the outer wall and rubberband fish all the time .i still have a trolley in the garage for the trolley fishing.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

hey freyedknot.... any chance you could post a pic of the trolly ? and with this rubberband setup...(still confused) how would you get the rubberband and brick back at the end of the day ? im picturing in my head that the brick gets snagged into the rocks so that you'd be able to pull the band back to you. is this correct??? would like to see how this actually work's. a drawing.. old home movie. JON


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## Bluefinn (Jan 26, 2007)

Yeah, when your done fishing you reel in pull until the band breaks at the brick. My Dad & I used to take that boat out to the outer breakwall & fish. You never lost any tackle, just the brick. I still have a couple bands still in the box in the garage. Keep em around just for memories. When the perch were in it was a great way to fish.


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## RJohnson442 (May 14, 2013)

Found this on google


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

RJohnson442 said:


> Found this on google


Ingenious! I like it.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

Neat idea. I'm surprised i never heard of this before. Thx


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## RJohnson442 (May 14, 2013)

Its kinda big for shore fishers in chicago. People modify fire extinguishers to shoot the weight out 100+ yards. I may just use that as an excuse to make a launcher. 

Sent from my Event using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## fishkiller (Feb 6, 2007)

freyedknot said:


> capt frank, or jack i believe. took you out to the outer breakwall on a 30 ft steel boat for a quarter. guys would be bringing in as many buckets of perch that they could carry. we used to canoe to the outer wall and rubberband fish all the time .i still have a trolley in the garage for the trolley fishing.


Was that the same guy that took guys out duck hunting on the wall & dropped them off?


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

RJohnson442 said:


> Its kinda big for shore fishers in chicago. People modify fire extinguishers to shoot the weight out 100+ yards. I may just use that as an excuse to make a launcher.
> 
> Sent from my Event using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Honest officer ... it's for fishing.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

RJohnson442 said:


> Its kinda big for shore fishers in chicago. People modify fire extinguishers to shoot the weight out 100+ yards. I may just use that as an excuse to make a launcher.
> 
> Sent from my Event using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Maybe use a potato cannon?


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

fishkiller said:


> Was that the same guy that took guys out duck hunting on the wall & dropped them off?


no that was a guy named jim stepp. lost his ohio hunting priveledges for a few yrs for minor law infractions. he would take out 20 guys a day hunting.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

found this on boobtube.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I think I got it now! Look out riprap eyes on the causeway at Berlin!!! NO more lost tackle! Now to go find a bunch of bricks! Question is, how many hooks can I use and still be legal? Thanks for this tip!


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

You gotta remember, this was in the day of those old baitcasting reels.
If you ever tried casting one, they aren't the easiest rig to throw.
With the old lines, reels and rods, it was a lot easier to use a brick and rubber band.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

c. j. stone said:


> I think I got it now! Look out riprap eyes on the causeway at Berlin!!! NO more lost tackle! Now to go find a bunch of bricks! Question is, how many hooks can I use and still be legal? Thanks for this tip!


Three.........


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

i used spinning gear w/o a problem, you just have to let the line go back down slowly or the whip of the rubber band will rip your bait off.put your spinning reel in free spool and thunb the line out slowly.


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## bones. (Mar 9, 2005)

We also used spinning gear but just turn off the anti-reverse and let it pay out of the reel backwards.


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

That's a good idea. C. J. I'll sell you some bricks !


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## fishngolf (Jul 18, 2009)

My dad was trying to explain this how he fished for perch in Lake Erie and I just couldent understand it. Why not just cast out there


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

fishngolf said:


> My dad was trying to explain this how he fished for perch in Lake Erie and I just couldent understand it. Why not just cast out there


Because of the bottom you loose every rig in the rocks where you'd use this technique. This keeps everything higher up and all you loose is a brick/weight. didn't get it at first either.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

How do you get your rig back when done? Everyone throwing bricks into the water around you can't be good for the fishing!?


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## joekacz (Sep 11, 2013)

Usually you didn't.But on rare occasions you could pull on the rubberband and you were able to get the whole rig in but that was VERY rare.Hopefully it broke near the brick but if it didn't then you bought another one at Ted's Tackle the next time along with your minnows.I think it was about 50 cents or maybe more but a lot cheaper than sinkers and hooks snagging up in the rocks with every cast and very,very productive.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

heres a pic of the trolley they used . from my ( way back machine )


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