We caught and released this Rare and good sized Balloon Fish...We did deflate the swim Bladder prior to releasing..It swam away in good condition....Notice it was caught on a GET Reel Lure Conga Line..which we subsequently lost to a Very Large BlueFin...We did not stop for our Citation on the way back in....Couple other pics from the Beautiful day...I'm still shaking from that very rare catch.....We were a little concerned on the day when we discovered PATRICK (my US Marine home on leave from Iraq) with 2 Banana's !!!!......scary stuff.....bob

Bob, nice place you appear to have. Got any rooms for rent??

SEMPER FI to your son! Great work on the notorious baloon fish. they are poisonous aren't they? I know they eat bananas,
Tight lines.
Dave (USMC Ret)

Bob I just got off the floor from laughing!!! That's pretty funny!!!! I checked the IGFA book and there is an open world record for the multi-colored balloon fish!!!

We (Eric, Jason, Me and George aboard the Roll Tide) also saw a Rare balloon fish, but it was the highly poisonous heart shapped balloon species. We didn't dare try to catch it and let it be.....

Bob, Good Job on the other fish! you have a damn nice boat!

Thank you everybody....couple of points..

1. The Marine is my Nephew...going back to falujha on tuesday...had a blast on the boat.....

2. I want everybody to know that we handled the deadly balloon fish with the utmost safety in mind...nobody was killed or injured during the release of the beast.

3. anybody who has a boat that can get out past the end of the boat ramp has a beautiful boat.....as long as it catches fish....if you just use it to ski or sun bathe or family cruse..then I can't say it's a beautiful boat

4. happy 4th of July everybody....i'm having a blast..hope you all are also...

...the fish Todd, Otter, and Jeff caught today were monsters...pictures coming from them sometime in the future.....bob

Semper Fi

fallujah does not sound like a good place to show the liberty card. Good to know a Marine got some good liberty in VA Beach.

If we had get reel lure package maybe we could have boated our Balloon fish. Or maybe if Andrew and Jason were better Balloon anglers. I was up all night trying to figure out why we could not hook the balloons.

Eric

Bob,
It was a pleasure meeting your nephew the other day!! Thank him for his service for me!!!

[quote=bobdu11,Jul 2 2006, 07:57 PM]3.  anybody who has a boat that can get out past the end of the boat ramp has a beautiful boat.....as long as it catches fish....if you just use  it to ski or sun bathe or family cruse..then I can't say it's a beautiful boat[/quote]

i agree with that, I really enjoyed fishing on eric's boat. there were alot of nice boats out on saturday....



[quote=peejcj8,Jul 2 2006, 09:20 PM]If we had get reel lure package maybe we could have boated our Balloon fish.  Or maybe if Andrew and Jason were better Balloon anglers.  I was up all night....

Eric
[/quote]

hey dont blame me id never seen one before!! i blame george, i think he knows the secret but didn't bother sharing the info with us next time we see one we'll pull up along side of it and ill jump on it with a knife....a big knife.

Actually thank him for everybody! if it wasn't for him, the Marines and the rest of the military we might not be able to do what we enjoy doing!!

Citation for the lucrative balloon fish requires a cruise ship to be attached to the tag end!