Powerline fishing from shore

I have heard of this style of shore fishing but can't seem to find any solid info on it. It involves a heavy weight with a small rope, that you attach your fishing line with bait hooks and bait to. Then you take the heavy weight/with rope attached and throw it into the lake and basically bottom fish. The part I don't get is the giant rubber band at the end that allows you to check your bait, or bring in fish, without moving the bottom weight. Anyone an expert on this and can fill me in. Also, where to buy the supplies to set up this kind of rig? pm me if you don't want to share with everyone. Thanks, and tight lines out there.

I know this is old, but I used to do this with my dad about 25yrs ago.. we used a modified co2 fire extinguisher to launch the weight from a pipe. it had a few feet of cord and then the rubber band. The rubber band came in a rather large box, and was one continuous length. vaguely guessing it was about 50-75 feet of rubber band laid out in a zig zag pattern so it wouldn't knot or tangle when the weight was launched. the line would be tied to the rubber band. the line had swivels tied every couple feet to attach leaders to. as far as the bell etc, we had custom boxes made with electronic buzzers and lights, with reels mounted to the box. even the weights were custom made by Vince, owner of lake michigan bait n tackle on Montrose near ashland?. Unfortunately I was unable to find that store last time i was in chicago.

Powerlining is still alive and strong in Chicago. You can fish for salmon and trout with one kind of rig and perch with a slightly different setup. You dont "throw" a salmon rig out you shoot it out with a modified fire extinguisher,800psi, with a 5' by 1" barrel and a 10oz weight. Here is a website dedicated to powerlining that has tons of good info. Good luck. www.powerlining.com

They have setups at Henry's and Park Bait. Instead of throwing out the weight, most guys use a modified fire extinguisher to launch it out.

I grew up in Chicago in the 60's and my Dad used to take me perch fishing on the breakwalls all the time. There are two different methods. Powerline (Looong rubberband) and trolley fishing. It was great for perch (in the day!) because you had 5-6 baits (mix 'em up) down near the bottom where the perch where and when a school swam thru doubles and triples were common. Pull 'em in and the bait would go right back down to the middle of the school. It was a pretty "social" form of fishing but fun and productive.

One picture is worth a thousand words...

http://www.copyandwaste.com/2009/06/18/powerline-fishing/