Another is it legal question

I was watching a fishing show and they fisherman wanted to send his line far down wind. He inflated a balloon and attached it to his line about six feet up and let the wind take his bait down wind.

Is that legal in Ca in the ocean and would you still be considered shore fishing?

I have seen guys do this off the Benicia pier in yeas past.  They would rig it so that once the current had carried it far enough away from the pier they would give thier rods a jerk and the ballon would pop off and float away.  Anymore I would imagine you would get a littering ticket.

As long as you are on shore, it is shore fishing.

Seen it done in Florida ... along with Kite fishing.  Not a big thing around here.  Maybe South in S.D.  I did see a few balloon fishing for WSB in Monterey

legal in most cases, but (IMO) balloons are almost on the level of cig butts when it comes to ocean litter.

+1 on litter... Planer boards or a remote control boat will do the job. I used to use a kids toy cheepo boat and a radio controlled solenoid to drop the line where I wanted it... Fantasized Transducer on a remote control boat off to the side as you troll, have not yet tried it though

Its legal. Just use those new biodegradable balloons if you want the to detach from your main line. Or attach the balloon to a second line, so when it pops off you just reel it back in.
Remote controll boats can be used to take your line out as long as the line isn't permanently attached to the boat. I think the remote control fishing boat m/b fun!

Did the remote control boat thing @ Lake Don Pedro WAY back in the day while houseboating.  Just used a downrigger release clip. Ton's of fun to catch those lake trout with.

bah haahhaha i wanna buy a remote boat now lmao

It's littering, my dad was cited for it.  If your going to do it anyway and you want something biodegradable you can use a brown paper sack like we used to take our lunch to school.  Just blow it up and fold the end a few times then put the hook thru the fold.  You cant cast it, but it will drift a long way.

 

  Remote controlled boat for fishing, there was a company offering just such a thing I remember seeing a few years back.   The add & video showed one being used to catch blue-gil.  I remember thinking " If a 5lb  bass grabbed that thing, it'd surely sink it!"