or a really, really cheap bastard. Isn’t lead pennies per pound & aren’t most fishing weights less than a pound?
Unless I specifically need it (like that’s the only change I have for a vending machine) I’m not searching for 5¢.
Sounds like that may have been the only weight he had on hand.
Also, if I lost some gizmo my Dad gave me to use for some task he needed done, I’d feel bad when I a) failed the task and b) lost or broke the gizmo. Cheap or not, I’d rather find/fix it, succeed, and not tell him of my miscue than get caught out as a clumsy chump.
The weight selection is the funnest part! Use an old shoe or a half-filled water bottle. It doesn’t need to be dense and compact for slicing through water like when fishing. And the visibility won’t hurt, either.
Casting straightish up is pretty different from the horizontal fishing casts anglers practice, both are hard!, so misses are expected.
Is that why there are always shoes slung over power lines? Why are people hanging so many bird feeders over the highway?
Because that’s where the birds are. Perched on the wires along the highway. Silly person. 
Why do crows like to sit on telephone wires?
To make long-distance caws!
but of course
Wouldn’t that be unstable? Would not a full bottle be more stabler ?
Maybe in some ways but I don’t think stablerity is the main criteria. Here, we want a load about the right size, shape, and weight to not get stuck in the tree, light enough to launch or lift, but also substantial to carry the runner. And not fly off the line, get lost, hurt anyone, attract rodents, etc.
With a water bottle or pill bottle of pebbles or sand we can at least adjust the weight to the angler’s preference.
I think that @jnglmassiv has done this before 
We’ve got more of the little egg weights now, but your approach is sound, too. I’ll see what else in the garage might be a good casting nugget.
I’ve got to defend my stepson `cause he’s the father of my most precious grandson. But I get what you’re saying. There was a sense of urgency that day, and think he let that urgency accentuate any shortcomings. Mainly by only grabbing his rod and one weight when he left the house. And he’s a relatively new fisherman. He just started casting lines a couple of years ago. This could be more of a chore than he thinks it’ll be. As @jnglmassiv mentioned, he’ll be challenged to cast it higher rather than farther.
Somewhere in my basement is a mostly full 500ml bottle of water with a cord tied around it. I used it to hang a swing (~15 feet high) for my grandson. It worked very well. I run across this water bottle occasionally and think, “why haven’t I thrown that away?” And then I think I might use it again one day, ha! I’m sure I’ve not got the muscle to toss it 30 feet up there, though. Maybe I can fashion it into a type of boleadora for throwing further distances. Hmmmmm.
I’m going to let my angling stepson have another go or two at it. I’ll keep y’all posted.
In my scoutmaster days, we would have scouts make a monkey fist knot. It’s a tight ball-shaped knot, sometimes built around a round rock or ball, useful for tying to the end of a rope in order to throw the rope up high. Besides being a good throwing knot, it’s useful to keep a bunch of kids busy making one for an hour or two. Then they get to throw them!
It’s not that hard, and I’ve left plenty of hardware in trees to prove it!
A quick UPDATE. The birds still don’t have a new feeder, but we’ve had a mild amount of entertainment. Entertainment isn’t really the word, either.
I purchased one of those nifty wrist-rocket slingshots from Daisy. I got a small bag of glass sphere ammunition, too. When it arrived here, I unpacked it and left it on the table for a day or 2. As a gag, when my wife and her kids asked me what the slingshot was all about, I told them I bought it for our 2-year old grandson. Hilarity ensued.
When all the laughter subsided, I counted out 3 of the glass ammo spheres and put them in my pocket. I took them and the new slingshot to the tree and its target branch. I thought I’d see how this thing worked. The first shot was, “oops… pulled back a little too much.” I didn’t even see how far the sphere went. But I did have the thought, “one of these balls would certainly damage the windshield of the van [parked not close, but within ricochet distance].” I really should have moved it, but the van’s key was behind a locked door and that gave me pause. I reasoned that I had only 2 spheres left, and surely the gods would smile on me for two measly shots… right? I crossed my fingers and ammoed-up. Not simultaneously, mind you. Maybe I should have.
I knew I needed less energy, so I gave a mild pull, a quick prayer, and the release. I was so pleased to see the ball go up in front of and over the branch. I see it slow, and then watch as it descends on the other side of the bough. This is just what I was hoping for, proof of concept. I’d only one more ammo ball, so let’s see if I can reproduce the results. Whispering another quick prayer to the windshield gods, I let the third sphere release into the forest, headed towards its target. And again, without much fanfare, it took its gravitational turn around the branch and fell to the ground.
Though nothing of note happened, the suspense was palpable during the 2 remaining test rounds. With my luck, it was very possible that there’d be a bounce and a ping to my windshield. I’m not sure if it’s a tale of unrewarded stupidity or a success story showcasing my amateur [slingshot] marksmanship. The marksmanship gets more attention in the next chapter, wherein I actually tie a string to the projectile and hurl the union upward, into the woods. More to come.
Tie a very light line (like monofilament) around a smooth sphere and hope it goes with the projectile under very high immediate acceleration?
That would be a feat of knotwork, indeed.
Just what i was thinking. Unless those “spheres” are actually beads and have a hold through them.
And if it’s still too heavy, could try dental floss. It is extremely light, cheap, and pretty strong. I think it’s strong enough to pull a heavier line up and over.
My first thought was that was cruel, when you can just launch them away until I saw where you were going with it.
You may need more energy since you’re also carrying the monofilament or whatever string that you’re using above the weight of the marble.
Oh, I didn’t conclude the last post effectively. I meant to allude to the fact that I’ve already made the attempt with string and projectile. I just haven’t written/posted it in detail. But you guys are right… one is gonna have a tough time securing a line to that smooth glass. I only purchased the glass spheres to play around with. I used fishing weights for the real work.
Use a light rope - paracord works well - and tie a monkey fist knot. You can tie it around one of your spheres to give it a little heft. Sailors have been tying them for generations, maybe centuries, for heaving lines. Plus, learning to tie a monkey fist is cool, and the knot itself is decorative.
I had thought I had posted in this thread when it first appeared, but I guess not. I wanted to point out that squirrels are pretty damn clever, and will likely defeat any measures you implement. There’s more than one YouTube video showing how extreme some people get in trying to keep feeders safe from squirrels, and yet the squirrels usually figure it out before too long.
After moving the van, I took a 1oz fishing weight and put a bread loaf twist-tie through the bore. To that I tied some lightweight cotton twine. I chose this twine because it’s light it is wound onto a tapered spool like those used on a loom or other type of weaving assembly. This spool has been in the family since the 70’s; I don’t know where it came from. I reasoned that the light weight and the taper would offer a winning combination. That, combined with my earlier mentioned slingshot marksmanship, should make quick work of this project.
The first attempt was just as @Spiderman proposed. That is, the line gave too much resistance and it fell short. I went into the second attempt with much less optimism. The failed attempt discouraged me, sure, but the real issue was that the line wasn’t nicely wound around the tapered spool any longer. It was strewn more-or-less haphazardly on the ground. I could have cut and started fresh, but wanted to see what happened using the line as it was currently presented.
The second attempt was even shorter b/c of the extra resistance of the line having to pick itself off the ground. It wasn’t pretty. More power had the third attempt bouncing off the branch. It was time to cut the string and start anew.
Fourth attempt with new string was exemplary. I look up to see the weight and string just over limb, with about 18 inches of dangle. The white oak tree bark is very shaggy, as was the cotton string I used. These 2 features working in concert were unfortunate, but not insurmountable. Or so I reasoned.
I attempted to shake, rattle and roll the twine as much as I could from ground level. I thought some well placed and good vibrations might reduce some friction, allowing the weight to pull the line over. In my zeal, I broke the string. It broke about 4 feet from the weight. Now I have a fishing weight and 4 feet of cotton twine hanging from the limb.
Lessons learned: I need a heavier weight and heavier cordage. With this in mind, the next attempt should nothing less than a showcase of success.