Well, it's about time you got out there and did some fishing! LOL You'll have to fill us in on how the Holden Bch pier is, i've never fished there.
Anyhoo, Balloon fishing is pretty basic. But, in order for it to work, the wind needs to be blowing in a direction that will carry your bait strait off the pier and out to sea. If the wind is blowing your bait under the pier, obviously, that's not going to work. So, you might want to bring your anchor rod just incase. Or, just use a large scale carolina rig with a heavy sinker and a shark friendly hook.[cool] Similar to what alot of anglers use for Amberjack and large Grouper. Don't forget a block of chum. Sharks have one of the most keen senses of smell in the entire realm of water. Sharks also are food motivated and are willing to travel long distances; and don't require the shelter of structure to maintain life, as they don't have anything to hide from. With that said, if you don't deploy a chum block of some sort, you better take a snickers bar with you; you're going to be there a while. (unless you're lucky)
The sharks never leave. Though some species of shark migrate with the change in season, or to "make babies," many hang out all year around. You can catch a shark along the reef in the dead of winter, or the heat of the summer. That's good to know for those freak days of warm weather in the middle of the cold season. [
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I don't know what you can expect at Holden Beach this time of year. It really depends. I know the water temps have taken a dive with this recent spell of cold weather. So, it'll take a week or two of hot weather to get us where we are suppose to be along the eastern seaboard.
You can probably count on flounder and drum for sure. If I were you, i'd take your favorite medium action combo and buy some Mud minnows and live shrimp just incase. It never hurts to be prepared. I don't know how many times i've showed up on a pier and missed out because I wasn't prepared. LOL, learn from my mistakes. If you're going to take the trip, be a boy scout and go prepared. I promise you won't regret spending the 10 bucks for bait. [cool]
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