# Ballooning Out Shark Baits



## The Pier Rat (Dec 6, 2002)

When it comes to jetty shark fishing I like to fish the South side of the Jupiter Inlet here in Palm Beach County South Florida. To catch these monsters, I use a Penn International 80-wide reel on a Murray Brothers standup rod. We fish only the out going tide so that we can float baits out. We use a large chunk of bonita or a bridle rigged bonita head for bait. 

I also use a unique method for getting the bait way out away from the jetty it's called "ballooning with Lifesavors candies." Yes, I did say Lifesavers candy! Here's the rig: (1) I tie the balloon on a short piece of twine or rigging type dental floss or light monofilament. (2) Then I insert the twine or line in through the swivel just hanging above my shark wire leader. (3) I tie the other end of the line from the balloon to two or three Lifesavers candies. Make sure that there is NO PLAY between the balloon and the candies or the line will wrap around the swivel when the candies melt and the balloon will not be able to float away and the bait won't drop to the oceans bottom.

This method works great! But you do have to monitor the boat traffic because they will run over your line while drifting a bait out. And we do all are shark fishing at night which makes it worse because the boats can't see your balloons.


----------

