you may ruin your reel fishing off of a pier, but probably not. If you actually go into the surf to fish (walking into the water) you will probably ruin your reels.<div>
</div><div>Don't think that you're going to just go out and catch cobia like it's easy. There will be people that know far more than you and catching something like a cobia will be damn near impossible if you don't have experience. Fishing with shrimp will likely be boring, depending on what's around--it gets old catching garbage and having your bait stolen. Instead, I would recommend either using a gotcha, which can catch blues, pompano, spanish mackeral, and some other less desirable fish. This has always been my preference fishing from piers. You don't have to deal with bait and it allows you to move around make long casts. If you have more time, grab a sabiki rig to catch some bait and either fish with live bait or cut it up. </div><div>
</div><div>In reality though, you're best off just to show up with a few poles and walk down the pier to see what's biting. Mimic a technique that seems to be working.</div>