Went out tonight and caught one 16" sea trout in about an hour behind my apartment complex on dead shrimp I bought at the grocery store. Had a few more hits but just pulled the shrimp off. I think I'm gonna try the circle hook next time. Fish were hittin it off the bottom.

Had another rod with a float and didn't get anything.

Was pretty cool though for my first saltwater fish ever! Do you guys use a leader for everything? I notice those guys have some teeth and I'm using 50lb braid right now as a leader....

I personally use a leader for all my baits whether I am using topwaters or soft plastics or whatever I happen to be using. I just use a basic swivel tied to my main line and then I use about 20# fluorocarbon leader material. That goes from the swivel to my lure. The length can vary from 12 inches to 24 inches or more depending on what I am using.

And then for my main line I am using mostly 10 lb. test line. Sometimes I use 8 lb. test or may jump up to as heavy as a 12 lb. test but 10 lb. test line with about a 20 lb. test fluorocarbon shock leader is mostly what I use. And I use SPRO swivels. And that's pretty much my shock leader rig.