bass pro shops version of the senco much cheaper and lasts longer I can catch 2-4 fish with one of them as compared to a senco one and done. black with blue flake dirty water watermelon green with red flake clean water works best for me.
I sell boats at Tracker and often people ask advice on equipment. I as a rule tell them that total top of the line reels are not what I would recommend for beginner s but don't buy junk. Now a days you can at Bass Pro get a real good bait caster like the pro qualifier series for on sale $50.00 That is a reel that will serve the angler with annual cleaning and lubrication a lot of years and out perform most reels costing 2-3 times as much. Cheap junk will just frustrate beginners which is not what you want.
take some weaties in your hands dip them in water and crush them. make them into little balls and let set for a half hour or so till they stick together real good put them on your hook and fish. I've caught some real big ones with that.
Depending on the tide flow your going to have to adjust your weights anywhere for 2 to as mush as 5or 6 ounces. but the water movement is what stirs up the bottom and brings the food into suspension causing the feeding frenzy.
Go to a local bait shop I stay at my condo in Daytona and fish from one of several piers and from shore at Ponce inlet. I'm sure there are many community piers (some require a fee) to fish from and usualy you will meet up with a great group of guys that will give you pointers as to what to use. First pointer don't buy a lot of stuff before you go there as things work differently in many areas. As an example I believe in gulp and I thought that gulp shrimp would be great at Ponce inlet so I bought $60.00 worth never even got a bite. Used them in Illinois for catfish. Go figure. Different things work differently in different places at least that's my experience. Make a few friends and have a good time there's nothing like the taste of fresh mangrove or small red snappers I like the 16-18 in mangroves best eating satwater fish I've ever had even better when you catch-em. Good luck
I believe you are way over thinking this. go to either the Cabela's or Bas pro lines and look at their intercoastal frest/saltwater open face reels in probably the 4000 -6000 sizes and you should be able to get a very respectable reel that will do the job for you even if you happen to hook into one of the large strippers that will inhabit the waters nearby where you are. Hope I brought you down some. The fish don't need to be caught on a $1200.00 reel.
You might also want to get a seian net and dip it in the weeds. as I recall fishing for bass in a lot of Florida lakes and ponds their diet mostly consisted of blue gills or shell crackers. Where do you find them next to the weeds eating the grass shrimp. the bass will also eat the grass shrimp and large insects if they are large enough. as close to their natural diet in areas where they have an abundant food supply is a must. when they have what they want they don't go after anything foreign. Make sense?
best colors for Florida is gold I'd use a floating Rapala black on top gold sides cast it out along the edges of the weed lines and give it a small jerk and reel two or three turns and stop let the lure float to the top wait a second or two and repeat sequence. Bass even when they aren't hungry are curious and will follow baits and usually after a pause when you give a quick jerk will attack. also the best time to fish is in LOW LIGHT CONDITIONS early morning or just before dark. That's when they are on the move searching for food. Hope this helps. Also RED is very effective especially with rattle bates in the spring time.