For your feet wool is priceless. First thoroughly wash and dry your foot, then spray it with antiperspirant, a very thin dress sock may be added. A wool sock over the top and you have warmer feet for a longer time.
You needn't put legs on a snake. Each reel has it's own feel, What a good reel does it does it's own way. Go with your gut and whatever feels good for you is a great reel.
For most fish you want to tie directly to the spoon with your leader. You want a loop knot so that the spoon has little dampening effect. Tight lines.
I have very limited experience with lever drag reels. I think that by design they aren't made for casting. They are for heavier use. ...bushings in place of ball bearings, no level wind mechanisms and an overall heavier/beefier case. They can indeed be casted but not as well.I've taken one apart and was impressed with their simple/elegant design. They have few parts and those parts are built for heavy duty applications. For saltwater use they are great, but tossing a 1oz bait just isn't in their wheelhouse.
In Florida Hammerheads are prohibited.
Bring a chair and be sure to hydrate. Tight Lines.
Fishing from a pier I caught a 4 ft sharpnose shark. What made it memorable was I was using a #2 hook on a 15 pound leader with 1/3 of a shrimp with a tiny piece of FishBites. All this on a relatively floppy rod and a reel I was testing out after a repair. As luck would have it a pier net was close by. Nearly doubled the rod over without snapping it. The picture is now my background on my cellphone.
on Android cell phones, take a picture, then hit Google Lens. TaDa
Used to run a cross-country ski patrol and we had our own way of keeping feet warm. Wash out the oil and then spray down with antiperspirant. add a thin dress sock followed by a wool sock. A dry foot was a warm foot.
Baitcasters and conventional reels can take the punishment I deal out while pier fishing. Spinning reels come into play only when I'm fishing some really light lure.
Switch out treble hooks for inline single hooks.
Hold on and go "wheee..." . Enjoy the ride.