Originally Posted by
wakina
I use a 7 ft. med action graphite rod, spinning reel with 30 lb. braid and a long armed crappie/perch rig. I normally use #2 tru-turn or eagle claw turning hooks both are thin wire Aberdeen hooks in red color. The bait holder type hooks are to big in diameter to get good hook sets in a consistent manner. I also use a minimum 1 oz. of weight to get me to the bottom faster and thru the junk fish that usually are just above the perch and at times I will use 1 1/2 oz. of weight.
Now before you laugh to hard at the 30lb line, I use that because it is 8lb diameter and will handle the largest sheep head out there. It also makes filling the reel with braid easier with a 125 yd. filler spool as most small to medium reels will have line capacity information for 6 and 8 lb. line and is almost always at or just below 125 yds. I also set my drag just like I was using 8 lb. mono line with about 2 to 3 lbs. of drag tension. But can tighten the drag when I hook one of those big farm animals without worrying about breaking it off and having to (heaven forbid) re-rig during a hot bite. I can also horse the fish out of the perch strike zone so it does not chase those yellows away.
If the shiners are small(pinheads) I will switch to a #6 or even a #8 hook to make hooking and keeping those small shiners on the hook without breaking them in half. The size of the shiners will determine what size hook I use.