Wife and I both use ugly sticks, braided line, and some split shot sinkers. We have always had better luck with single hook at bottom of line with split shot sinkers above. As mentioned before whatever feels best and works best for u. Wife uses just a couple split shots and I load up. Neither one of us can use each others rod with much success. She always sticks with her plan and I experiment with different spreaders from time to time but always seem to do best with what I mentioned above and end up going right back to it. Again what feels best and works for u.