Im finding it near impossible to troll sp's near to my favoured launch spot at balnarring beach so I have a few ideas that I want to try.......
Just after feedback and/or feasible alternatives:

I would prefer to fish SP's due to most likely going out on a whim or if I realise that the conditions are nice for a short window so having fresh bait or time to defrost some is not guaranteed. Also sp's are less hassle and due to the weed around here stay on the hook better!

This leads to the problem........weedy/ sea grassy bottom. If I troll a jig head rigged sp it snags immediately same casting, unless I find and anchor near a sand patch and my aim is good lol

I'd like to troll on my way to a destination. My idea is to Texas rig 'weed less' sp lures........is this reasonable and likely to be succesful? I was thinking to use shads, minnows and possibly shrimp plastics with a lot of their own action in sizes big enough to tempt decent sized flatties and avoid undersized fish?

If I were to anchor over a sand hole and were targeting whiting I have read on here and elsewhere that gulp worms etc. work as bait? Are they just fished as you would a pipi or squid etc as a static bait on a normal rig such as a paternoster?

I like doing something while fishing rather than just sitting and waiting most of the time so would drop shotting with small grubs be an option for targeting whiting and would I rig it at a similar height above the sinker as a paternoster in a given situation?

Thx for taking the time to answer newbie questions

I'm not a fan of trolling SPs. I used to do it but ended up getting a lot of line twists, causing knots. Maybe thats me sloppy at setting up the SP. Might be something to do with not being a symmetrical fit. You also need a heavy jig head to get any depth when trolling a they are not self diving. Which is then too heavy when you stop to flick. tails get easily ripped off when trolling too

I have done ok on whiting with gulp worms, just flick with slow erratic retreive.

Whiting have small mouths so maybe slim & small plastics do better than larger bodied ones. Though I'm no expert on that.

You could try moving the back of the SP up the hook so the tip of the hook is running along the spine of the SP rather than exposed. Hook up rate is a little less but the snags will be alot less too, and if the fish are smashing them they will usually still get hooked. Hope this helps

You will still get weed snagging between the line and the jighead but a bit less than with the hook exposed. I often attempt to troll HB's in WP (like today) but it typically only lasts a minute or two in many areas before getting snagged up. I have better luck around Coronet Bay as there are times it has less weed floating in the area. With whiting a very slow action and slowly moving bait or SP should get bites even when they aren't taking stationary baits. SP's like a turtle back worm or gulp worm work well on whiting and can be improved by shortening the length a bit.