I have pulled plugs for probably 30 years now. All the advice is good. One more thing I learned over the years is this. The best rods for pulling plugs are glass rods. They have no memory and when a fish pulls the rod down, the rod stays with the fish, allowing the hook set. Trouble with todays graphite is that it wants to rebound and pull the plug "away" from the fish. Try E-glass for a guaranteed increase in % of hookups!