One of the basic rules for blackmouth is to keep your lures near the bottom where ever you fish.(If your fishing in 160ft of water and your deepest set is at 150ft you are fishing too far off the bottom) The only exception is when you are marking bait clouds with larger fish around them higher in the water column. I have also found that fishing the plugs will eliminate most of the hassle of hooking the smaller shakers. The other thing is that you should be fishing the west side on an incoming tide before the tide change. hope this helps. One other thing, think green in your lure color selection.