Peke - I would say you have the "bug" for jug fishing. The 4/0 circle hooks may sound lightweight but we have caught fish to 30 pounds on them with no straightened hooks. The main reason we use 4/0 is that they can be used on all sizes of fish and the fish still have nothing solid to pull against to twist off because everything moves with them unless the weight hangs up. Yes, there are end caps on all ends of the shepards hook. I had not thought of putting a piece of monster noodle on the hook to keep it afloat. Thank you for the idea

Winger - Thank you for the correction about name and address. I use a trappers copper name tag that is hog ringed to the bottom of my eye bolt.It has my full address and # embossed on it. I stand corrected

Aserioushunter and winger and I have different opinions on the weights and all work and all are correct. Now remember that the best time to catch your biggest bluecats is from roughly November 1 to March 15th. This is the best time for easy limits and big fish in shallow water (10-12')

I have found some large crab pot closed cell foam floats from Miller net and Twine out of Memphis that are reasonably priced if the monster noodles dry up. Theya re getting harder and harder to find. I think the floats are around $60 for 24. My understanding is that they are white. it is also my understanding that they may hold up better than the noodles. We will know after a few jugging trips.