New to fishing, don't know much, but I was running two hooks on my ugly stick with an old (1980's ambassadeur) anahuac TX catching sand trout to fill up a cooler, live mullet and a 1oz weight. I accidentally hooked two reds, one being 34in, my personal best and the other about an 18, fight of my life, probably should have known the first was on but hey, that combo is now my favorite thing in the world for everything. Same rod I had when I was probably 12 pond fishing.