It's amazing the number of fish species that attack small plastic lures rigged on light jigheads! The waters I fish usually hold shallow fish in 2-8' , but the key to catching them is
finding them. The best way of finding fish (other than using sonar) that can be
provoked into striking a lure or live bait, is casting to as many areas as possible and at the depth(s) fish are holding.
The ball head jig IMO can't be beat. It comes in many weights and hook sizes and holds a huge number of soft plastic lure designs.
With the introduction of no-stretch
braid and less stretch
fluorocarbon lines, strike detection and hooksets from a long distance is greatly improved.
Rod and reels don't have to cost much. Most rod/reel combos I own cost less than $40 and have allowed me to catch hundreds of fish every year. Spinning and spincast reels do fine with light or heavy lures whereas baitcast reels are better suited to heavier lures.
Live bait fishing is the slowest technique of finding and catching fish but
lure fishing can also be as slow as one wishes with ice fishing the perfect example. One is forced to
slow down fish through a hole, but when an area doesn't produce I drill my holes elsewhere and start
jigging again, meaning, dropping a jig-rigged small plastic bait and twitching it off bottom. One year my partner and I caught over 40
crappie as it was getting dark jigging a dozen holes drilled in a large circle .
But as with any fishing, confidence is essential and once you've caught your first fish on a light lure, the world of lure fishing opens up ways to fish and lures to fish them. But if all you want to fish with is only one lure that you've mastered, who says
variety is the spice of fishing (except those who sell fishing equipment)? I have quite a few lures most of which
just one will do as well as the others, but I an a sucker for variety. LOL
Good luck.