feel the tap, lower the rod, watch the line, if it moves, take up slack from lowering rod and if there's tension pull firm to the opposite side of line direction. I use 10" worms so there's 8" of worm behind the hook.
and no lard, I don't mind, feel free to ask me anything and make suggestions
might pick up one of these:
http://www.dbarb.com/whydbarb.html
I like the magnetic tip feature for the cut piece of barb,
or one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/11-inch...ter-37837.html