Need some opinions on some possible tackle changes

[Anthony]

hey everyone, well now with the striper season about to go into full swing, i am thinking of 2 particular things i might change. I am thinking of switching from mono to braided line. the type of striper fishing i do isnt bottom fishin' but it kind is

the type of fishing i do is from the surf i take my 10 foot rod (or 9 foot in some cases) and i wade out up to my chest as far as i can go without going too far (and i am sure everyone has had a taste of too far, in other words getting a little wet with your waders on) and i cast my bait out as far as possible, my tackle consistes of my 15# main line connected to my 40# florocarbon leader and straight to my hook with bait on it. i use no weights and let the bait just drift around. I wade back to the shore with an open bail letting line out as i come back, i then close my bail and tighten my line up, continually pulling the bait off the bottom a little bit with a little jig motion of the rod. i hold my rod instead of using a sand spike so i can feel every little pick up.

So what i am am getting at is that i have heard that braid is alot more sensitive and was wondering if i should make the change to braid for the type of fishing i do. if so what kind of braid should i go with if i want to spool my reel (a Penn Power Graphite 7000) with braid.

Now my second possible change is with my hook. right now i use a regular shank mustad 7/O hook. i have had no problem with these hooks from schoolies all the way up to the big boys. I was thinking about switching my hook to a 5/O Mustad treble hook. My plan was to run the same line and leader set up but attach a snap swivel at the end so whenever i put on a new piece of bait i can put the shank of the treble hook straight through the chunk bait so the barbs are all covered. my reason for this would be so the i can put a little more "UUMMPP" into my cast without my bait going one way and hook the other. and i also think the hook ups will be better in that there will be no gut hooks.

Any opinions on my 2 possible changes would be much help. Thanks everyone

Anthony