hey there marx, when im fishing top water i look still look for the fish on the sounder just to see what depth they are in and to make sure that there are fish in the area,its good to have one of the boys jigging as well just to see if it worth casting stick baits,yesterday the boys where killing it on the jigs and i cast carpenter gamma's all day and got nothing so some days they wont even take the best baits,so make sure that there are fish in the area and give it a go
once hooked up depending on the depth you are in and the size of the fish it is good to have someone on the wheel to help fight the fish, say you hook the fish 40m from the boat and the fish swims under the boat and your in 60m and it pulling out string you need to be on the wheel sharp
you do not want to be fighting fish straight up and down cos of the length of the rods is will put a load of pressure on the angler
hope this helps