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You mentioned hooks and sinkers in relation to bobbers.
Unless your good at sharpening your own hooks, a smart choice are those chemically sharpened or laser sharpened hooks like the Gamakatsu and Laser Sharp brands. These will account for more hooked fish than those regular hooks.
Try and space the split shot as follows:
Starting from the hook end, one tiny BB size about 6" up the line.
Then, another slightly larger split shot 12" up the line
And finally the slightly larger split shot 24" up the line.
Use round split shop without the tabs. The tabbed ones are re-usable but are not as weedless as the round ones.
This set-up will allow you to cast livebait, such as suggested by GreenCoachDog, a good distance with a slipfloat without tangling.