New need some advice on shallow water / shore diving

Hey Dillion, there are some ninja divers here that can give you Boss advice. But if you are cool with an average diver giving his 2 cents, I can offer some advice.
Shallow water you need to weight yourself heavy, my standard for heavy is if I can relax at the surface and breath up without fighting my weights. Everyones weights are different, your body wear(wetsuit or whatever), your weight bone density blah blah, only you can weight you correctly! I prefer my weight belt when diving blue or normally, BUT for shallow/reef ambush hunting, hands down my weight vest is the preferred equipment.
If you are going for lionfish that rig is good but if you are wanting fish that don't stand up and wait to be shot then a longer pole and different tip will probably soon be needed. My 2 cents.

I"ve changed my weight balance based on lots of factors.

Good starting point:

For what you are doing and Starting Point, if you are on surface and FULL lungs you should float. If you breath all of the air out of your lungs, you should start to sink.

As you go down, the water pressure will compress your wetsuit and change your Volume. You will thus-ly be less buoyant.

Don't forget the Volume changes of YOU with depth, and refer to my Good friend Archimedes. He has a principle everyone should know.

I like to be neutral at the depth of the hunting zone. At times I liked being over weighted and other times on the other side of it.

Having your weight balance is very important. and everyone likes it differently.

I've just used Belts and not vests. Not that vests are bad, just what I learned and it works for me.

Got some Polespear/Tip testers in Santa Barbara, I can link you up with, if you like? Send me a PM

SWB, Go lighter on weight if that is concern.

Make sure you with buddy, or in the end probably doesn't matter.

I have one dive buddy, he doesn't use a belt. with thick 5mm suit pretty hard. He's always pointed straight down and kicking. When he is ready to surface just stops the kick. When he hits surface, he's out of water to his belly button. Strange yep, but he does it.

Watch the surface condition of that pole, if it get rough/starting to splinter, You could have some damage to your hand. Inspect equipment well prior to diving.

Fixed tip poles are fine, just limits your option to convert to different tips. I don't make those except by request only. The boys in HI tend to like them for mounting to Carbon Fiber type poles.

I just started using a vest this year and it makes a noticeable difference in my dives. Part of it is I'm wearing 20lbs and about 1/3 of it is in the vest. On the surface my back doesn't get sore from the weight pulling me in the middle any more. When I start my dive I notice it takes less effort to get under. Having the weight forward feels like it pulls you down rather than being pushed down. Then laying on the bottom especially in shallow water the vest holds my upper body down making it easier to stay put.
If you wear a lot of lead I'd recommend a vest.