Sound fishing tips?

Hello all. My family has a house in Waves and we often go fishing as a fun pastime. I am not very experienced, and other than a few small catches over multiple years, we pretty much always get skunked. We have fishing kayaks and often go out in the sound, to no avail. Does anyone have any tips for fishing the sound, or in general? Rigs, bait, location, time of day, and even what type of fish we should be looking for are helpful. Please help us out! We have tried everything, whopper ploppers, gotcha’s, and even just plain bait.