Help with bottom yt in kelp

[pingpangdang]

Need some advice on bottom fishing for yt...my success rate needs some serious tweaking because it's nonexistent. I've lost some good fish within the first minute. Here is the info: 100' water with few lines of kelp. 65lb pp spectra, three way swivel 20 lb floro, 4/0 j hook with a gb hooked in the nose. Torpedo weight bouncing on the bottom. Penn jigmaster drag not hammered down but star tragedy set somewhat tight. Reel in retrieve.

Now on to the strike. The hit was ferocious. .pulled line off like a beast as if what little drag the jigmaster had was nothing. My rod was decent and could handle the load this time. Plan was to keep her off the bottom. Got a few cranks and thought I was making progress then bam taking more line. Pulled some more and felt some pops from the kelp getting cut. Took off again and felt heavy..probably found some more kelp...slowly applied rod pressure and snap she's gone. Looking at the line knots held. Line broke clean about an inch from the swivel. This all occurred in about a minute or less.

Kicked my self for using 20 lb when I had a rig made with 40lb...figured the fish would be finicky so went light. So I tie on the 40lb. 15 minutes later another run but broke me off in about 10 seconds or less...reel screamed like crazy and pow....looked at the 40lb floro and knots good but not a clean break. This time near the hook but with noticeable abrasion. ..rocks? Teeth?

Reflecting back for next trip...maybe I should of thumbed the spool? Reading up on aj and bottom fishing they say hammer the drag and don't give the fish an inch. Last 15 to 30 seconds keeping ajs off the bottom you should be able to bring them in the open water...but we have kelp here. For my jigmaster can I hammer the drag and thumb it down for the first 20 seconds to get it off the bottom? Or do I need 50lb floro? With it hammered down will 40lb take the initial shock? Also I was using a j hook...better off with a circle hook to avoid line abrasion? Also if the fish gets stuck in kelp what to do...wait it out? Paddle to the side? Give slack? I'm assuming the top shot could get wrapped and bust.

Also is it better to keep the weight a few feet off the bottom to prevent toothy bottom dwellers from taking bait and to give you a buffer from the bottom if you get at bite?

A lot of questions bu I'll take whatever you got...I've been reading posts all over and watching about a million videos....A lot is not local and is for east coast ajs