Beginning gear up

[Phishphood]

Hi guys. Literally just found this forum while looking for info on socal kayak fishing. I'm coming down from northern CA and have my share of experience fishing the salt up here but absolutely nothing down there. From the looks of it, you guys mostly target big game at least right now. What would be good gear for occasionally hooking up with a yt or wsb? I have access to rigs usually used for salmon mooching but not much heavier/no faster reels. Are those necessary? Are bait buckets a necessity or is there a fair shot with artificials? Aside from that, a decent 8lb spinning rig OK for making bait and targeting anything else when I just need to put some fish on the teams?

Thanks a lot for any advice guys and if you're ever headed up north check out NCKA they'll take care of you.