Beginner at fishing

Good evening everyone!

I used to go fishing a lot with my dad but haven't done it for probably 12 years. I'd like to get back into it as my son and daughter have showed some interest. I live in Central Texas and went to Lake Bastrop today. Had a great time and even caught a Bass! Got some questions and thought I'd ask here. Also open for other advice!

Here are the items I had:

Size 1 Aberdeen hooks
Size 3 split shot
1" bobbers
Zoom Trick Worms
5/0 Circle offset hooks
Live bait – Nightcrawlers
5' Spinning rod (cheap one from Walmart); didn't have a great selection obviously, but it seems to work good.
Cheap tackle box

I bought the trick Worms and 5/0 hooks on impulse just in case I ran out of live bait. I did use one in the end after I got my line snagged in a tree (lesson learned!!), but didn't have much luck. I caught the bass with the Aberdeen and Nightcrawler. Think I just got lucky as i was thinking it'd be crappie. I went with that setup most of the time since I was fishing off the bank.

Some questions:

1. Today was super windy with the waves coming toward me. Had some problems casting. In retrospect, maybe I should have moved to far side of lake so the waves were going away from me. There were speed boats driving in the lake too. Would a bigger weight help in this situation and what size should I have used for live bait? Other advice?

2. Split shot and bobbers kept moving down the line. I used pliers to pinch the split shots tighter and that helped. Maybe I should use better bobbers? (I did check to.male sure I was putting them on right.)

3. When should I upgrade rods? And if so, what's a good choice (best bang for the buck).

4. What other fishing stuff do I need ? Lures, bait, hooks, weights, etc.

Thanks for all the help and advice!