Your gear sounds okay, maybe a bit overkill with the stradic 5000fj but don't worry its an excellent reel and you will put it through it's paces one day. The 2500 is fine for the general purpose estuary, jetty, sheltered bay, bank etc., kind of fishing. 8lb mono is a good start, that way you don't have to worry about leaders and line joining knots which is required when using braid or gel-spun polyethylene lines. However, the choice is there to use fluorocarbon leaders if you want to take the next step . Generally, lighter line will produce more bites because it allows the bait to waft more naturally through the water (in addition to it's lower visibility).
Bait-wise, well, when you say you are fishing for mcnuggets, does that mean you can catch fish but only small ones or none at all? In any event, I'd steer clear of bloody kangaroo steaks LOL. I haven't heard of anyone using that before which doesn't necessarily mean it is not effective.