Fit the insert with no holes in the spod and go somewhere quiet, fill the spod with lake water and practise casting to a marker.
When you hit the mark put your line in the line clip to prevent overcast, then either bash away at a marker float or pick a salient feature on the far bank like a bush, tree, pylon ect, and keep aiming at it.
After a while you will get a feel for things and away you go.
As far as a mix, you could try hemp, 4mm trout pellet, maze, or a wet mix. i.e. get a bag of your boilie mix add a little hemp then scald a few pellets to make a dough, stick in a can of Amoy coconut milk and some of your bait dip then mix the whole lot together with lake water to make it like a soup, then when you spod it out it will leave a cloud of attraction on the bottom but not a lot to eat. And that?s where your hook bait comes in.
Lots of people have lots of ideas what works, this is what I do and it works for me.
When you have been doing it for a while I am sure you will come up with a few ideas of your own.
Good Luck.