This is serious stuff here. Unless we can help him all he's gonna catch is a buzz.
I've always used artificial lures.
Black Berkley worms on
Carolina rigs with
worm rattles in them. That way you can work a wider area even from the dock. I always just used a bullet weight and tied my line right to the hook with something called a Palermo knot.
These are the bullet weights to get.
If you work the worm slow the weight slides down the line leaving the worm floating. The worm will go down to the weight as you slowly draw the line. That's when 90% of your strikes happen.