Leave the snap on the nose and tie to that. You don't want to tie to the screw eye directly on the Slammer, it spreads your knot out too much.

I would consider changing the hooks to either 2/0 Gamakatsu Round Bend bronze trebles or 2/0 Owner Stingers.

I always preach the slow and steady on top method. To me, that is the can't go wrong method with the Slammer. It never hurts to vary or try different things though.

A lot of people swear by the palomar knot. What knot to use is a whole other topic worth many pages of writing :) Use what you think works best for you.

Personally, I never lock my drag. I fish tight drags but not locked because big fish have a habit of breaking stuff close to the boat / shore when you pull too hard with 25lb test. Modern reels with good drag systems should be able to release the line in an even, steady flow, even when set to high tension. This is a big reason why round saltwater style reels are popular for swimbaits. You can get a lot of drag on a Calcutta TE and it still pays out smoothly.

On that same subject, if you are mainly fishing at night, stick with 25lb test. I see a lot of people who are very keen on using 20. There's no reason to fish 20 at night! Most times, there's no reason to fish 20 at all with big baits. But that's another topic too lol.

When you hear the explosion on the bait, start reeling fast until you feel pressure then sweep back to the side and keep reeling. It's fun :)