I live in north Florida and am adicted to surf fishing - I mean adicted !
A long time ago, however, i lived in New England - the home of real surf fishermen ... and real fish in the surf ---STRIPERS!!!!!
Anyway, I'm gonna head back home one day and would like a real good re-cap on the gear used for fishing stripers in the surf: rods, line, reels, baist, rigging - yadda-yadda-yadda. I realize this is a LOT to ask and I am going to start with Daighaults books but if anybody wants to do the dot com thing with an old phart longing to catch a striper at Plum Island I'd be happy to dot com ya back

Welcome aboard John.

You found yourself a great board here. A good mix of the young and the uhhh not so young. ;) Beginners, intermediate, and guys who have been doing this for a long time...

We can probably set you up with a rod and reel but you haven't given enough information. Some rods can do multiple tasks but none of them can do all of them. Most guys get by with two rods. Some get by with one and some have every imaginable rod ever made.

First we have to know, your price range. None of us are going to set you up with crap. You can get a reel for 30 bucks but it's not going to last. All the gear suggested will last you a while with proper maintenance.

Second thing we need to know if you want spinning or conventional? Spinning is easier and casts light stuff well. Conventional gives you better distance and can let you handle heavier weights.

Prices for good reels can run from about 70 bucks all the way up to past 600 bucks. The more expensive the reel doesn't make it better. Some guys use the old green Penn Z series and they can compete(and sometimes beat) with the expensive Van Staals and Shimano Stellas. As for conventional reels, the top three names are Abu-Garcia, Shimano, and Penn. Abu has a large line of reels. Penn offers the International 955, 965, 975, plus the 525 Mag and Shimano basically has the Calcutta.

With rods, again, you have some choices to make. Spinning or Conventional will be based upon what reel you choose. The important part of the rod is the weight rating. This is where you must decide what you want your rod to do. Do you want to toss heavy bucktails out there? Toss plugs? Toss eels? Toss bait?

Tell us a little more on what you plan to do and what you plan to spend and we can get you some good stuff.

Welcome to the site Prince. you have a lot of catching up to do, but since this years striper hunting is only a couple months along you should be able to catch up.

We try to help each other out here and tell a few stories, brag and the usual. So feel free to join in.

Prince, Welcome I am sure you will like it here.