Yes, a cheap stout rod is preferred! One reason, it vary well may break, two, you for sure do not need an ultra sensative rod to feel a bite, most of the time lucky to hang on to the rod! Fishing for these makes me wonder why i fish lmb as often as i do.

To the contrary. A trend in rods today is being led by Shimano and their Terez rods, designed for bait as well as lures, there are boat models with gimbal butts, traditional cast and retrieve and a tuna rods that's 7'4. These rods are designed specifically for braid, they can be long and light and handle some very hefty fish.

I have never caught a freshwater striper, but I have caught many saltwater ones.

A good rod will not break......

http://www.spanishflytv.com/theater/shimano-terez-boat-rod-series/

To the contrary. A trend in rods today is being led by Shimano and their Terez rods, designed for bait as well as lures, there are boat models with gimbal butts, traditional cast and retrieve and a tuna rods that's 7'4. These rods are designed specifically for braid, they can be long and light and handle some very hefty fish.

I have never caught a freshwater striper, but I have caught many saltwater ones.

A good rod will not break......

http://www.spanishfl...oat-rod-series/

There are no doubt there are rods out there that can and will handle these fish- I also dont think i would ever use braid striper fishing- i want a bit of stretch with them. Anyhow, huge fish can be caught on light rods with the right drag and patience- I would just not start out with an expensive rod to start out with. Good rods do break...

As always, everyone should buy what they want, and use it how they want though. Biggest fish i have seen caught in person was well over 50# and on a mh 6'6'' lightning rod- so goes to show price is not always the proverbial "breaking point" As for saltwater, sad to say i have never fished it, and need to.

I prefer mono for them as well. I use 20#-30# Cajun Line primarily. This will be the first year I try out braided line on them. I have some 60# braid strung on a rod just for using the Bama rig. That could get interesting.

im probably going to go striper fishing this weekend at Smith Mtn Lake. Will probably end up trolling mostly, and doing a little casting for them. Casting for them i have a Penn Captiva CV2 6000 with 20lb Stren mono that came with a 7ft H Penn rod, but i changed the rod to an 8ft MH Ugly Stik Catfish rod(i do a lot of catfishing with this setup). But i also have a new Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6601 C4 reel i may use, especially if we can get some live bait like shad or alewives.

Stripers are very much like the snook we catch here in Florida, with the exception that stripers have the potential of being larger I use pretty much the same gear for each. My pretty much standard set up for inshore fishing (casting and retrieving of lures) is a mh 10/20 spinning rod, 4000 reel and 15-20# braid, a live bait set up I would be using a heavier rod. My choice of rods has a much to do with where am I'm fish as to the baits I'm using and target species, different species fight differently. Shore fishing like from a beach I can use lighter gear, a fish can't run deep as the water is shallow, they run out distance. Fishing from a jettie, a heavier rod is needed to keep them out of the pylons. There is also quite a difference between an inshore and offshore boat rod even though the line and lure ratings may be similar.

My good rods don't break the bank and don't break when handling a hefty fish, most of my rods are around a $100.

You don't need special equipment. Whatever you are using for jigs and weighted soft plastics

will be fine. You don't need live bait either, we are killin' 'em on The Rig! Here are some pic

of some fish I caught earlier this spring:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/97447-pickwick-is-on-fire/