While most any rod capable of handling 15-30 pound mono and having 7 foot along with a fast tip will work, I chose the various versions of the Ugly Stix (from striper, custom, catfish, etc.) Reels on the other hand need to have a quality drag, and have sufficient line capacity for handling the powerful runs of a COW striper. I bought several reels much to massive for the purpose, but something like the Shumano TLD15 Lever Drag works well for me. The spool can be set free with the clicker for some applications, moved to medium drag and or strike drag as preset before fishing. Usually the max drag is 1/4 the line test. While the line can be relatively light and still allow a quick landing of the fish for C&R, the leader must be substantial for larger fish. The gill plates can server line! I favor fluoro in the 40-50 pound range. Another reason I favor the larger weight ball bearing swivels is the pinch for the knot in the welded swivel eyelets. It's seldom a question of hangs on the bottom that would require lighter weight terminal leader. Yet, them damn crab pot and other rope debris can cause havoc and ruin a day's tackle.
The reel clamp is a critical accessory. Most any fish of Cow size can destroy a reel seat on the rod and drop the reel. Bluefish seem to be more adept at this even when much smaller that a striped bass.
I like the reels with the harness lugs so I have an option of using a tether to keep the rods on the boat. Sometimes, wind/wave/fish all combine to
make a rod jump into the debths.
Often, storage of rods in a motel or at home is difficult. I solved the problem by fabricating a rod holder from 1 1/2 inch PVC. Shown without wheels to allow moving the gear from the boat to the motel or into my home garage from the boat, soon, it will be wheeled. Can't leave tackle on boats as the rods/reels have legs as soon as it gets dark. I don't need more than 10 rods for Kiptopeke fishing. Yet, always need a spare rod just in case. I started by making one of these rod holders and ended up making 4 additional to keep all my rods secure.
Other ideas are to angle the vertical tubes to about 70 degrees to decrease the vertical height as some have 7 foot rods and motel ceilings are low. Works for me!
