[briansnat]

The Rockaway and Black and similar rivers you'll find trout in stocking season (and a little afterward), maybe some small smallies and panfish. You'll likely be tossing mostly spinners, small spoons and crankbaits, along with live bait and Power Baits.

For small stream fishing I prefer a 5' 6" ultra light action rod, but I think for your first outfit I'd go for a little more versatility, so consider a light or medium-light action rod, fast taper. Since you'll be walking the shore line I'd stay away from anything longer than 6' 6". The extra few inches on a 7 footer seem to catch branches a lot more. Check out the Berkley Lightning Rod or the Bass Pro Shops Micro Lite. They are under $40 and a lot of rod for the money (The BPS Micro Lite is on sale right now).

For a reel check out the Shimano Solstace or Syncopate, or a Pfleuger President. The above will give you a pretty nice outfit for under $100.

For line you should be using 4-6 lb test. I've had bad results with fluorocarbon line on spinning reels (lots of tangles) and I don't like the feel of braid on a spinning reel, so I stick with mono on spinning reels. Your mileage may vary.

To stock your tackle box, pick up some trout sized in line spinners like Blue Fox, Panther Martin and Mepps, small spoons like Kastmaster, Phoebe and Dardelve, and some small crankbaits. You can't go wrong with some small Rapala Shad Raps (2" or smaller) in a few colors. I've had pretty good luck with the Yo-Zuri Snap Bean crank bait as well. Add a few small jigs like the Trout Magnet and some Power Baits and you're pretty much set.

I don't go much into soft plastics in streams other than perhaps a small Zoom Fluke on occasion, because the lighter rods don't have the backbone to get the solid hook set you need with most plastics.

Hope this helps.