Re: Newbie to party boat for strippers
I would stay away from the rental rods if possible. A rod in the 7 to 8ft range, medium heavy spinning would be a good choice to start with.
The party boats frown on braid, hard for the mates to untangle lines if they need to. I use 30 to 50lbs braid for backing with like 3- 4 yards of 25lbs mono or flouro for leader.
Paddletail swimbaits are probably #1 bait - Tsunami heavy shads or NLBNs are my favorites. If bunker is the main forage, flutter spoon works good. Ava jigs, 17 & 27s, are good to have. If the boat is using bait you will need circle hooks.
When it comes to boats there's a few that sail out along the raritan bay that will target striped bass - Keyport Princess, Prowler, Captain Ron, Dark Horse to name a few. They are all pretty close in price and schedule, couple of them will do night trips as well. Couple of the boats down in Belmar will also go out for stripers, but you might have a longer boat ride to the grounds if they have to go north to the bay to find fish.
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