Combo

[Foul Hook]

Originally Posted by kurtisb

The 30 pound braid will be a heartbreaker sooner or later. If you are fishing into January, 50 is a minimum!

I learned my lesson.

[Gerry Zagorski]

If you are rig fishing with heavy sinkers you don't need anything special or expensive, as long as the rod can handle the weight of the sinker and you have some backbone to get the fish out of the wreck and decent tip to get a good hook set. No noodle rods here with too light a tip and practically any conventional reel with a decent amount of drag will do.

If you're planning to fish with jigs, that's an entirely different story. You need to invest in a lightweight set up in order to work and feel the lighter weight jigs make contact with the bottom and to feel the little ticks.

Here's some stuff on the site which goes into a bit more detail which might help you:
- This one which is fishing with rigs https://www.njfishing.com/NJ_Blackfish_Fishing.php
- This post talks about jig fishing https://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99595