NJ Stripers

Anyone thinking to hit the Jersey shore, get your plans in soon!  Just came back from some business in the area.  I fished the surf at Lavalette, NJ, and had a great few hours of free time.  I landed 6 in about 2 hours.  Nothing huge, 1 x 24", 2 x 22", 1x 21", & 2 x 18".  I would have probably landed more, but trying to figure out where to fish, a bait shop told me clams were the way to go.  That wasted an hour, until I ran out of them.  I threw on my favorite swim shad, and had a blast.  80 degrees, sunny, wind blowing like crazy, but almost felt like June. 

Wally,
Probably pretty similar to what you'd cat fish with, as for rod/reel.  My set up is a shorter surf rod, I think 8' heavy action.  Anything heavy action would work, just make sure that you can comfortably throw an ounce or 2 for lures and 5 or so for hurricane/pyramid sinkers if you are using clams or other bait.  This rod is my lure flinging surf set up, so I have a smaller surf sized reel with some super braid line (I think 20lb).  It just casts further than the mono at 20lb.  Your odds of catching that 20lber aren't all that great, definitely there, but line is heavy more for the weight that you are casting. 
 
If you use the super braid or even lighter mono, set up your rig with about 2-3 feet of 30lb mono shock leader.  My favorite way to set this up is using a heavy duty barrel swivel.  If you want to fish a tandum or teaser, leave about 4-5" tag on the knot from the mono to the swivel, which you can tie on a teaser (decievers work really well) or another swim shad.  It was really windy on Monday, so I went with the tandum, to get the extra weight casting out.
 
This is some of my favorite fishing.  I love casting the surf rod, as far as I can cast.  Kind of that kid in you type of thing.  Just like any type of fishing, you want to change the rate of retrieve until you find out what they are going after.  One of the only differences in salt water, some times you need to retreive as fast as you can.  Monday, was a really fast retreive.  The first one that I got, was from a cast that went into the jetty that I was fishing next to.  I was trying to keep from getting caught in the rocks and wham!  I'd definitely take a medium/heavy rod as well, for calmer days or in the bays if I was staying longer.  Hooking into one on lighter gear is a blast.  Most reports that I have read, said that they are more in the bays now too.  If I'm that close to the ocean for only a day, I have to check out the beach though.  It is easier to access too.  The bays are usually private land all around, where the beach is always public.  Some don't let you fish, but you won't have to go far to find a place to fish.
 

A group of friends and I make an annual trip to the Deleware shore, to try and cut the stripers off on thier fall migration.  A boat would definitely help in the cause, but we have done ok without one.  The Indian River Inlet always seems to produce something.  We usually end up with shorter than keeper ones.  I'd suggest NJ, for catching stripers though.  Deleware is nicer, in that it is less populated, and more of a vacation type feel.  If you enjoy setting up some chairs, surf spikes, and tossing back some cold ones, Deleware is hard to beat.  So are the hotel rates in Nov/Dec.  I don't think they'd be really high now, but NJ is more expensive, and looking around $150-200 per night if you go in June.  NJ has more jetties, which seem to really attract the stripers though.  Make sure you wear korkers if you venture out on them, and always keep an eye on the waves.  One of my buddies got swept off of his feet one year, and nearly washed him out to sea. 
Good luck if you make it out.