dabears54, the guys replies above are a great start. like them, i try to avoid the wire, so instead try using 2-4' of heavy mono or floro for leaders. floro goes deeper but is harder to knot tie, so i actualy use copolamar floro/mono. try 40-100#, but even 40# should work unless the blues are getting fiesty
for tackle i'd look at flukes since you have live bait experience or swim baits. the flukes and super flukes are easy to use, pick up some wide gap gammy hooks, about 4/0-6/0 size, although i have gotten away with just worm hooks. rig them weedless either texas or carolina rigged, avoid texposed unless you are missing a lot of hits. the swim baits are simple to use but are much more difficult to keep from getting hung up. the smaller the swim bait, the less current or trolling speed it takes to keep them up in the water column, if that's what you are looking to do. if your pitching or looking to troll deeper, step up to a bigger swim bait. for example a 4" swim bait is eay to play with and keep closer to the surface. 5 and 6" swim baits head down to the depths easier, although heavy current or troll speed can bring them right up to top water. the big 9" swim baits easily get deeper down but can be a mouth full for the stripers - they still attack or "mug" the swim bait, so you get lots of hits but fewer hookups...mostl!
using surface and top water cranks like bombers in the heavy duty and magnum sizes are what i mostly use. easy to pitch or troll, if you are trolling them, be sure to check them every 15 minutes or less for sea weed or other junk. it's a funny thing, if you add a skirt to bulk up a bait, the stripers will often nail it, but leave one little piece of seaweed on it and they won't touch it most times!
i hope this helps. are you trolling or pitching?
Striper/Bluefish trolling question -
