I recently purchased a 9 wt. Orvis rod with a Battenkill mid arbor reel and used it this fall on the Jersey shore for stripers and blues. It held up great and was a pleasure to cast. I've been told that 8 weights are fine, too, unless you hook into a trophy striper.
I purchased the rod and reel with clear intermediate sinking line from www.flyshopcloseouts.com. I feel I got a great deal. I had a lot of questions, so I called the site directly -- to his credit, the proprietor talked me out of buying the more expensive Mach IV reel and into the Battenkill because he guides on the Cape and believed that his customers consistently preferred the performance of the Battenkill over the Mach IV.
