Late June into July...eels would be he easiest way for a beginner to hook a cow down there. Or do what everyone else does....wait until 4am and head down for a 7 mile shoulder to shoulder, topwater hope fest.
Last year it was unbelievable. I was one of the many googans on the fishing pier during a blitz. You got people reeling in a 30lb striper with the rod upside down, 15 others jammed up at the end of the pier bc they are all wrapped around the last piling, and you've got to let out 100 yards of line so you can go up and around them to land the fish. I lost a cow trying to run down the rocks after I let a ton of line out to get around the other googans.I'm no expert down there and surprisingly most people fell in line on the pier but the few that don't really mess things up. I don't know if I'll fish the pier much this year but it sure is nice to be able to jig up mackerel on one side of it and live line them off the other side. It just isn't one of those places that I go with the hopes of fishing in solitude. Its essentially turned into the salmon river in NY with googans fighting each other over a zombie fish.For the most part if you are fishing shoulder to shoulder you all need to fish the same method or you will be getting all sorts of tangled. The locals will let you hear about it too.
Will if you want to try it out I can show you a thing or two. I have a back up setup for jigging you can try.
6000 will do. Buddy of mine uses a St. Croix triumph surf rod that seemed decent. Another uses a cheap tsunami ariwave. If you can get something rated for 2-6oz that should do the trick unless you want to throw the 9" shad, I use 5-10 and 6-12oz rated blanks for that.