I am very new to fishing but its always something that i enjoy doing when time allows me to do so. However i was wondering if anyone could recommend a good setup or your fav setup for topwater fishing (rod/reel line & lures) & possibly share why its your go to setup? I live in the Galveston County area, i don't own a boat or have access to one. So i have to fish from the rocks. I have tried bottom fishing and i always end up losing money because my line gets stuck & i have to snap the line and re-setup. Being able to cast further out is also a necessity (im not sure if its all in the technique of the cast or a combination of technique and setup). My apologies for the long post but im just trying to learn as much as i can. Thank you in advance.

try using a weighted popping cork with the leader set about a foot off the bottom.

If your referring to the TC Dike at the very end, I recommend the weighted cork setup but make a slip cork setup. Usually at the end by the road bearcade is a good place to fish for trout on certain tides and water clarity. I usually fish about 4 foot deep there with live shrimp. A nice Med.light 7 ft. rod, maybe an Ugly Stick, is good. I don't care for custom stuff or high priced rods. that's up to you on what you want to spend. I use a good 20# mainline and 30# Fluro Leader Line with a #6 treble hook. Topwaters aren't used there so to speak but some suspending baits like a Corkie May do well. Just have to try. Loosing tackle there is common. Knowing to throw your tackle further away from the rocks is a must in some
if your fishing on bottom. ALWAYS be prepared to loose tackle where ever you go. Good luck and keep in touch. There are a lot of folks here that are willing to pitch in on advice. Although most a Freshwater anglers. I'm a saltwater man....ed

cork rig is a good way to go, especially late winter and spring while the fish are still hindered by cold. Good points above by VBottom and Smooth.

The fish will only hit a topwater on the warmest days until the water hits 70 degrees.

for Tops and Corkies a good med action might fit the bill just about right. medium light with fast tip would work as well but in the IM6 and IM 7 category that is harder to find tip taper ratings. I think most of the lower end rods don't list their IM rating (a rating of how stiff the graphite fibers are) and that's ok, almost all the rods on the shelves are at least IM 6 or better these days. Rods don't catch fish, but they will make your experience fishing much more enjoyable. On the very lowest end the Berkley Lightning Rod Series is about the lowest cost graphite rod you can find.. A very short step up from there and much better quality is the Lew American Hero rods.. Lews gives a percentage of the sale to Heros' on the Water. Falcon Bucco is another good rod as well.

Either of these will be good lightweight rods that will be nimble enough to cast small tops like a spook junior up to a super spook if you need to, corkies, catch 2000, etc etc. as well as a small cork like a small cigar shaped click cork, or concave faced slip cork..

So here is the minimum rods spec to look for
6'6 -7'0 Medium Action 8-14lb line rated (line rating really doesn't matter) 1/4 - 5/8th oz. IM 6 or higher ( I don't like the 7'0 for tops)
6'6 -6'9 Medium Light Action 6-10lb line rated (line rating really doesn't matter) 1/8 - 1/2th oz. IM 6 or higher

Reel
On the lower end if you can find an old Shimano 200 b - 200d then that would be the way to go.. Those reels held up better than many others and could be repaired easily enough. The old Citicas also held up well enough. The hard part about recommending a reel for saltwater is that the lower end and even some of the higher end reels will corrode if you don't know which ones to get. I'm fishing with some higher end Lews..(Team Lews Lite) and I love them and they've held up well. We really have to get an idea of what you're budget is here. Likely your first saltwater reel may not last long if it's in the starter price category. Get a low profile reel for this as you will want to palm the reel and the old round reels, while doable, are just heavier and you can't palm them. The Lews Custom Inshore is a great little reel rated for the salt and it has a small profile and is light enough.

For line If you like mono spool it with 12lb Big Game or Pline. You can get a 1/4 spool for a decent price and it will last you probably 2 years. You can tie your topwaters directly to the mono here, or you can use a short 18" leader of 20lb mono or Fluoro leader material.. I prefer the fluorocarbon leader around the rocks if it's important to not loose any fish at all.. otherwise the mono is fine and much lower cost. Mono will be easier to learn your rig and how to cast the tops with and I actually prefer it for topwaters. If that's what you're used to for line then go with that. Many of us use braid main lines and I use a 30lb mainline for braid because it doesn't dig into the spool like the smaller diameter lines do. Suffix Perfomance 8 or Suffix 832 are both good, SeaGuar smackdown is also good.