We've got 9' Cabela's Depthmaster trolling rods with Ambassador 4500 line counter reels. I don't hear of many people suggesting the Ambassador, but they're the smoothest reels I've ever used and I've had one that I've used hundreds of times catfishing as well as a few days spent fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and it's still going strong. We only fish 4-8 days per year, but we haven't been disappointed in this setup yet.

We only have Church "The Walleye" boards, but I really like them. I prefer them to the others because they have the pin on them that not only insures they'll be safely on my line even if the front clip pulls off, but because of the clip I can actually give the line a quick tug and it will pull out of the front clip (if I rig it properly) and allow me to pull the board in without having to fight it. Even if the back clip pulls off, the board just moves on down the line to my sinker and I don't even have to bother with removing it while a fish is on which is where most of my fish are lost.