The temptation is to arrive with your own gear. Resist it for the first trip. Rods rated for these fish are heavy, ugly and specific, and the fishery has racks of them that have already survived a thousand sessions. The wild population is critically endangered, as National Geographic has documented; the lake fish are farmed stock.
What matters is line and knots. Braid in the fifty to eighty pound range is normal, and the knot at the swivel is the thing that fails, not the line itself. Retie after every big fish. The boys will do it for you if you ask and they will do it better than you.
Hooks are large, strong and usually barbless or crushed, both for the fish and for you. A size that looks comically big is the right size. These are not delicate feeders and they engulf a bait rather than mouthing it.
Ground bait comes in a bucket and is mixed on the bank into something like heavy porridge. It goes in the feeder, a lump goes on the hook, and the cloud it produces is what draws the fish. There is no finesse and no secret mix.
Bring gloves if your hands are soft, polarised glasses because the glare off a flat lake is brutal, and a long sleeved shirt. Everything else is on site.