hi Jay,
Welcome to the site :) You know honestly you're probably a bit undergunned for the river. There's some big trees in that river by Willow Beach and a big striper is going to man handle you pretty good on 20lb. Thing you can do to help the situation are:

- Retie regularly when casting
- Make a lob cast with 2-3 feet of line from the tip of the rod to the lure on the start of the cast
- Set your drag carefully. Tight enough to put pressure on the fish but not too tight

With the hudd on 20lb you really need to avoid snap casting the bait or you'll break it off on the cast. Hope that helps some... Fishing 20lb for big stripers is do-able but you just have to know when to pull and know when to give :)