Where in NEPA are you? I grew up in Swoyersville and still make it in to fish the Susquehanna whenever I can.
Thats's a ton of information, and the search option on the forum is your best bet. But since you're from NEPA, I'll give you my .02 and hopefully some of it is a starting point. Also, I just got back into fishing again over the past few years, and things have really changed for the better.
So about braid.... I fished almost almost all light mono up until the last few years. Since, I've learned that 30 and 40lb braid, and a variety of different flouro lines have their specific places - from ripping fish out of cover to super finesse fishing. Now I use braid for my main lines and use flouro or mono leaders. Braid is just ridiculously sensitive, it lasts much, much longer, and it has virtually no memory compared to flouro/mono. That said, with techniques like topwater, Crankbaits, and most other presentations involving treble hooks, a slower action Rod is a good call to compensate for the lack of stretch. Braid makes setting the hook a lot more powerful, so mind your hook sets on moving baits with treble hooks or light wire hooked lures - you can rip the lure away from the fish, straighten hooks, or even break key rings.
As for reels, Shimano is still probably the best make, but they aren't the cheapest make. Lews - and if you like Abu's Revo line, are also solid reels for a bit less. For $150 and up, you can get some really great baitcasting reels. The current trend with casting is higher gear ratios. For spinning gear, $70-$100 is a safe starting point (especially if you're planning on getting multiple combos without taking out a home equity loan).
St. Croix, Loomis, etc still make great rods. I like St Croix. There are a ton of other brands that all offer great rods from $150 on up, and it's all preference, really. On here, you'll hear about St. Croix, Loomis, ***, Powell, Shimano, Abu, Duckett, Daiwa, and the list goes on... (I've been pleasantly surprised by the Abu Garcia Veritas rods for $100 rods, and now St Croix will be upgrading the blanks in their Mojo Bass rods, for probably$150ish and will be great options if you're looking to pick up multiple rods and rig them without spending $10k) Really, Rod quality has improved a ton and it's almost hard to spend $150 or more on a rod and not get a great Rod with a warranty. One change to pay attention to is micro guides versus regular guides. Microguides claim to add distance to casts, and take strain off the blank (you may have 11 or 12 tiny guides on the blank). That said, the smaller guides also probably beat up leader to main line knots a bit more. Again, it's all preference. Do you like cork or foam grips, or would you want to try something totally different like St. Croix's neoprene sleeve grip? Do you like traditional handles or exposed blank? Do you like palming your Baitcaster? These are probably some of the biggest determinates as to which rods you'll gravitate towards. As for the Legends, I'm probably buying two the next time I have an extra $600 to drop on rods.
832 is a great braid (I have it on 3 of my reels). PP super slick in 20lb has had me clearing backlashes more than fishing on a Lews Speed Spool BB, but it's been great for me on spinning gear. Some folks here love it. I like it for high vis finesse fishing and watching my line on rivers.
There are a million soft plastics companies now that cater to everything specifically from giant swim baits, to 10 in worms, to drop shot baits. Berkley now has at least 4 lines of soft plastics (if you want to include whatever Gulp is made of in the conversation). There is a (or maybe 100...) soft plastic for virtually everything, in 300 colors that are mostly just 10 different variations of the traditionals. And you wouldn't believe how complicated something simple like jig heads have gotten.
KVD Crankbaits are solid, as are fat free shads, XDs, Rapala DT and shad rap series, and a million different companies that specialize in everything from square bill to $25 crankbaits that are blessed with the tears of the Virgin Mary while being hand carved by Buddhist monks. My suggestion, buy from one or two of the established crankbait companies(Strike King, Rapala, etc) and then build a collection from there. Buying Crankbaits gets ridiculously addictive.
Different guys prefer different knots. I like Uni to Uni to connect leaders. Some prefer the Albright knot. Picking one and getting good at tieing it is probably the most important part. Sometimes a dot of superglue will keep line-to-line knots from slipping/getting beat up by your guides. As for tieing flouro to lures, most of the time I'll use an improved cinch. Some folks don't like the Palomar with flouro, though I've never had problems with it, I just don't always like making a giant loop with leader line to get a large lure with a bunch of trebles to fit through.
St. Croix has a bargain bin section on their website, but tackle warehouse also has a sales section where they have some pretty ridiculous discounts that change pretty frequently. You can find rods and reels discounted over 30% at times.
Still, a million rods and the tackle for them doesn't mean a whole lot if you don't have a boat. Now instead of dropping a ton of money on bass boats, you can put together a well rigged kayak for around $2k including sonar. Kayaks are awesome for spending time with your daughter and they allow you to fish almost anywhere, including shallow stretches of the Susquehanna that would eat bass boats. Up your way, you'll see them all over the river, Slocum, Lily Lake, etc.
When I got back into fishing a few years ago, reading this forum helped me catch up on things a lot, even before I registered. Hopefully, this pays it forward a bit and you can take something useful from it. Welcome to he forum!
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