The 7'11" XH is a very stiff rod for topwaters and wood. JMO.

Stripers do a have a razor sharp section on their gill plate. I've heard of line breaking on that if your line gets wrapped around the fish's head. It's a small possibility but it is possible.

One difficulty in determining what swimbait tackle to use and how to use it, is that you don't get a ton of bites typically. Since you are on a bite where you're getting good numbers of bites, you have the luxury of being able to experiment. I'd try a different brand of line next time, or a different rod. Or whatever variable you think is the most likely culprit.