If you use big hooks with large gauge wire then you may want a more powerful rod to put the hook set to drive the barb into them. If you get hooks like Owner cutting point, they're like suture needles. The point is like those needles used for sewing up skin lacerations and surgical operations. Often times, the fish just hook themselves with Owner cutting point hooks.
It also depends on how large the barbs on the hooks are. It's much harder to drive the hook past the huge barb as oppose to a smaller type of barb. Even when fishing and hooking into a larger walleye of say about 17" and upwards. One needs a harder hook set to drive the hook point in. With my light hook set, sometimes the hook is just caught around their teeth and there is really no true hook set. I've lost lots of fish just at the ice fishing hole and some fish I pull up, they open their mouths and the lure is just there. Some I see the hook bend just around the curved teeth of them walleyes and that's how I pull them in by luck.
As for fishing rods, I prefer to choose a rod for the use of the lure first and foremost, then the power of the rod for the fish second. Unfortunately a lot of Ugly Sticks just come in a medium power but there are some in the Light and Ultralight power rods, just shorter rods. When it comes to spinning rods, there are almost no Heavy power rods as most of them comes in casting rods. When one finds a Heavy power spinning rod, it's one of those heavy weight rod that's very tiresome to fish in hand. I don't power cast, I just moderate cast my lures and let the rod do the work of casting. I sometimes see people power cast and make a lot of casting snapping cutting noise with their rods.
I got lucky that I bought some 7' Cabela's XML spinning rods in Heavy power like 20 some years ago when they were Chinese copycats of the G.Loomis rods. I like these rods for also catfish and pike fishing too. They're too powerful for white bass and easily tames all the largemouth and smallmouth bass I've fished with.