Stripping baskets

[ronk]

I've often thought of getting one myself. I've spoken to Ron about coiling the line in my stripping hand. I still haven't perfected it; he's right - it takes a lot of practice, just like all the other facets of fly fishing.

 

I'm certainly not opposed to a basket as I believe they would help, but my preference lately has been to scale everything down. The basket would seem too bulky to me.

 

I'm down to my sling pack, a few tools, one fly box, a few sink tips, leaders and tippet spools. It's all about comfort and staying functional to me.

Steve

A few how to tips to make it ezier.

It's important to keep your line hand perfectly still when holding the max # of loops to keep them from moving which will make them tangle.For medium distances you should be able to avoid falsecasting & simply cast to your target without hauling thereby keeping your line hand still.For longer distances do the same thing making the 1st cast a falsecast during which you shoot some of the loops.On the 2nd delivery cast you can now haul for distance since the fewer loops are less apt to tangle.Wulff suggested making each loop progressively smaller to minimize tangling.That for me requires too much concentrating on the loops and is too much effort.I just make relatively small loops of about the same size which don't tangle too often.The smaller lops will also avoid any ground tangles when shorefishing.A trick I learned to lessen tangling on the longest casts is to reduce the # of loops by allowing the 1st few feet of retrieved line to hang down & than start the loops.A good delivery cast with a haul will shoot this limited amount of hanging line out nicely.Of course this won't work casting from shore if there are tangles on the ground.With some practice you'll get the hang of it & derive satisfaction from becoming a better more complete caster/flyfisherman.

[Mike G]

ronk,

 

If you can bear to look at it, you can find a picture of Lefty Kreh wearing a stripping basket in his book, Fly Fishing in Salt Water, page 156. His treatment on the topic of stripping baskets begins on page 154 and ends on 157 with the comment,"Finally, though it seems that few fly fisher use a stripping basket ohter than those in the New England area, I believe that wise saltwater fishermen will begin using them all over the world." That is where Craig came in earlier in this thread when he suggested we learn from out salt water brothers.

 

PS You do not have to buy the book. The section cited is available for preview on Amazon.

[Guest airbornemike]

Its gotta be the basket

 

Stuck a couple tonight using my STRIPPING BASKET

 

Um! I'd like to see someone neatly coil there freak'n line while doing a high speed double handed retrieve with your rod jammed in your pit, cause thats the only way these bass were play'n near the end of the night. I'm not a spin guy and cant say I've ever actually even tossed a buzz bait, but its what I was think'n when I was gett'n bit tonight. I was burning a minnow pattern at high speed with this style retrieve and than immidietly picking up and put the fly back right were it needed to be. This is a good example of were a basket is the only thing that would help you effectivley achieve this presentation.

 

I use my baskets for bank angling, I dont use them while wading rivers, OK! But I am open to it. See there's the key, I dont know everything, I'm open to learning new methods and techniques even though I've been whipping around a fly rod since I was 12. Heres the thing, I am willing to bet that I can cover way more water, and move faster than some one standing on the bank screwing around with coils, stepping on there triangle tapers, getting there Clouser line stuck in rip rap and what ever else us bug chuckers trip over during our excursions.

 

I cant let it be said here that a basket is not a good tool to consider having in your arsenal if you do any kind of bank fishing at all, It just isn't true, but I'll let you buggers decide. If anyone wants to try one out I'll bring a few to the next outing, just look for the NERD!!

[Mike G]

Good post, Mike. Being a fishing show junky, I have seen that hand over hand high speed stripping method used in salt water and on east coast rivers for the shad run. I was wondering if it would give fly fishing the equivalent of a buzz bait. Now I know. Many times speed makes all the difference.

[Andy C]

I have a video "Lefty's tips and tricks" where he lays some netting down on top of willow weeds to keep his fly line from getting tangled. Of course I really don't care what works for Ronk or Lefty, I care what works for me--and that is a stripping basket. I don't use it while wading (although I definitely see applications for it), I use while fishing from a boat or my canoe. There are times when I strip too fast to be able to effectively manage the line and a stripping basket works great. Just my .02

[ronk]

Its gotta be the basket

 

Stuck a couple tonight using my STRIPPING BASKET

 

Um! I'd like to see someone neatly coil there freak'n line while doing a high speed double handed retrieve with your rod jammed in your pit, cause thats the only way these bass were play'n near the end of the night. I'm not a spin guy and cant say I've ever actually even tossed a buzz bait, but its what I was think'n when I was gett'n bit tonight. I was burning a minnow pattern at high speed with this style retrieve and than immidietly picking up and put the fly back right were it needed to be. This is a good example of were a basket is the only thing that would help you effectivley achieve this presentation.

 

I use my baskets for bank angling, I dont use them while wading rivers, OK! But I am open to it. See there's the key, I dont know everything, I'm open to learning new methods and techniques even though I've been whipping around a fly rod since I was 12. Heres the thing, I am willing to bet that I can cover way more water, and move faster than some one standing on the bank screwing around with coils, stepping on there triangle tapers, getting there Clouser line stuck in rip rap and what ever else us bug chuckers trip over during our excursions.

 

I cant let it be said here that a basket is not a good tool to consider having in your arsenal if you do any kind of bank fishing at all, It just isn't true, but I'll let you buggers decide. If anyone wants to try one out I'll bring a few to the next outing, just look for the NERD!!

Nice fish Mike.I fished the Dupe a cupl days ago & the Kank this am & could only manage 2 smb about 13" & a dink lmb.Summer fishing has really tanked for me these last 2 yrs.

Re your comments the whole point of learning to coil line w/o resorting to a basket is to keep from stepping on it or tangling it on shore line growth, riprap etc.After awhile it should become something you do automatically w/o thinking about it rather than something to be "screwed around with." Baskets are an option for those for whom it doesn't.The hand over hand technique notwithstanding it allows for retrieves that are as fast as can be done with a basket when wading or boatfishing.Speaking of boats I don't understand why either coiling or a basket should be needed for boatfishing when most can be kept free of line hangups.I wouldn't own one that couidn't be.

Re shoving a rod under your armpit & furiously retrieving line on those few occasions when that's the only way to catch a fish in freshwater I'll happily tip my hat to a spinfishermen or a basket toating flyfishermen.Too much work for me & I'd probably keep dropping the rod.

Btw almost all my fishing is done wading or floatubing. I don't feel "connected" shorefishing & have no desire to fish subdivision or corporate ponds even though that's where some of the best fishing exists these days sadly.But that's a subject for a different post.

[Mike G]

Mike,

 

Some float tubes come with a sort of apron or platform that you strip like into. Not geeky since butchers and bar-tenders wear aprons too. Don't rule them out.

 

BTW, there is not a boat that does not have something that a fly line can catch on. That is the Murphy's law of fly fishing from boats.

[Mike G]

Mike,

 

Some float tubes come with a sort of apron or platform that you strip line into. Not geeky since butchers and bar-tenders wear aprons too. Don't rule them out.

 

tube with apron

 

BTW, there is not a boat that does not have something that a fly line can catch on. That is Murphy's law of fly fishing from boats.

[ronk]

Mike,

 

Some float tubes come with a sort of apron or platform that you strip line into. Not geeky since butchers and bar-tenders wear aprons too. Don't rule them out.

 

tube with apron

 

BTW, there is not a boat that does not have something that a fly line can catch on. That is Murphy's law of fly fishing from boats.

Mike

As far as I know not just some but all floatubes have aprons.They're essential for flyfishing.I'm sorry you've had such a bad time with snags in boats.My fishin from them has been primarily with guides whose boats have always been snag free.I'm looking fotward to doing so again for 4 days in November for steelhead.

From what you say Lefty for some reason likes baskets for saltwater primarily.What's his reasoning?Are you sure he's not referring to fishing the surf where as I've said a basket would be welcome for xtreme distance casting with shooting heads in heavy surf.Otherwise I see no reason to use one in saltwater where due to its lack of current a flyline can just be left to fall onto the water's surface as opposed to in a stream where the current causes drag on a flyline making casting at distance more difficult as it pulls the line well downstream of the angler's position.Sometimes after I coil the line in my hand during the retrieve I'll flip it upstream back ono the water just as I start the next cast which defeats drag because there's no time for the current to drag it downstream.

[Guest]

I just spent a couple of days on Lake Eufaula, AL fish bass with my Bullfrawg. I forgot to bring my "vertical line management tool", ie. STRIPPING BASKET and I pissed and moaned most of the day(especially after this thread) as the wind blown line was caught in the trolling motor, on cleats or under my feet half the time. Still I managed to catch quite a few nice bass. All I want to know from ronk is why is it just because he doesn't use or like some product or method of fishing, anyone else who does use it or like it gets belittled by him? Why not just say it's not my cup of tea or it may work for you but I choose not to use it instead of the insulting remarks you always start up with? Why do you not allow for other opinions? This is an on going theme with you dude. If I didn't feel that you were doing some beginner fly fishermen wrong by just flatly dissing items rather then stating they have their place for some but not for you, I'd never answer a thing you wrote. Get an open mind to ideas. By the way, truthfully, have you ever tried a stripping basket? My kid hated vegetables without trying them either. Be careful, how you answer this might prove me right.

[Mark K]

This thread makes fly fishing sound entirely too complicated.

[Mike G]

From what you say Lefty for some reason likes baskets for saltwater primarily.What's his reasoning?

 

Mr. k,

 

Look that up yourself. If you need a clue where to start, check the post I made earlier in this thread. It is best if you get the story in Lefty Kreh's own words. That way you will not be making stupid unwarranted assumptions.

[Guest]

OK Ron, now your just proving my point that you know not of what you speak. Have you ever been to the ocean much less ever used a stripping basket? The ocean has more current than most rivers. Have you heard of a rip tide? Your hopeless, I'm done with this thread.

[ronk]

OK Ron, now your just proving my point that you know not of what you speak. Have you ever been to the ocean much less ever used a stripping basket? The ocean has more current than most rivers. Have you heard of a rip tide? Your hopeless, I'm done with this thread.

Craig

Assuming you're referring to my most recent post you obviously failed to grasp what I was saying.I said that stripping baskets are a benefit for surfishing which is the use for which they were developed.One would've come in handy when I surfished off the Irish coast 11 years ago.There is little benefit in using one for any other saltwater flyfishing, ie open ocean from a boat or wading the flats.And yes Craig I base that on experience having also flyfished the flats both off Abaco Island in the Bahamas and in the Baja Espiritu Santo(Bay of The Holy Ghost)off the Yucatan Peninsula in'91 &'97.Your referrence to its current makes it clear that you've never ocean fished. Otherwise you'd know that it's "current" is imperceptable both on the flats and the open sea and that in that regard it's no different than fishing a freshwater lake.

No, I've never used a basket and having no intention to ever fish the surf again I never will because following Lee Wulff's advice I took the trouble to learn how to manage retrieved line w/o the need for such a clumsy contraption.When this subject came up I was simply urging other flyfishers to at least try to learn how too before forever relying perhaps unnecessarily on a basket as a crutch.

The suggestions I make on this cite are not necessarily for beginners who first need to master the basics.Unfortunately I know too many veteran flyfishers who are little better than they were as beginners.

Finally you better hope you never find yourself in a riptide Craig.If you ever do all they're likely to find of you is your stripping basket( assuming it floats.)There've already been several drownings in them off Lake M's Indiana shore this summer.

[Guest airbornemike]

Can I delet my own post

[ronk]

Mr. k,

 

Look that up yourself. If you need a clue where to start, check the post I made earlier in this thread. It is best if you get the story in Lefty Kreh's own words. That way you will not be making stupid unwarranted assumptions.

[/qu

Mike

You're right about my having made an unwarranted assumption.It was made based on your having referrenced saltwater only & on Lefty's having made no mention whatsoever re baskets in his extensive book Advanced Fly Fishing Techniques for either salt or freshwater.

Googling his comments he recomends a basket for saltwater fishing from a boat to avoid stepping on the line.While it's true that happens it shouldn't with some care happen often enuf to warrant a basket.It hasn't for me.His other reasons for one( moving along, deep wading etc)can all be handled nicely as can the clubfoot reason by learning to hand hold the line when necessary.When moving to a different spot instead of dripping the line into a basket as he advocates is it so hard to just reel up? Spinfishers do it for every cast.Let's not forget that as well as being a great fishermen Lefty is also a salesman & a marketing rep.And if there's something to be sold to overcome a problem it's in a salesman's interest to recommend it over other ways to do so.While I think Lefty is basically sincere in his recommendation I don't agree with it based on my own extensive experience.Apparently Lee Wulff who advocated learning to hand hold line wouldn't either.When it comes to flyfishing you can be in no better company than his.

I will say one last thing on this topic & than I too am done with it:ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE HOW TO EFFICIENTLY HAND MANAGE FLYLINE PLEASE ASK ME AS FOR A DEMONSTRATION AT THE NEXT CAST & COMPARE.!!

[Mike G]

Mr. k,

 

Look that up yourself. If you need a clue where to start, check the post I made earlier in this thread. It is best if you get the story in Lefty Kreh's own words. That way you will not be making stupid unwarranted assumptions.

[/qu

Mike

You're right about my having made an unwarranted assumption.It was made based on your having referrenced saltwater only & on Lefty's having made no mention whatsoever re baskets in his extensive book Advanced Fly Fishing Techniques for either salt or freshwater.

Googling his comments he recomends a basket for saltwater fishing from a boat to avoid stepping on the line.While it's true that happens it shouldn't with some care happen often enuf to warrant a basket.It hasn't for me.His other reasons for one( moving along, deep wading etc)can all be handled nicely as can the clubfoot reason by learning to hand hold the line when necessary.When moving to a different spot instead of dripping the line into a basket as he advocates is it so hard to just reel up? Spinfishers do it for every cast.Let's not forget that as well as being a great fishermen Lefty is also a salesman & a marketing rep.And if there's something to be sold to overcome a problem it's in a salesman's interest to recommend it over other ways to do so.While I think Lefty is basically sincere in his recommendation I don't agree with it based on my own extensive experience.Apparently Lee Wulff who advocated learning to hand hold line wouldn't either.When it comes to flyfishing you can be in no better company than his.

I will say one last thing on this topic & than I too am done with it:ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE HOW TO EFFICIENTLY HAND MANAGE FLYLINE PLEASE ASK ME AS FOR A DEMONSTRATION AT THE NEXT CAST & COMPARE.!!

 

And blah blah blad... This is not about your casting skills, Mr. k.

 

You are making it harder and harder for me to even think of going to the next C&C. But if Lefty is there, I will come.

[Mike G]

Airbornemike's basket wins. Two great posts by Airbornemike, testimony by respected ISA angler's, and the endorsements by two great Smallmouth Bass anglers, Bob Clouser and Lefty Kreh are more than enough data to decide in favor of the stripping basket. That should end it

[Guest]

To reiterate, your hopeless.

[ronk]

ame='ronk' date='23 August 2010 - 05:58 PM' timestamp='1282604309' post='48154']

 

 

And blah blah blad... This is not about your casting skills, Mr. k.

 

You are making it harder and harder for me to even think of going to the next C&C. But if Lefty is there, I will come.

 

Once again you're right Mike.It's not about my casting skills.It's about my attempting as a caster with many years of experience to improve the casting skills of others.I can't help it if some guys resent that.I can only hope that others not so close minded can benefit.Go ahead & get a basket.In a boat it'll keep you from repeatedly stepping on the line if you're unable to keep that to an inconsequential minimum with a little care & common sense.When wading you'll be glad you have it along when you have to crash thru heavy undergrowth to reach a spot on the river.And having reached that spot you'll also be glad that the basket's hanging at your waist restricts you to wading at no more than thigh deep.You'll also be able to take comfort from knowing that when you fall in the basket will make it more of a challenge to regain your footing.So many pluses,so little downside.

Bottom line:the only place other than surfishing where a basket makes sense is for shoreline fishing under certain conditions such as weed growth or riprap.And only than if you are unable to learn how to hand hold retrieved line or are too close minded to even try to learn that skill.

BTW Mike re the c&c do you think it's wise to allow others to have such influence over your decisions?

PS Having promised to be done with this topic I apologize for failing to keep that promise.

[ronk]

To reiterate, your hopeless.

Well thought out reply Craig. Not as hopeless as YOU'RE grammar.

[Guest airbornemike]

I think the "hand hold retrieve" described by Ron could be a usefull skill while wading or when you're with out a basket. How bout a demo for everyone at the next C&C Ron?

[Mike G]

Mr k,

 

Once again you're right Mike.It's not about my casting skills. and blah, blah, blah...

 

I will repeat,

 

Airbornemike's basket wins. Two great posts by Airbornemike, testimony by respected ISA angler's, and the endorsements by two great Smallmouth Bass anglers, Bob Clouser and Lefty Kreh are more than enough data to decide in favor of the stripping basket. That should end it

 

Airbornmike's invite to you to demo your Jedi hand line recovery technique is most generous considering the belittling you dished out. You should apologize and thank him. The purpose of cast and compare is to provide ISA members and their guests with an opportunity to try out rods, lines, and other equipment. Demos and contests are outside of the scope of the event though you have assumed otherwise. So be sure to clear your demo with the organizers of the next event.

 

Now I am taking Craig's cue that it is time for all of us to leave the room. I am going to stop watching this thread. Mike won. It is over. You will be talking to the walls in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,...

[ronk]

Mr k,

 

 

 

I will repeat,

 

 

 

Airbornmike's invite to you to demo your Jedi hand line recovery technique is most generous considering the belittling you dished out. You should apologize and thank him. The purpose of cast and compare is to provide ISA members and their guests with an opportunity to try out rods, lines, and other equipment. Demos and contests are outside of the scope of the event though you have assumed otherwise. So be sure to clear your demo with the organizers of the next event.

 

Now I am taking Craig's cue that it is time for all of us to leave the room. I am going to stop watching this thread. Mike won. It is over. You will be talking to the walls in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,...

Airborne

 

I intended nothing personal in lampooning the use of stripping baskets.I've always considered them to be a comical contraption with very limited use.If I offended you I very much apologize.I certasinly didn't think you & I were in any kind of contest and don't think you did either.

Mike G

Your narrow view of the scope of that event or any other one where fishermen gather re exchanging ideas /info is disappointing.I'm not assuming but know for a fact that John L, its organizer, does not share it.In his invitations to attend he's pointed out that it's also a learning opportunity.

[Guest]

You call that an apology? I'd want an apology for that apology. Ron you can't apologize AND insult someone in the same sentence. Why not say something nice and humble and not follow it up with a crass remark for once? Can't, can you?