DIY Stripping Basket

[Vic Velasco]

I have been looking at getting a stripping basket, but could not bring myself to pay upwards of $60 to procure one.  Well - I was grabbing some groceries from A VERY LARGE grocery store and as I was walking through the cleaning products aisle, I did a double take on this "utility bucket".  $5 for the basket, relative pennies for the weedwacker line, $1 for the craft foam (thickest 9"x12" sheet you can find), some hot glue, a drill and a bungee - for less than $10 I've got a fully functional stripping basket.  

I took that money I didn't spend on the basket and bought a sling bag instead - but that's for another post.

[Steve F]

I made a very similar one out of a rubbermaid dishpan, a web belt, and some zip ties.  The web belt worked much better than the bungee cord for a snug comfortable fit, I just cut a couple slots in the pan to run it through.  Do you have holes in the bottom of the bucket? I drilled 1/2" holes in each corner to drain water when in the surf.  Mine worked great until I bought too many souvenirs in mexico and had to leave it behind.  I was out around $10, oh well.  I found a Mangrove Hipshooter a bit later that is my current favorite. 

[TurbineBlade]

I've had some problems with line catching on the bungee hooks once in a while, but I was overall happy with the basket I made.  I bought some thick weedeater string and just make a series of very small "snakebite" holes, then bent the string in a "V" shape and fed each end up into the basket.  I used a file to smooth out any burrs on the ends of the weedeater string just in cast this might catch the fly line while shooting.  

I intend to replace the bungee cords with a wader belt soon -- that would probably work better.

Gene

[Jason McMahon]

Good stuff.  Make sure to put some holes in the bottom and/or sides to let the water drain.

[Rob Snowhite]

Here is Tim Romano's version 

Sent from my iPhone

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[namfos]

LOL! 

Does he use the empties to keep the line from tangling? 

Might be useful at one of the casting sessions at Fletchers to cover techniques for holding the beer while casting.

[John Bilotta]

casting is pretty easy, retrieving can be a bit tricky. 

john

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[Paul Kalajainen]

I've never considered using a stripping basket.  What's the benefit?  I saw someone (I think Gene) mention being able to cast further - is that because you aren't pulling line out of the water so there's less resistance?  Any other benefits for the basket?

Paul

[TurbineBlade]

Paul -- I think that's definitely one of the reasons.  Where I was fishing, you'd have a really rough time keeping your "working" line (floating, sink, whatever) from tangling in your feet, on rocks, into horseshoe crabs, etc. without it.  The surf just knocks that stuff around.  I made the mistake of dropping my working line into the water at my feet to grab some stuff out of my pack and when I went to retrieve it, I had the biggest mass of sea weed, line and debris I've ever seen.  It took WAY too long to untangle it too -- very frustrating.  

I understand that a lot of people use the big boat buckets too -- probably for the same reasons (tangles).  

For casting, it seems to help keep the line from tangling on itself and you can shoot more line -- at least that's what I experienced.  

Though I've had only 1 outing to SW, I would not recommend drinking while fishing these areas.  I discovered 2-3 new ways I could probably kill myself sober out there, and I wouldn't want alcohol in the mix.  

Gene