Stripers and Stripping Baskets

[Paul Kalajainen]

On Sunday (4/6) I was at Fletcher's in the morning fishing for shad (caught 6 nice hshad).  Around 10am something HUGE hit my fly.  Skipping ahead to the end of the story - I lost the fish, so I don't have a positive ID, but it fought like a Striper.  It was definitely much bigger than a shad.  Okay, back to the beginning of the story, I had a lot of line at my feet in the boat, so I was afraid to try to give up much line or try to get to a place where I could use the reel.  I thought the line would get tangled or wrapped around my feet (as it often does).  Since I didn't really have a drag to help me, the fish pulled me off my anchor and almost into another boat.  Trying to avoid getting swept away I tried to muscle the fish to the boat to land it quickly and deal with my anchor.  About 10 feet from the boat the fish spit my fly.

I was disappointed that I wasn't able to fight the fish better, and a little tired of feeling like my line was always under my feet.  I looked up stripping baskets online, but didn't feel like paying for one, so I made one.  A rubbermaid dish tub, 9 zip ties, and one bungee cord later I had my basket.  Haven't been back to Fletcher's with it yet (this weekend I will), but I've used it at Gravelly and 4MR this week, both places where my line always ended up caught under a rock or on the fencing.  It's been great, probably has added about 40% to the distance of my roll casts.  I thought it would be sort of cumbersome to use, but it feels pretty natural. 

Anyway, this whole story to say:
1)  I'm gonna get that striper one of these days
2)  I would encourage anyone to try using a stripping basket if you also struggle with line under your feet.  Making one like the one I did costs less than $10.

[TurbineBlade]

Looks good!  I used weedeater string on mine, but found that I was always putting crap into the basket and smashing them down.  I actually like it better with just a flat bottom, but everyone has an opinion.  

Gene

[Brian Ibanez]

What fly did the mystery fish take?

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:47:46 AM UTC-4, Paul Kalajainen wrote:

[Paul Kalajainen]

Brian - I had these two flies on at the time.  Not sure which one it was.

[Brian Ibanez]

Wow, interesting that such a large fish would take such small flies.

Wonder what it was feeding on...

I would of thought that a fish that big would be picking off weaker and smaller shad and would ignore small bait like that.  But maybe it was feeding on smaller baitfish or crayfish.  Very interesting...

[Paul Kalajainen]

Yeah I was surprised too.  Maybe it passed close enough that the fish ate out of reflex more than anything else?  Not sure, but I'm tying some big silver clousers to try and imitate those smaller/weaker shad this weekend.

[Rob Snowhite]

Loads of minnows feeding on shad eggs are an easy meal for stripers. Not only do they get to eat the easy to catch schools of minnows, the stripers benefit from the extra protein from the eggs eaten by shiners etc. 

Ps, snakehead spotted at Chain Bridge today. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Matthew Longley]

I tied up a bunch of "shad deceivers" last year and caught a couple of 15 to 25 inch schoolie stripers during the shad run, definitely put up a fun fight.  Also, if I recall correctly, Alex Binstead caught a 40+ inch striper last year on a shad dart.  I'm guessing they hit darts out of instinct or aggression.

[Paul Kalajainen]

Let's try this again and see if the picture will be a reasonable size.

I really like the silver flash, looks like a shad to me, and I'm hoping the jighead gives them a nice action in the water.  Matthew, how big were the ones you had success with?

[Danny Barrett]

A buddy of mine up in the Jersey area ties something like that for stripers. He has a few pics of ones I believe were in the 30-40 pound range.  His had a few joints and were closer to 12 inches or 14 in length. Never seen a fly so big.  Hope yours work as well as his do.

Tight lines,

Dan Barrett

On Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 4:07 PM, Paul Kalajainen <paulkal...@gmail.com> wrote:

Let's try this again and see if the picture will be a reasonable size.

I really like the silver flash, looks like a shad to me, and I'm hoping the jighead gives them a nice action in the water.  Matthew, how big were the ones you had success with?

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[Rob Snowhite]

Look like a shiner to me! If you've seen people use cast nets around Chain Bridge they will inadvertently pull in dozens of shiners the size of those flies. 

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[Alexander Hicks]

I'd tie a stinger off the hook bend... That's how the boys in Carolina do it.

[Nedak]

Paul-

I have been building stripping baskets for over a year now.  Yours looks great.  Couple of points/suggestions, 1-is it deep enough?  I have found deeper is better 2-suggest ditching bungee cord and use either old wading belt or old regular belt.  It will give you a bit more control over the placement of the basket.  3-experiment with heat gun to put a bend/curve in the middle. I find the basket most effective when it is on my hip vs. in front.  You strip to side and then have to move your hand back in front.  I find that to be inefficient.  Hence my $80 ebay purchase for the Mangrove hip shooter.  Its been discontinued but a pretty good basket.  I "borrow" and always return baskets from places like well...a big box store started by the Walton family, a large chain that has a red logo where you can get your Rx filled.  These shopping baskets are flexible and deep.  They also are not solid so wading in them is acceptable. 

I used the hip shooter the other day on a row boat and caught my first shad (on my first cast none-the-less).  The basket was great and kept the line in control.  Stripers online has a bunch of  DIY stripping baskets for those interested.

J

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:47:46 AM UTC-4, Paul Kalajainen wrote:

[Paul Kalajainen]

Alex - I thought about that.  How do you attach the back hook?

J - Mine is 8 inches deep, what do you usually shoot for?  I'll have to try it with an old belt, I totally agree that the basket is more effective when it's on the side.  I'll have to try it with an old belt.

[Alexander Hicks]

On Friday, April 11, 2014 8:30:35 AM UTC-4, Paul Kalajainen wrote:
> Alex - I thought about that.  How do you attach the back hook?
>
> J - Mine is 8 inches deep, what do you usually shoot for?  I'll have to try it with an old belt, I totally agree that the basket is more effective when it's on the side.  I'll have to try it with an old belt.

With some 0x tippet tied onto the hook bend.

[Paul Kalajainen]

Nice - easy enough.  I also just noticed that my last message is weirdly repetitive. 

[John Kaden]

Paul-

I measured mine and 8 inches seems deep enough.  The picture was deceiving as I thought that was the shorter dish pan. 

If you have a heat gun or could even experiment with a low setting in an oven,  you could soften the dishpan aput a curve in so that it sits better on your hip.

Here is a great thread on the topic:  http://www.stripersonline.com/t/917113/diy-stripping-basket-final-product

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[Eric Y.]

As an alternative opinion, I like stripping baskets to be solid unless I'm in the surf. In the surf, drain holes get rid of the inevitably spray but in other situations, they let water in and cause the line to float and make it more prone to tangling compared to a stripping basket that stays dry inside. I have two made in a similar fashion to yours - one a dishpan with drains, one a Rubbermaid container without drains. 

I've been debating buying a Mangrove Hip Shooter or a Linekurv, but right now I can't say my needs justify the expense of those over the $16 I have invested in my current stripping baskets. 

[TurbineBlade]

One guy I talked to who's fished the surf for 30+ years says he prefers solid-bottomed baskets because they can be turned over and used as a flotation device if the sand bar you're standing on erodes away.  

I've given up trying to figure out which one is "best" -- probably anything is better than nothing.  

Gene