Monday 27 October 2008

Stripping baskets/Trays


There are numerous stripping trays on the market these days which is apparent when trawling the net, and over the last few yrs I have been able to try several makes from different manufacturers but none have come close to the Pikefly.com stripping trays. Other manufacturer’s products were either to cumbersome, wide or flexible and became a hindrance when landing a fish on the shore of a lake, river or even in the boat.
Then I came across Pikefly.com stripping tray and I have to say that it has become an invaluable piece of my days fly-fishing.
It is extremely lightweight & compact for a start but its 3 main features that propel it to the top of the list for me are:
Firstly the 9 cones which separate the line evenly when stripping line back.
Secondly the curved back fits snugly against your waist and
thirdly I have found the rod holder the most helpful feature with this stripping tray whenever I have been trying to extract the fly from the pikes mouth especially while out wading in The Baltic.
I can’t praise this peace of equipment enough and although it comes in at a hefty
Є49,90 it will be the best buy you make all winter….that’s if you spend your day walking from Peg to peg or even along canals or rivers bank all afternoon.
Orvis also retails something quite similar if you feel the need to shop around first but I have found this tray a little deeper and little less wider than the model sold by flyfish.com.
The only design fault I find with these models are the lack of drainage holes present. Surely the manufacturers could have designed the press mold with a hole in each of the four corners. As i say, its only a small gripe and can be rectified quite easily by drilling the holes yourself.

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