<<< continued from page 1 (Wifey and The Rock both consider a Stripping Basket a piece of Essential Gear) One other piece of equipment you’ll want is a stripping basket.  In-and-out wave action coupled with a sinking line is the perfect way to get your legs and fly line entangled; also, a sinking line is much easier to handle when the bulk of it is out of the water.  I use a stripping basket for all my trout fishing as well; I find I can cast farther and more importantly quicker since I never have to worry about standing on the line or having to untangle it before casting.  Only a sociopath would cast a fly line from a rocky jetty or cliff without one.  If you plan to buy one they come in two formats, a plastic version that looks a lot like a dishpan, and a mesh one that doesn’t work, since it collapses in the wind and it’s always windy near the ocean.  They are easy enough to make from a dishpan, just add a strap and some heavy mono fingers in the basin well to keep your line "well-behaved."  In addition, they provide you with a nice spot to work, a sand-free place to put your reel when you are stringing up your rod. You won’t have fun in the surf if you don’t have a stripping basket.    I keep my leaders simple.  With a sinking line, I have a 1-2 foot butt and a 2-3 foot tippet; with an intermediate, I got fancy a couple years ago and fell in with the furled leader crowd. I now use a 5 ft. furled leader made of 4 lb. Vanish- it's pretty cool but completely unnecessary, as a 3-4 foot butt with a 36” to 24" 30 lb. to 20 lb. step-down and a 18" 12 lb. tippet works just as well. The ideal saltwater reel would feature a solid drag and a good capacity.  I like the large arbor reels.  Whatever reel you choose make sure you rinse it out after every trip; no reel, no matter how expensive will long endure neglect, and the salt will simply eat it.  As a freshwater fisherman I never gave a second thought to my reel; in fact, one of my favorite trout reels is a piece of crap all plastic Wal-Mart abomination that has absolutely no drag.  My first saltwater reels I bought cheap and had to replace them before the end of a single season - and I did rinse them after every trip - sometimes after a two-hour ride home.  It’s better to buy something expensive once than to buy something cheap several times- that’s not my opinion, that’s simple math.  The difference between a reel under 100 bucks and one about 150 is huge, beyond that you are mainly buying features that are important to high-speed species like bonito or bonefish.  Stripers are a lot of things, but they aren’t sprinters. A saltwater fly box, like all fly boxes, is as complex as you make it.  Nearly all the flies I use fall into the category of “baitfish.”  I wouldn’t worry about crabs, shrimp or lobsters - sure, fish eat them but I’ve never found them too be too effective at covering water, which naturally is a major challenge.  The only real need for patterns like these are when you are sight fishing on the flats.  With the dawn of the synthetic material age it seems that new patterns are popping up all the time, so for the purposes of this article I will describe four patterns which I consider to be representatives of a family (who knows maybe someday fly patterns will be classified with Latin nomenclature the same way insects and fish are now with that "King Phillip Came Over From Germany Singing..." thing.)  Deceivers: ('Leftius Deceivorum') Any baitfish imitation that primarily attracts fish by sight and does not include any added weight.  Examples: Lefty’s Deceiver; Polar Fiber Baitfish; Blondes; Buffy the Striper Slayer; Bunny Bug. Clousers: ('Jiggius Clouserium') Any baitfish imitation that includes added weight to impart a jig-type action.  Example:  Clouser Minnow; Half-and-Half; The Jiggy. Snake Flies:  ('Taborius Serpentium') Any baitfish imitation that primarily attracts fish by displacing water. Examples:  Tabory’s Snake Fly; Woolhead Flies; Crease Flies; Dahlberg Divers. Slammers:  ('Maximus Sedottii') Any very large baitfish imitation.  Examples: Sedotti Slammer; Yak Hair Herring; Shad Fly. continue to page 3 >>> Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.