This is not something you see every day. The Mangrove Hipshooter Stripping Basket comes as a thick foam base and a shaped foam side. Inset base to make a foam bucket, fit spikes through the base, clip the Hipshooter to belt and start stripping. (No, not that sort of stripping.)

Probably anyone who’s fished with WF fly-lines and certainly anyone who’s used shooting heads is aware that the line we strip in is a pain, it gets tangled, flows downstream, in the sea it washes all over the place and usually ends up tangled around one or both of my legs.

I’ve tried a few stripping baskets, this is one of the best. Fitted to a waist level belt the Mangrove sits high on my body but my hand naturally falls in as I strip line in, much more natural that a front mounted tray and those spikes tend to stop line springing back out. I preferred wearing a second belt that allowed the Hipshooter to sit a little lower on my hip, so my hauling hand didn’t collide with the foam. Cast and the line streaks out of the bucket with the minimum of fuss, I did manage to tangle once or twice but nothing like the fancy knots I achieve casting hard mono shooting-line lying on water, and because the line is not being dragged about, my casting distances are better.

Not difficult to get used to this at all. The base has large drainage holes, so it can flood and empty if you wade deep, the foam floats so this is not really for deep-wading. Falling over (I prefer not to, but it happens) on a rigid tray can be painful, fall the right way and the Hipshooter cushions your fall. At the end of a day, knock the base out and the whole thing folds flat.

Effective, clever design and manufacture, well worth considering if you need a stripping basket.

Price: €59.95
From: Aquatec Fishing & Boating Supplies, Co. Cork, Ireland.
www.aquatecfishing.com
Email: info@aquatecfishing.com
Phone : 003532538633 or 00353857794377