Stonefish

I’ll let Stu address stripers. I can’t speak for stripers as I’ve never caught one, but having caught thousands of coho. I’ve never gut hooked one using a stinger pattern. They are usually hooked in the roof or corner of the mouth. We are also required to use barbless hooks in the salt, so the type of hook you use helps limit fish damage as well. I use Gamakatsu barbless octopus or Owner No Escape hooks. Those hooks tend more towards a circle hook design. Stingers turn a lot of grabs into hook-ups with coho as they love to chase fast moving flies and can become tail nippers the further you get into fall. SF

That is all bucktail. Personally, I'm not a fan of synthetics for clousers. I like the natural taper of bucktail. I've kind of become a fanatic in regards to durability on clousers, since I only fish beaches and many of which are rocky. One thing I do to add a bit of length and durability is I always tie the belly bucktail in behind the eyes, not over them. I tend to tie mine fuller then most people, so I use more bucktail and almost alway tie in some flash on top of the wing.. I also always run flat between the eyes and wrap the belly with it, then coat it with UV cure. Here is a video my buddy Nick Clayton made for tying stinger beach clousers. This is a very popular way to tie clousers for coho out here on the west coast. You might pick some tips in this video. Most of Nick's flies are 4.5 to 5" long, which is fairly long for clousers. I hope this helps. SF

Not that model, but I have a 10 wt Powell AXS that is a very fun rod to fish. SF

One nice thing about living in the PNW is the temperate climate. You can fish year round both salt or fresh, even with the rare snow storm we just experience. I'd be going nuts if I hadn't fished for four months. I hope spring comes early for you Red. SF

Another option you might consider is flying to South Caicos and fishing with Beyond the Blue for a day. Accessing the flats via their airboat is really a great experience. Nice wade fishing on firm white flats. Bibo Jayne would be able to tell you if the inter-island flights would work out. Though awhile ago, both times I fished there people flew in that morning, fished then flew back to Provo that evening to be with their families. SF

Nothing beats time on the water.....and confidence in what you are doing. If you fish places enough, you’ll see patterns develop that will lead to your success. SF

This one is a good Blackmouth beach. SF

That’s a Puget Sound beach. We received a good dumping of snow which is becoming more rare these days up here. About 8” where I was fishing today and more on the way. Couldn’t get down the hill to the beach with my rig so a nice 1/2 mile walk in. SF

No fish today, but getting to spend a snowy day on the beach on isn’t a bad consolation prize. SF

Nice rods and good value for the $$$. I've only cast them in lighter weights of the latest version then what you are looking at, but I did like them. I own a 7' 11" 8 wt that is the first version I use for bass fishing. I like it as well. SF

Not really a fan of the kits, especially those that come with materials. Most of the materials are crap. If you look around, you can find some nice used vises. I picked up a C-Clamp Regal that looked unused for $80.00 so friends can use it to tie on when they come into town. Buy a good used vise and add a decent pair of scissors and a couple of bobbins and you should be in business in that $150.00 or less range. Consider hitting a craft store for some basic materials to start tying with. You can get large amounts for relatively cheap amounts and they are good to practice with. Good luck in your search. SF

Here is a picture of the technique I use that I mentioned earlier in the thread. With the super glue under the diamond braid and on the thread and UV cure over the top of the braid, I’ve never lost a set of eyes or have them come loose. On this particular one, I wrapped the entire belly with diamond braid and coated it with UV cure. A super durable way to tie beach clousers. SF

Are your eyeballs falling off as a result of breaking in half? If so, you are likely using lead eyes. Try brass eyes and that problem pretty much goes away. I do the same thing. I haven't tied bucktail over the eyes on a clouser in years. I always tie the belly in behind the eyes. SF

Other options if you’d like to paint lead eyes. A simple solution is nail polish, but the end results aren’t that great. A clear coat of Sally Hanson’s will improve the durability. The best option for painting lead in my opinion is vinyl paint. It is a three step process, white base coat, color and clear top coat. It is time consuming and smelly, but the end product is super durable. I paint all my bare lead steelhead jigs with vinyl and I’ll likely lose the jig before it ever chips. I’ve heard people complain about their results with vinyl, but my opinion is they aren’t applying it correctly. If done correctly, it is super durable. I just use brass eyes nowadays but if I had to paint lead, it would be with vinyl paint all day, especially over powder coating. SF