Uncle Stu

“Striper’s Remorse” Beautiful tie and an appropriate appellation! Question--has it caught a fish yet? My local crew has a custom: at least one lip must be pierced before proper nomenclature may be officially applied. Your local traditions are of course, unknown to me.

Many if not most of us here have had shoulder issues, myself included. Mine was from repetitive motion and diagnosed by a sports doctor as bursitis and arthritis. The pain was excrutiating. I play guitar professionally, 63 years old and fish 2-3 times a week in the surf. Two years later I'm 95% back to normal--fixed it with two cortisone shots, physical therapy and switching over to two-hand fly rods. Ice, heating pads and cannabis salve are common in my home. But I'm back in the saddle and happy to be here. I've been throwing a 6w 11' switch rod for the last two years and recently stepped up to a 12.5' spey rod, with helpful advice from other members here. Listen to your body, treat it with care and it will last a long time. Good luck!

Fly fishing is a rich man's game? Hogwash. It can be if you listen to the magazines, but I'm a low-income freelance artist with way more time than money, and I've been able to buy all of my reels and rods for under $200 each: Pflueger, Danielsson, Sage, Echo, Fenwick, LLBean, Ross. Patagonia jacket 50% off on a sale rack, that has lasted for years. Waders: Dryft and Simms. I tie my own flies. Regarding the OP. The one thing I don't mind paying full retail for is my Airflo lines. Rocks and kelp in the surf are hard on your welded loops. I don't agree with the recent public sentiment against China because it was the source of the pandemic. ( a subject for another thread) But I do agree with buying American to support the American worker. I just can't afford it.

Daiwa Strikeforce-B 2500 at $15 from Tackle Warehouse. I use them in the surf because the expensive reels I had in the past failed anyway. At this price you can replace it 6 times before you send as much as a better quality $100 reel. I've caught countless surf perch, schoolie stripers, and adult coho using 20lb braid. They don't hold enough mono because mono is thicker.

Yup--squeeze the babies out if you wanna keep the mama. One time my wife did that and nailed a fat striper right after, on a Lucky Craft. She thinks it was attracted by the young uns.

Amazing invention, thanks for sharing. Remember...it's the Alvey reel that fills the creel!

yeah but--what ARE they??

Silverado, what kind of reels are those?

So where is fly fishing--somewhere off the chart? I dunno about its masculinity, but its gotta be the most frustrating.

>>It feels to me like a poor transfer of energy that is under powering my backcast. Is this where a haul comes in to play? Are hauls necessary? Yes! Hauling needs to be addressed. A proper double haul (both directions) can take your formerly 50' cast up to 100' if you nail the timing. Also as mentioned above--try not to false cast more than twice. Once is even better. A shorter, heavier head should help with that (combined with a good double haul). Good luck on your journey.

I just did what you suggested a few days ago. Needed a running line for a new head for a new rod so I dug through my old lines and found one I could live without. Cut off the head, made a loop and looped on the new head. Works like a charm.

I just took delivery on a used Ross Reach 12'6" 6w two hander (my first real spey rod) and I'm already casting over 100' in my first practice session. These rods are discontinued but available used now and then for about $150. Others on this forum recommended it to me. My previous (and first) two hander was an Echo Classic 11' 6w switch. I'm glad I upgraded.

I will keep this old thread alive by posting a followup on my own personal journey into the world of two handers for stripers in the salt. My first purchase was an Echo Classic switch 11' 6w (our bass and our winds in CA run lighter than those in New England). I bought it because I developed shoulder problems and it served its purpose: I was able to cast similar distances as I did with my one handers, but with much less effort and fatigue. After a year or two, my abilities and experience overtook the potential of that rod and I recently upgraded--just today. Upon the advice of forum members, I pulled the trigger on a used Ross Reach 12'6" 6w and paired it with an SA UST scandi head (400gr slow sink). This evening at sunset I walked down to the bay and gave her a spin... no fly, no leader, light tail wind. (Hey it was my first time ever casting a spey rod so I gave myself an advantage). The result was, for a man of modest skills, nothing short of spectacular. After flailing for a few minutes, I threw out my entire line for the first time in my life. And then did it again and again and again. Over 100' of line. I had taught myself the two hand oval cast or Belgian cast (I think) in one session, with the right rig. Thanks to @Killiefish for the gear tips--and others here.

ha! is there some ratings chart for various lures, where I can look up their MQ ratings?

I was gonna say the same thing--every photo shows a bucktail jig. I wonder, does this just reflect the size of the surf (on the big side) or are they just effective in general? Myself, I usually put one on when it's too rough to properly fish a fly or SP minnow.