Thought this might be helpful to some of you who fish from a boat. Tim B in his endless cruising of the internet since he can’t fish often due to caring for twins, found a neat item. I’m sure some of you have priced the stripping buckets that are out there and they are really nice. The problem is they cost as much as a new rod and actually are not that sturdy. I bought two a few yesrs back and they have cracked and the bottoms have blown out. It turns out that thereis a commercial container that is made for food grade product that has the exact demensions of the buckets that are sold for especially forflyfishing.  They are made of polyethelyne and are of solid construction with no parts tht are glued together. Completely indistructible and you can buy the lid as well. I added a cut out floor mat in the bottom and some electrical tubing for line spikes and it works great. I added a handle that I use to secure the bucket to a rail when I’m running. You can have your rod ready with line stripped into the bucket should you come across breaking fish. The best part is that it is under a third the cost of the retail model. The folks at USA plastics are real nice and probably could use some love from us flyfishers. I just thought I would pass this on. here is the link. The item is called -15 Gallon Polyethylene Tank 13 3/4” x 27 1/2”. Currently sells for 40 dollars as compared to 160 dollars for the stripping buckets being sold. I hope this is helpful.

Randy

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category;_name=20719&product;_id=906&variant;_id=3002&cookie;_test=1

[IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k175/nmkrbk/IMGP0898_edited.jpg[/IMG]

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Thought I would throw in a pic of Jon’s pig YT from a few trips back

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Nice! If I had known about these, I might have built mine instead of buying them.

But just a note, there are actually at least three commercially available VLMDs around, and while they’re all pricey, they are not all constructed the same. My Pleskunas VLMDs are one piece tubes (bottoms are glued in, however), and are going on several years without cracking or blowing out the bottoms. I believe there are some built with rolled tubes that can split at the seam, etc.

I like the polyethylene, though - it’s got to be more flexible than the PVC used in mine. My Pleskunas VLMDs are the 12” diameter models, which, believe it or not, are small enough to fit inside a large travel duffle.

A couple things you might want to try:

- Add some non-skid rubber/silicone dots to the bottom

- If you can figure out how to do it easily, add 3-4 lbs of weight to the bottom under the floor mat. That’s enough to keep the tube vertical with a rod in it under most sea conditions and while running without having to lash it down (if it’s in the back of the boat).

I like it.  I’ll have to get me some of these.

Steve

Thanks for sharing Randy.

I have used and own a Pro Trim Line Tamer and Sea Level Bucket and used a Pleskunas VLMD.  My Line Tamer has gone to Canada and Australia.

The buckets you have shown may provide the solution to a lighter weight bucket for travel purposes (and home too). While having my Pro Trim Line Tamer with me in Canada and Australia was well worth it, and in windy conditions kept me in the game when others were out of it, I have wanted a lighter version of the tall rigid bucket so I could carry more gear on weight limited flights.  The Line Tamer accounted for about 25% of my total allowance on flights to remote locations.

I figured the solution would be a bucket that I could add weight to at the destination.  And what do we always have as a source of additional weight at all fishing destinations?  Water! 

If the rubber mat with pegs sat on a rigid surface which was held a few inches off the bottom with some additional pegs, the space could be filled with water to weight the bucket down.  There are probably a number of variations of this idea that will work, some better than others.

I have been toying with the idea of a bootom of polyethelyene with a rubber gasket to make it tight to the sides. Then the pegs could be added and several foam pieces could be placed below the bottom for the water. The whole thing could be dissassembled for travel. With the bucket as a platform many modifications are possible.

Randy

just put a few inches of water in the bottom for weight, and fish on.  keeps the line wet too, so its ready to cast.

Randy,

Another option from that same web site a little more pricey but these are nest-able so you can store them easier if you have two or more.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category;_name=25&product;_id=15691&variant;_id=74208

They also come with lids so you can use them for storage as well.  I bought one of these about 2 years ago. works great.

Richard

That is the right size. I wonder how tight the lid is.

R