I have used a Payette stripping basket (very similar to the Willam Joseph model) for over 20 years and love it. I purchased it for the exact same reason you mentioned because where I fished, my flyline would always end up tangled in sticks and weeds. While you can add foam cones to the model you're considering, I never really found the need to. There were occasions when the line tangled in the basket, but not all that often. I found that using a striping basket added 10-15 feet to my casts because I wasn't having to untangle sticks and grass from my line or worse yet, find that I was stepping on the line while false casting. I think that you'll be very happy with your purchase.

Jim Smith