Gnu Bee;
You’ll probably want to use the finger guards. One on the stripping finger and one on the next finger to protect the knuckle. Yes the SharkSkin line will burn/abrade the fingers especially when stripping in a fish!
I actually have a green stain on the one protecting my stripping finger!?
With some 50 fish and about 20 hours using the SharkSkin I speak with some knowledge.
I do all sorts of fly fishing from panfish to bluewater and have tried several methods for protecting my fingers. I have yet to find a pair of gloves with longer fingers to prevent line cuts that fits my hand. The fingers are too long on even the smallest sizes and I like to have my fingertips un-encumbered. I have tried various tapes and wraps and found that all of them tend to get gummy, especially in saltwater.
The device that I now use are lycra sleeves like the Petersen Stripping guards in one of the links that Gnu Bee provided. Similar guards can be found from other sources, though all are about the same price. If you are handy with a sewing machine, or know someone who is, lycra stripping guards are not difficult to make.
For some of the types of fishing that I do, which might include hours of long casts and retrieves with shooting heads, I might strip 2 miles or more of line over my fingers during the day. Even if pulling straight back without pulling down, that is a lot of line over the fingers during the day. The lycra stripping guards prevent me from irritating the skin on the fingers. They also prevent line cuts or cracks to skin softened by exposure to water and prevent line burns that might occur when you clamp down on the line to make a hook set and the fish pulls back. Some anlgers will soak a little line dressing into them and treat their lines as they fish. They are fairly durable though they eventually stretch out. I typically get 30-50 outings out of one guard.
I will typically use one on the finger that I strip line past. If I am fishing where I expect to be cranking in a lot of backing that a fish has taken out, I will also use on on the finger that I use to guide the line back on the reel. If using spectra backing, I will double up on that finger as an xtra safety margin, though I have never had such backing cut through. Even with dacron backing, doubling up can prevent friction hotspots that can occur when you need to crank in in 100-200 yards of backing or more.
I also always wear sun gloves, but consider the sun protection and the finger protection as seperate items. I always wear the sun gloves but I do not alway use the stripping guards.
Gnu Bee Flyer … I have tried a lot of gloves and stripping guards. It started in Belize, Bonefishing, when my index finger got grooved from stripping so much. (Very painful in the salt.) I now wear sun gloves and [COLOR=red]THREE stripping fingers.[/COLOR] That started last year in Quebec. I can not think of any style fishing where you do more casting and stripping than for Atlantic Salmon. Normally I wore the guards on my index and second finger. In Quebec I notice a blister forming on the inside of my third finger just from the line sliding over it as I stripped straight back. It was not painful but could have become a problem if we had fished more days. The Peterson Stripping Guards are as good as any. Hope this helps, DickM.
—sagefisher—