Well, I actually thought this tip was common knowledge untill i talked to someone yesterday who did not know this. So, if this tip helps only one person, it will be well worth it.
How do you store your reels in the winter? I hope it is with the reel in free spool with the clicker on. This really will preserve the life of your drag washers and extend the life of your reel. It is a very simple tip, but I just figured everyone knew this. This does not mean that you only do this during the winter. My reels are always stored, in season and out, with the drag in freespool with the clicker on.
Now, with that said, here are a few more things to remember. When you get ready to head out in the morning and you have all those nice pretty gold reels on the gunnel for your ride out to the fishing grounds, they are being slammed by spray the whole ride. I dont care how dry your boat is, they will get hit with spray. So, remember on the ride out to lock down your drags. This will prevent the spray and the salt that goes with it from getting into your reels. Same goes for the ride in.
Ok, your reels have survived the day and you are getting ready to wash them down? Where should your drag be set at now? Once again, make sure your drags are locked down again at full. I feel the best way to completely clean a reel is to soak it in fresh water, but most of us, myself included just wash off the reels with the hose and soap at the end of the day. First, make sure you dont use a direct hard spray on the reels. This will push that salt further into the reel. Use a mist type spray from the hose. Wash them with soap and then rinse again and dry. Let them dry completely and then put the drag back to freespool with the clicker on.
I know this will sound like common knowledge to most of you, just as I thought it was. I was shocked when a very experienced fisherman told me he never did this with his reels. No wonder every year the reel repair guys told him he needed new drag washers.
Shark, nice post. i will bet a bunch of people will find something in this thread useful. to make wasing my reels and poles easier i took some scrap 2" pvc and using tees and elbows w/ some short pieces put together a little rack that sits on the ground and allows me to place all the poles in it and wash them and allow them to dry before rehanging.
matey, that is a really good way to do it. Anything that makes life easier back at the dock is great.
To add to that, i see a lot of people use the same pvc idea and bolt them to their dock box or right along the dock. A word of caution about the rod holders attached to the dock. I saw a guy who had those 2 years ago at our dock get back in, dog tired after a long day and was just flat out missed the rod holder. . .next 20 min spent in the water searching for the rod/reel. . . lol
its pretty funny when we look back on it, but he sure was not happy that day.
one more little ad-on that I was just thinking about. Once again, I figured this would be a no-brainer, but I saw this with my own eyes last year. People very often use chlorox on their boat. It is great on the deck, but please dont use the bucket with the bleach in it to clean your reels. This will destroy the finish of your reels to start with and asthetic reason, second, it will cause problems with the mechanical workings of the reel, eating away at the drag washers as well as the grease on them which will cause them to burn up over time. Lastly, it is terrible for your line and will weaken the line strength considerably.
Just regular boat soap works well for the reels. I use Ora-Pine. . .and it will leave your reels not only looking great, but smelling great as well
Mate Fin Hunter Sportfishing www.moreheadcitysportfishingcharters.com
.....excuse JP have to add to this.... after said reels and rods are dry, a silicone impregnated cloth works great to wipe down all metallic parts on rods and reels. Makes that Charcoal graphite go nice and black again for those that prefer the TLD 25 to the Penn LD's.Good post BTW.
you dont put anything on the cloth....they come like that....silicon impregnated. most of them are marketed as cloths to wipe down firearms, but they work wonders on fishing equipment !
Mate Fin Hunter Sportfishing www.moreheadcitysportfishingcharters.com
www.kleen-bore.com
Search under silicone rod/reel and gun cloth. Lots of other manf. make these too.
Just happen to rep. this company a while back, so I have plenty of them.
Shark great post - I do the same as you and preety much have everyone trained that way so one reel is not forgotten. We use the portable PVC holders at the dock like Matey and they work great. One addition is we use reel covers since we have to transport to & from the water - they hang from the ceiling of the Burb - amazed it holds them but keeps em from getting banged up. Just make sure they are throughly dry before putting them on.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
!
