After hooking hooking a Jewfish with me on my DVD and finding that anyone can successfully enjoy some fishing, a mate of mine Gary Dixon, known to mates as Gazza, has been re infected with the fishing bug and just can’t help himself.
He now often hits the beaches near Narooma which he calls the supermarket because he always catches something-a salmon, a bream, trevally tailor and even the occasional shark.
Pretty straight forward stuff- 6 kilo main line and leader, a bean sized (14 gram) running sinker, and half a fresh pillie on a chemically sharpened 2/0 hook.
Gary’s joyous run of summer fishing was brought to a grinding halt when his reel seized up.
He was using one of my Fishing Australia FA 701 SPL, rod and reel combos that retail for under $120 at most shops around Australia.
These combos will last a lifetime, but Gaz..who is a pretty cluey fella mind you, simply didn’t know the basics of how to maintain his reel.
For a start all reels hate sand; if you drop your reel in the sand or mud, don’t use it-clean it first. That could mean a rinse down with bottled water if you are out fishing.
Any thread line reel that gets a decent splash of saltwater should be washed with fresh water at the end of the day (avoid high pressure hoses that could force water into the reel), dried off, and then sprayed down with WD 40 , Lanox or Inox. The thicker sprays are such as Lanox are better. Alternatively you can carry out this last step by wiping the reel with an oil based lubricant.
Again heavy hosing is not good, a sponge wet with luke warm freshwater is the best.
Sometimes a bit of extra attention is needed at specific points eg on the shaft (take off the spool), roller, etc. Wipe clean and oil as above.
If the reel gets splashed heavily or dunked in salt water, the side case should also be opened up, any water drained, and then cleaned and regreased.
Even heavy salt water air or mist will get to a reel; store your reels inside or under cover where possible.
Most importantly say you do no maintenance at all, and then, like Gary, you wind the reel on a later outing and it is feeling stiff, as tempting as it is don’t keep winding until it frees up-your reel needs a full service before you grind the internals and damage them. I was guilty of this as a youngster myself, and learnt the hard way.
If you are confident to do so , it just means a strip down, clean and re grease at a proper table where you won’t lose any parts that spring out. Even better-get your local tackle store to do this.
Gary showed me the internals of the reel-they were rusted up pretty bad-he’s been a bad boy, but still had lots of fun and reckons buying a whole new combo is the go at this point. He has no option if you saw the reel.
Gaz has promised me he’ll take care of his new reel.
Myself and many others have the same reels and have put them through some massive battles over the last 4 years, and they are still going strong thanks to basic maintenance mentioned above..
Gary will be back in action soon, and his pet dog Sheba is looking forward to some fresh fish too.
You can’t cover all reel maintenance in one post, but knowing the basics above will keep you pretty safe.
Hope that helps any new comers to this wonderful sport.
Rob Paxevanos
Host Fishing Australia.
PS: The reel mechanics at Okuma will post some extra info on this topic in the very near future.
Very interesting,I did not know what to use for oiling the reel,thankyou