How to clean your gear correctly

[Cam Foley]

Just curious on how some of you go about cleaning your gear,reels mainly, i always thought it was good to give them a light hose with fresh water but have since been told this is no good and the best thing to do is use INOX over the whole reel wipe of and lightly INOX again ,any thoughts.

[Greg Burt]

With land based reels I've always been into the [1] fresh water rinse, wipe off, then [2] light spray with Lano type spray, then wipe off excess. If the reels are staying on the boat [moored] then just [1]. My oldest TLD's and TSS4s are 15-20 years young. Works for me .

[Hon-Su Chin]

Cam, I would be careful with INOX around rubber parts as it has a tendency to "eat" away the rubber. Some of my old reels had their rubber knobs and parts falling apart. Now I use Tackle Guard and good old fresh water wipe down.

[Ben Keller]

Yup, I still reckon fresh water is the best. I give them a good hose down with the fresh water and havnt had any troubles. Hear alot saying it drives stuff into the reel, which might be the case, I have my doubts though.

An occasional dose of inox if they are sitting for long periods, and pulling them down a couple of times a year to degrease and regrease.

I am more careful with spinning reels though, as theres way more little bits and pieces which hold salt water, and generally more bearings to 'freeze'

Cheers
Ben

[Neil Griffiths]

Washing with fresh is good but only affects the outside of the reel. Long term maintenance requires some internal upkeep. Plastic reels are much more tolerant to salt than the "all metal" variety, it's a common misconception that a tougher heavier duty metal reel like a proper jig or pop model will require less maintenance. These things are like racing cars and require regular fettling to stay in peak performance, when you use something a max revs it will simply fall apart without TLC.
Inox is better than nothing but evaporates quickly, lanolin has more staying power.

If anyone is interested I will start a maintenance, repair and upgrade section on the Child Board.

Neil

[Brandon Khoo]

Neil - I think that would be a great idea

Washing with fresh is good but only affects the outside of the reel. Long term maintenance requires some internal upkeep. Plastic reels are much more tolerant to salt than the "all metal" variety, it's a common misconception that a tougher heavier duty metal reel like a proper jig or pop model will require less maintenance. These things are like racing cars and require regular fettling to stay in peak performance, when you use something a max revs it will simply fall apart without TLC.
Inox is better than nothing but evaporates quickly, lanolin has more staying power.

If anyone is interested I will start a maintenance, repair and upgrade section on the Child Board.

Neil

[Ben Keller]

Yeah, I agree, that'd be choice.

Good diagrams and photos for popular reels, spinners especially, on the pull down and cleaning internals would also be great.

Cheers
Ben

[MikeOsborn]

I usually rinse mine with fresh water then give a good coat of a 50/50 mix of inox and lanox then wipe clean with a rag. I take the reels to get serviced professionally a few times a year.

[Cam Foley]

Great idea Neil a maintenance ,repair and upgrade section would be choice.
Does anyone use soap to wash there gear i do but have since been told this is no good ,true or not i dont know.

[Andrew Poulos]

Soft running fresh water first, then I spray with inox and wipe down. I also grease handle threads, or oil exterior bearings too. On some reels I take the spool off and clean underneath and on overheads I take the spool out and clean up as much as I can. Then I take it to someone who does it for a living to clean the drags and insides of my expensive gear...

[Ben Keller]

Dont use soaps or detergents for god sake , thier job is to break down grease, thats not such a sweet attribute for cleaning fishing reels.

[Cam Foley]

Yer i now no not to use soap.But in Queensland we had to wash the rods with soap or the stinking cockroaches would eat them.

[SHizz]

never had any probs with inox eating away rubber, but if your worried i guess lanox is the next best thing. I usually gently hose my gear as to not push the salt into the reel, then dry. Then i spray inox on a rag and rub the reel to put a bit of a coat on it.

Inox/Lanox wont eat away your braid like WD-40 or CRC would, but i always avoid it. I even knew a guy who had such confidence in inox he actually coated his braid too  surprisingly he still uses the braid to his day and it hasn't affected it one bit! But yeah, id still steer clear of it.

[lonhro]

Hi guys,

Just watched The Fishing DVD where they go through this exact topic. What they recommend is that you wipe your reel down with a damp rag just to get rid of the salt water all over the reel as mentioned using a garden hose blows salt water into all the wrong spots. Then they recommend you Oil up the bearing and line rollers as well as the rotor nut. Next they recommend using a lanolin based product such as Inox or lanox. Finally they say to oil bearing regularly. The major No No s were using the Garden hose, RP7 and WD40. I guess though soap can't be good either for reasons stated.

They also showed Marlin on the shallow flats bait lured in on light gear. Wonder how a Stick bait or popper would go

Enjoy  Randy