Tips for baitcasting reel maintenance
It can be a labourious task to clean a fishing reel and ensure that you maintain it after each trip. However, many faults that occur can often be blamed on the fact that it has corroded as it was not maintained correctly. It may not even be a fault and instead merely underperforms compared to its brand new state. This is an anglers most frustrating problem. Even more so if it is one of their favourite baitcasting reels that has been affected.
On any fishing trip, though, you should make sure you clean all of your kit, and the most important aspect of them is the reel. A good reel will last you a long time as they are built with only the best parts, but if you dont look after it you will run into problems much much sooner. .
There are however, a few things you can do in order to keep your reel in tip-top shape.
The first thing you need to do is to take the reel off the rod, and then remove the handle – In most cases, just unwind the handle as they have a reverse locking system. Next, with a damp cloth, wipe over the visible areas of the reel. When you do so, be sure that you use clean water and especially not salt water as this will corrode inside.
Depending on the reel you have you will then need to remove the sideplate. Some of them unclip, or unwind while others are screwed in place – you should consult the manual if you are unsure. To clean the inside of the reel, remove any dirt with a swab and be sure to get out any other debris. Apply some bearing grease, or WD40 to the bearings and gears while you are inside as well to keep them fresh as this is one of the main causes of reel failure. Once you are done it is safe to put the reel back together again.
You should finally give the handle a good wash as this is likely to have water, bait and all other dirt over it. Just rinsing in water should suffice, but again make sure it is clean water you are using.
As you can see, if doesnt take much to look after a reel, and if you do you will keep it performing like it did when you first got it. If you ever have a reel stop working while you are trying to retrieve a fish, perhaps its time to look into the maintenance of your reel. Fishing reels, especially some baitcasting reels, are not cheap, so look after them.
