Spring Cleaning for 2006
By Wayne Ek
Sometime around the middle of February, I start to think about the need to
clean-up and repair the assortment of rods and reels that I will need to use
throughout the upcoming season. And then some time in March, I finally get
around to it. Each year I check and clean upwards of 25 rods and reels. To make
this a little faster and somewhat enjoyable, I’ve developed a system that works
for me.
As I live and guide in Alexandria, Minnesota where the winters get quite cold,
I’ve learned to move everything from the garage to the house, to allow the
equipment time to warm up. It is never good to work on cold equipment, as it’s
hard on the equipment and your hands. Once everything is defrosted, I remove all
the reels from the rods and strip the line from all of the reels. I make no
attempt to save any of the monofilament or fluorocarbon line. Throughout the
season you should change your monofilament and fluorocarbon lines at least once,
because for the most part, old line is bad line. However, if you are fishing a
braided line and don’t spend everyday on the water, you can use that line two
years running. I would suggest spooling the braid onto a spare spool and get 2
years out of it. I’ve been fishing mainly Sufix brand lines and have had great
success with them.
Let’s start with the rods. Before I start cleaning any of the rods I go over
them from butt section to tip. I’m looking for loose guides, damaged guides,
frayed wrappings, wear marks or chips on the blank, stripped or damaged reel
seats and any damage to the cork handles. To clean my rods I use Mr. Clean and
Scotch-Brite Dobie cleaning pads. This combination removes all those wonderful
things that accumulate on the butt sections, but does not scratch the blank. I
use the same cleaner with a toothbrush around the guides and reel seat. After
I’ve rinsed the rods off, I let them stand and dry. If pressed for time I have
used a fan to speed up the drying process. Once the rods are dry I do any of the
repairs that I feel comfortable performing. For the most part this is dealing
with frayed wrapping and damage to the cork handle.
These are two rather easy fixes. I have rod-building epoxy that I purchased at a
local tackle shop. You can probably purchase the same thing out of any of the
major fishing catalogs. I coat the frayed wrapping with the epoxy; then lay the
rod on a cardboard shoebox, with notches cut in both ends. This allows you to
turn the rod a couple of rotations as the epoxy dries and any epoxy that does
drip lands in the bottom of the box. For repairing damaged cork I just shave
cork off an old butt section that I keep for just such repairs. Once I have the
right amount of cork to fix the hole or crack, I chop it into finer pieces and
mix it with Gorilla wood glue, then fill the hole. I’ve been doing this for some
time now and it works great.
I’m going to toss in a shameless plug here for Rod Wrap. I am not on the field
staff for this product, but started using it two years ago, after one of my
clients sent a rod and reel sailing overboard while casting. Using Rod Wrap has
eliminated the problems created by wet slippery cork handles. As an added
benefit I feel it does wonders for protecting the cork sections of a rod from
normal wear and tear. I had concerns that the cushioning nature of the Rod Wrap
might affect the sensitivity of the rod. This has not proven to be a problem,
and I’ve noticed no difference in the rod’s sensitivity.
All of my reels are Quantum reels. Because these top-of–the-line reels are
manufactured to such exacting standards, I have had no mechanical problems with
any of them. And because of those high standards and the introduction of Quantum
Hot Sauce, I feel its unnecessary to open them up every year to clean and
re-grease them. I have a number of Quantum Kinetics reels that have been used
hard everyday on my guide trips for the past 4 years. During that time not one
of these reels have given me any type of problem. Nor have I taken them
completely apart to be cleaned and lubricated. Again, I go over each reel
looking for any damage that may have occurred during the past season, usually
from bouncing in a rod locker or being stepped on. If I find something I cannot
correct I will send it into the manufacturer’s warranty center, even if it’s out
of warranty. All of the major reel manufacturers have web sites that will show
you where to send a reel.
On spinning reels I remove the spools and clean them separately with dish soap
and hot water. A hard bristled toothbrush is very handy for this and works
magic. Once cleaned, remember to check the lip of each spool for nicks, burrs or
damage. For the reel body I use the same dish soap and toothbrush on the outside
of the body. For the hard to get at places on the reels I use a Q-tip, which
works great in the tight spots. If you over-lubricated your reels last season
you could end up with a stubborn film of grease on the body. I have had good
results cleaning this problem area with a soft rag that has been sprayed with
Gun Scrub.
With the bait-casters I clean the whole body of the reel with the same dish soap
solution and toothbrush; paying particular attention to the worm shaft, line
guide carrier and area of line guide pawl. On a bait-caster I will remove the
palm side cover assembly and spool. This makes it easier to clean the spool,
spool shaft and reel housing. A Q-tip comes in handy in cleaning some of the
interior areas of the spool and gear side cover assembly.
Once the reels are cleaned and dried completely I will lubricate each reel with
oil and grease at the points the manufacturer suggests. The only lubricant I use
now is Quantum Hot Sauce, which comes in both reel grease and reel oil. This
lubricant has unique qualities not found in other reel oils and has worked
better than anything else I’ve used. When using Hot Sauce you need to use it
very, very sparingly, a little bit goes a long way.
Wayne Ek,
Agape Fishing Guides
classicbass.com Field Staff
