Rinsing Reels

[bulldogs195461]

I lashed out and got a stradic fl, 2500 for my kayak rod, I've always rinsed my reels,

off after doing the gc estuaries, but the reel instructions, say no go, so I've been doing it wrong all these years, interested in others experiences cheers john

Edited August 16, 2020 by bulldogs195461

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey bulldogs195461

When I wash my reel, I follow these three steps - 

Number 1 - Wipe! Wipe of any sand/dirt/grit inside and out on the reel. Do this with a bit of wet paper towel.

Number 2 - Lube it up! Oil all the joints where it can rust, and stop spinning. This keeps your reel going fluently.

Number 3 - WD40 - I've heard this doesn't go well with plastic reels, but put some on certain parts of the reel so they don't rust! 

The reason rinsing may not be the best choice is that it can wash grit deeper into the reel.

Cheers Hamish  

[Drop Bear]

16 minutes ago, bulldogs195461 said:

I lashed out and got a stradic fl, 2500 for my kayak rod, I've always rinsed my reels,

off after doing the gc estuaries, but the reel instructions, say no go, so I've been doing it wrong all these years, interested in others experiences cheers john

I've never heard that. Interesting thanks. I am sure it would work if it is fresh water but in a yak you are sure to get splashes of salt on it not to mention the salt on the line. 

[Leosonfire]

I always rinse my reals then spin them to get water and grime out 

[Brodie_S]

I usually use coles baby wipes on my reels I know what your think . What the hell but it gets rid of any fishy smell or bits of salt or sand on the outside of the reel . Sometimes if I’ve been fishing heavy salt water or have got some saltwater spray  on the reel I will use a rag with wd40 and wipe the reel all over expect for the line and once every 1-3 months I will rinse the line in very slow running water over the spool . That’s the maintenance I use for all my reels including my Stradic . One thing with wd40 is I don’t recommend spraying it on the reel just use a little spray on a rag making sure you just wipe the outside of the reel just so it leaves a thin layer of protection I don’t use it often maybe once a month . So far my Stradic feels the same as the day I’ve bought it . And I’ve dropped it in sand twice and fell in the water when fishing for sooty Grunter was wading in the water and slipped on a rock and I fell in deep and so did my reel . After that I just had a quick break left my reel in the sun in was completely dry after 3 minutes after the dunking Because it was like 34 degrees . Yea that’s the maintenance I’ve used and found it works well I do the same maintenance for cheaper reels but service them once a year just so the grease in the gears doesn’t get stiff and dry out and I also oil the ball bearings. But I’m not going to bother servicing with the Stradic as it’s a pretty tough reel and the reel looks way to tricky to pull apart and put back together . Hope that helps . Yeah I’m very happy with Stradic super easy to maintain and is silky smooth . Oh and every 6 months I would put a tiny bit of oil on every joint/moving parts and wipe the excess oil off this keeps the reel from getting stiff parts . Also be careful with oil some oils don’t work well on certain reels like don’t mix normal reel oil with daiwa magseal oil stuff

[Drop Bear]

7 hours ago, Breaming with bro said:

I usually use coles baby wipes on my reels I know what your think . What the hell but it gets rid of any fishy smell or bits of salt or sand on the outside of the reel . Sometimes if I’ve been fishing heavy salt water or have got some saltwater spray  on the reel I will use a rag with wd40 and wipe the reel all over expect for the line and once every 1-3 months I will rinse the line in very slow running water over the spool . That’s the maintenance I use for all my reels including my Stradic . One thing with wd40 is I don’t recommend spraying it on the reel just use a little spray on a rag making sure you just wipe the outside of the reel just so it leaves a thin layer of protection I don’t use it often maybe once a month . So far my Stradic feels the same as the day I’ve bought it . And I’ve dropped it in sand twice and fell in the water when fishing for sooty Grunter was wading in the water and slipped on a rock and I fell in deep and so did my reel . After that I just had a quick break left my reel in the sun in was completely dry after 3 minutes after the dunking Because it was like 34 degrees . Yea that’s the maintenance I’ve used and found it works well I do the same maintenance for cheaper reels but service them once a year just so the grease in the gears doesn’t get stiff and dry out and I also oil the ball bearings. But I’m not going to bother servicing with the Stradic as it’s a pretty tough reel and the reel looks way to tricky to pull apart and put back together . Hope that helps . Yeah I’m very happy with Stradic super easy to maintain and is silky smooth . Oh and every 6 months I would put a tiny bit of oil on every joint/moving parts and wipe the excess oil off this keeps the reel from getting stiff parts . Also be careful with oil some oils don’t work well on certain reels like don’t mix normal reel oil with daiwa magseal oil stuff

Nice one thanks. So just grease on the gears oil on the bearings? 

So you wash/clean the old grease out? 

[Brodie_S]

Yeah I just put grease on the gears and oil the bearings . If you do surf fishing or rockfishing I would recommend you grease the ball bearings but for land based river estuary the odd beach fishing session i would just use oil on the ball bearings .and yes I remove the old grease once a year for my cheaper reels . But this isn’t necessary for a Stradic as the grease in the Stradic is a lot better then the cheap stuff they put in those siennas and airds 

[ggg]

Reels should never be rinsed. I have been given expensive lever drag game reels which have been rinsed before I serviced them. All the bearings rusted and the drag washers were soaked. The customer told me he rinsed it 2 weeks before servicing, after he took the reel out of storage. I cannot image fishing with this reel. Especially if it held water for so long. The washers would fall apart on a good fish. Rinsing can also push contaminants further into the reel. I just wipe my reels down with a baby wipe and service them about twice a year. I have some 15+ year old reels which work like brand new.

[Brodie_S]

Completely agree with jaz44 rinsing reels isn’t a very good way of maintaining fishing gear . In can push dirt and sand further in the reel . Though then I rinse my line over the spool I tighten the drag so water doesn’t get into the reel and I reel in a bit so the spool covers the body of the reel then a very slow bit running water will do the trick to wash your line and no water will get inside any ware of the reel if done correctly . But like I said I only do that once every 1-3 months. And after every time fishing just wipe it down with baby wipes 

[Drop Bear]

On 17/08/2020 at 11:42 AM, Jaz44 said:

Reels should never be rinsed. I have been given expensive lever drag game reels which have been rinsed before I serviced them. All the bearings rusted and the drag washers were soaked. The customer told me he rinsed it 2 weeks before servicing, after he took the reel out of storage. I cannot image fishing with this reel. Especially if it held water for so long. The washers would fall apart on a good fish. Rinsing can also push contaminants further into the reel. I just wipe my reels down with a baby wipe and service them about twice a year. I have some 15+ year old reels which work like brand new.

This is so new to me. I have always been told to hose off the reels... Mind blown. 

[Do$tylz]

I tighten the drags, and them pop them in for a warm shower.

Spin dry and shake to get excess off.

Then recently been spraying on inox mx4 directly on my roller bearings. Jamming the plastic extension nozzle in and blasting.

Testing out how good this works and so far its been great. Test has been on my stella1000 with new roller bearings that are not stainless steel. Got desperate to get new bearings and the local shop only had normal steel so had to go with it. 3 months in with about 10 sessions under its belt and its running like new still.

My reels very rarely get sand anywhere near them, so salt water is my only problem.