Mid Winter Gear Maintenance Tips

There hasn’t been much fishing over the last week or so, and it’s not looking any better for this weekend. Friday looks ok and then the wind is due to start again. It is the middle of winter, we are past the shortest day but these winds for weeks at a time are more typical of spring equinoxial winds that we normally get in September.

So if you are not going fishing anytime soon, it’s probably a good time to get your tackle ready for when you do. I am getting my reels serviced this week, which is something we should all do, I used to do it myself but I once opened the bail arm bearing housing on a Shimano Stella and it had 14 parts! I reassembled it eventually and had a part left over. It was quickly sent back to Shimano and with expensive reels I let the experts do it.

Its not just a good idea to have your reels serviced, check all the eyes on your rods for cracks, tiny little cracks in eyes can shred line and lose fish, and then there is the line, this is what brings the fish to you, and is a critical component. If you use monofilament the line should be clear and shiny and smooth. Every few months you can peel 30 or 40 metres off, but every couple of years the line should be replaced. Sun and salt water reduce the breaking strain of line after as few as 20 trips the strength of the line can be just half of what it was new! So if in doubt throw it out. I am always amazed when I see people with $40,000 boats and $600.00 rod and reel sets, using worn, cracked and faded line, and wondering why the big one got away.

Braid lasts longer but it’s the same story, once the line has faded to white the breaking strain is halved, after 20 or 30 trips, I reverse my braid which is quite a complicated exercise, I take it off the spool and wind it onto another, then I wind it off that, onto another spool and then back onto the original spool, this way the braid that was at the top is now 100 metres below the braid going into the water, and after another 20 or 30 trips I replace it, it’s not until and unexpectedly big fish comes along that our tackle is really rested, and to lose a trophy fish for the sake of $40,00 worth of braid or $20.00 worth of mono is just silly, so if the weather is crap check your tackle.

And now we come to the tackle box, drag it out and tip it out. Get rid of any rusty hooks, if they are not too bad you can wash them in warm soapy water and a bit of steel wool, but if they are corroded biff them, but any rust in your tackle box spreads and infects everything. Often hooks on lures and skirts can rust, replacements are inexpensive, but do not put any new hooks into a tackle box with rust in it, until its cleaned and dried thoroughly.

I use Inox to spray my reels and rods and it works really well, and doesn’t seem to affect the line or put fish off, its way better than tackle failure.

Joe Dennehy.