More lure upkeep etc.... Bleeding fingers and split rings.

[Bill D.]

I've been doing some tackle maintenance on my saltwater stuff. First I just finished breaking down and cleaning some of my surf fishing reels. I've always made it a practice to rinse all gear after I come in from fishing. I always rinse with a hose the complete rod and reel and never rinse from the back of the reel but always down from the front. I think that helps keep sand and salt from finding its way inside the reel. I was very happy to note how clean my reels were with almost no salt/sand/grit inside. Cleaning out the old grease and applying new lube they were working smooth. Note, some of my Penn SS reels are 30 years old, give or take a few years, and still going strong.
I've also been removing treble hoks from some new hard baits and replacing them with inline single hooks. Getting a toothy fish unhooked from multiple treble hooks has never been high on my fun list and often results in some seriously bad language. Of course dealing with split rings, even with good split ring pliers still results in minor finger tip blood letting. BTW, have y'all noticed the cost of baits approaching gold prices? Here is a picture of a before and after modified Yo-Zuri 5" Crystal Minnow. Each of the dang things are $13 nowaday. Almost afraid to use them.

 

[Bob Ware]

I have used your rinse method on my tackle since I was a youngster following the lesson by my dad. I can't there were really bad results since, like you, I clean the reels periodically. However, I changed tactics a couple years ago after hearing several local fishing guides suggest instead, to simply spray some WD40 on a rag and wipe them down after. Their reasoning is with the newer reels the tolerances are much tighter and any small amount of salt, grime, etc. will have a much more adverse affect of the performance. It hasn't proven anything one way or another since I still clean my reels regularly.
I should mention, this is with my inshore baitcast reels, not my older Penn offshore reels.

 

[Bill D.]

I wipe them down with a silicone cleaner, or did, now I use a Penn Reel and Rod cleaner. I don't know if it is better, but I buy it. I once made the mistake of using some wd40 on a speargun. The trigger jammed on a dive trip and I "learned" that it would hold sand in the trigger area. Anyway, love these newer sealed reels.

 

[Bill D.]

Almost done with maintenance and rigging chores on the stuff I brought home from the beach. I just finished spooling up. Penn 950SS with 50lb braid. I still do it myself and wind it on by hand. I think the 950 holds around 500+ yrds of the stuff. Now I just need to make up a dox or so mono leaders for some of my speck lures.

 

[Bob Ware]

Do you use mono or flourocarbon for leaders? We generally use 20/25lb fluoro on our inshore rigs. I'm not sure there's much difference between the two but reading their commercials fluoro is supposedly a little more resistant to nicks, etc. Either way, if they wrap around a piling or oyster shells it's gone anyway.

 

[Bill D.]

Do you use mono or flourocarbon for leaders? We generally use 20/25lb fluoro on our inshore rigs. I'm not sure there's much difference between the two but reading their commercials fluoro is supposedly a little more resistant to nicks, etc. Either way, if they wrap around a piling or oyster shells it's gone anyway.

Same, I use fluorocarbon 20 to 30 mostly but always have mono handy on larger spools. I'm a tad bit anal and use ballbearing swivels even when a barrel swival would work just as well. I can not even make a slightly good case for doing this unless just have the ballbearing ones handy. I sometimes question why I even use a leader, but hey it's just what I have always done.