Treating baitcaster for saltwater use

[baitcastnewbie]

Hey guys,

 

This winter my friend and I are going on a 6-week trip to the coastal area and expecting to do some saltwater fishing with our baitcasting gear. I've got a lew's tournament MB, and he's got a curado 70. I used to fish spinning reels primarily, so saltwater was never that big of a concern to my mind. However, now that I only have my baitcasting reel with me, I'm becoming wary of the splashing that the reel receives whenever the spool rotates (which doesn't occur in spinning reels). It just seems inevitable that water is going to migrate from the spool into the two sideplate areas (on both the palming side and the handle side). In freshwater, that's not an issue. However, I can see how it could be a problem with saltwater. Given that, is there anything I should do to my reel to "saltwater proof" it before going fishing? Also, what is the best way to clean a baitcasting reel after a saltwater fishing trip? Do you guys have any products or procedures that you would recommend? 

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[Catt]

I don't do anything prior to going saltwater fishing but afterwards I give em a minor cleaning.

[BrackishBassin]

Would love to hear some information on this as well. I’ve stuck to my spinnning gear when fishing salt due to concerns about corrosion. But every time I’m throwing a lure (fishing bait I stick with my spinning gear), I find myself wishing I was using a baitcaster instead. No clue why. 

[WRB]

It comes down to the materials used to make the reel and dissimilar metals that corrode when subjected to salt water.

You can lightly rinse, don't submerse, the reels in warm fresh water and wipe off the exterior surfaces with WD-40 on a rage. A drop of reel oil on the level wind gear and pawl to remove any salt build up each day. 

Catt mentioned clean the reels when you get home and enjoy your fishing trip.

Tom

 

[georgeyew]

So when you guys say clean the reel, do you mean take it apart down to the gear?

[BrackishBassin]

Makes me wish I’d bought a few of the Black Max combos when I got my first one. Ended up running $35 with the rebate and sale. Would’ve been perfect for the salt because I’d wouldn’t have worried as much about messing it up. 

[WRB]

Take the side plates off, remove the spool and inspect for any water inside and wipe dry. Lightly oil the bearings and spool shaft ends, if no water is inside and reassemble.

If salt water is inside you need to clean the reel throughly or have it serviced by DVT or whomever you use for annual service.

Tom

 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

As long as it's not a magnesium reel, a rinse with clean water immediately after each outing in the salt and laying out to dry should suffice. Follow up with a light cleaning and lube after your trip and a deep cleaning over the winter. For regular saltwater use, I vary the deep cleaning process slightly. 

[baitcastnewbie]

16 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

As long as it's not a magnesium reel, a rinse with clean water immediately after each outing in the salt and laying out to dry should suffice. Follow up with a light cleaning and lube after your trip and a deep cleaning over the winter. For regular saltwater use, I vary the deep cleaning process slightly. 

When rinsing my reel would it be a good idea take off the sideplate, remove and wash the spool, and then wipe the sideplate with a warm damp towel? I am most concerned with saltwater getting in the spoolbearings. Should I then apply some water-displacing cleaner like WD40 or corrosion-X to the sideplate, spool, and brake unit before and after each fishing trip?

[Catt]

17 hours ago, georgeyew said:

So when you guys say clean the reel, do you mean take it apart down to the gear?

 

No sir!

 

After each trip chasing Specks-n-Reds I rinse the outside luke warm water. Remove the side cover & look for moisture; never found any in any Shimano. After reassembly I put 2 drops of 3 in 1 Oil on the paw & worm gear.

 

I have all my reels serviced 4 times a year rather they need it or not!

[baitcastnewbie]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

No sir!

 

After each trip chasing Specks-n-Reds I rinse the outside luke warm water. Remove the side cover & look for moisture; never found any in any Shimano. After reassembly I put 2 drops of 3 in 1 Oil on the paw & worm gear.

 

I have all my reels serviced 4 times a year rather they need it or not!

Surprising to hear that you never found any moisture in the sideplate. Considering the water splashing as the spool spins and how spools nowadays often often have porting that just seems impossible to me. I always find some water in my lew's sideplate area after fishing. Hmmm...

[Catt]

4 hours ago, baitcastnewbie said:

Surprising to hear that you never found any moisture in the sideplate. Considering the water splashing as the spool spins and how spools nowadays often often have porting that just seems impossible to me. I always find some water in my lew's sideplate area after fishing. Hmmm...

 

Shimano Calcutta's side plates are sealed pretty tight.

 

Unless you're dunking your reel under water there is not a lot of ways for water to get in unless where the spool engages the gears.

 

[WRB]

Calcutta's are made for salt water, no dissimilar metals to corrode. I have no idea what the OP's Lew's are made of, Curado should be OK if taken care of.

Tom

[Stephen B]

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

Calcutta's are made for salt water, no dissimilar metals to corrode. I have no idea what the OP's Lew's are made of, Curado should be OK if taken care of.

Tom

Saltwater reels still corrode when in saltwater, just not as fast. However, nowadays most all freshwater reels are coming salt water ready with sealed components, larger spools. However, do not use magnesium reels in saltwater, as they will develop pitting. A lot of saltwater guys fish the Shimano Stradics FK and NASCI.

[Catt]

2 minutes ago, Stephen B said:

Saltwater reels still corrode when in saltwater, just not as fast. However, nowadays most all freshwater reels are coming salt water ready with sealed components, larger spools. However, do not use magnesium reels in saltwater, as they will develop pitting. A lot of saltwater guys fish the Shimano Stradics FK and NASCI.

 

Exactly!

 

Uhhh! Calcutta 50, 100, 150, & 200 are freshwater reels ?

[Stephen B]

Not knowing the exact type of saltwater fishing you will be doing, we wouldn't know whether the reels would be fit. However, I am almost certain the Curado 70 would be a no go. The reel is designed for flipping and pitching. It doesn't have the spool capacity needed for saltwater. The spool capacity of the 70 is: 10/105, 12/85

[WRB]

All aluminum is sacraficial to the more noble stainless steel components when subjected to elytolites like salt water, magnesium being more sacrificial then aluminum. Not all aluminum alloys or stainless steel are equal regarding corrosion.

If you rinse the reels in warm fresh water and dry them off as suggested by myself and DVT the op shouldn't have any major issues.

I have and use a 60's vintage Ambassaduer 5000C to catch mackerel for bait for decades and it's in perfect condition. My 90's vintage Calcutta's have been used in salt water several times for Calico bass, White Sea bass and albacore tuna, also in perfect condition. Yes some salt water reel will corrode if not rinsed in fresh water, but they are designed for salt water whereas most fresh water bass reels are not.

I think we have beaten this horse thoroughly.

Tom

[baitcastnewbie]

2 hours ago, Stephen B said:

Not knowing the exact type of saltwater fishing you will be doing, we wouldn't know whether the reels would be fit. However, I am almost certain the Curado 70 would be a no go. The reel is designed for flipping and pitching. It doesn't have the spool capacity needed for saltwater. The spool capacity of the 70 is: 10/105, 12/85

I'll mostly be going after mangrove jacks in the estuary. I don't think that application requires much more line than regular bass fishing, does it?

[Yudo1]

When I do the occasional inshore fishing with my bait casters, I rinse with warm water at the end of the day. When I get home I'll do a more extensive clean and lube job. One of the reels I take is an alphas sv which has similar line capacity as the Curado 70 so you should be fine.

[baitcastnewbie]

2 hours ago, Yudo1 said:

When I do the occasional inshore fishing with my bait casters, I rinse with warm water at the end of the day. When I get home I'll do a more extensive clean and lube job. One of the reels I take is an alphas sv which has similar line capacity as the Curado 70 so you should be fine.

Do you take off and rinse/clean the inside of the sideplate and the braking unit? 

 

[islandbass]

On 10/29/2017 at 8:00 AM, baitcastnewbie said:

Do you take off and rinse/clean the inside of the sideplate and the braking unit? 

 

This is what I do:

 

1) Rinse the entire reel off with lightly flowing freshwater as a whole. That means all parts still together, sideplate ON.

2) Wipe away the excess and remaining water on the reel with a towel or cloth.

3) Now open your sideplate and clean out any water that might have possibly gotten into the reel. This is easier done with the spool removed.  I will use a few q-tips to lightly dabbed with rubbed as I was taught from a shimano bc reel maintenance tutorial.

 

I realize you don't have a Shimano reel, but the general principals should be similar enough. 

 

4) Don't forget to also remove water from the spool if you find any.

5) Clean with a q-tip the and lightly lube level wind system.  If your trip is short enough, you probably won't have to lube any of the bearings.

 

If you are concerned about saltwater getting into the holes of a spool, then I suppose you can sacrifice/accept a heavier spool by covering it with painters tape.  As one who has used my curados  in the saltwater, I don't think I ever had any saltwater trickle down to the holes in the spool.  

 

BAM! You're done.

 

Here is a link to the Shimano bc reel maintenance tutorial.  I think you only need to focus on the first page. The second page is for a true breakdown. 

http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fish/en/home/customer-service/reel-maintenance-instructions/_jcr_content/bodycontent/download/downloadFile/file.res/Maintenance Tips- Baitcasting Reels.pdf

 

It's not that hard, especially if someone like me is able to follow these steps.  I do this after every saltwater outing, but I'm anal like that because I need my gear to last.

 

I think the Curado 70 might be slight marginal on the short side of capacity, especially after a few possible long break offs or constant retying. Loss of line adds up and can affect castability to name just one thing. If I were in that situation, I'd bring more line to compensate.  I've fished the salt with 300 sized bc reels and have had to re-spool on the fly so with a 70, I'm thinking, dang, lol! With that said, that was in Mexico that is probably a different scenario.

 

[Scrapiron]

I do exactly as Islandbass does with his baitcasting reels. I just got back from 5 days of inshore fishing, and followed that procedure every evening (Curado 70) after fishing for speckled trout. A couple of ways to compensate for the reduced line:

 

1. Use longer leaders.

2. Use snaps. I use the paperclip kind. And yes, I know the long running debate about snaps vs. knots. As far as I can tell, the fish don't seem to care.

[islandbass]

51 minutes ago, Scrapiron said:

I do exactly as Islandbass does with his baitcasting reels. I just got back from 5 days of inshore fishing, and followed that procedure every evening (Curado 70) after fishing for speckled trout. A couple of ways to compensate for the reduced line:

 

1. Use longer leaders.

2. Use snaps. I use the paperclip kind. And yes, I know the long running debate about snaps vs. knots. As far as I can tell, the fish don't seem to care.

Sounds like a great ways to address potential for great line loss! When efficiency and time savings is paramount, I will also used some kind of snap, like when I am using spoons or inline spinners.  I too have not noticed any loss in performance or received memos from the fish stating that they cared.

[baitcastnewbie]

6 hours ago, islandbass said:

This is what I do:

 

1) Rinse the entire reel off with lightly flowing freshwater as a whole. That means all parts still together, sideplate ON.

2) Wipe away the excess and remaining water on the reel with a towel or cloth.

3) Now open your sideplate and clean out any water that might have possibly gotten into the reel. This is easier done with the spool removed.  I will use a few q-tips to lightly dabbed with rubbed as I was taught from a shimano bc reel maintenance tutorial.

 

I realize you don't have a Shimano reel, but the general principals should be similar enough. 

 

4) Don't forget to also remove water from the spool if you find any.

5) Clean with a q-tip the and lightly lube level wind system.  If your trip is short enough, you probably won't have to lube any of the bearings.

 

If you are concerned about saltwater getting into the holes of a spool, then I suppose you can sacrifice/accept a heavier spool by covering it with painters tape.  As one who has used my curados  in the saltwater, I don't think I ever had any saltwater trickle down to the holes in the spool.  

 

BAM! You're done.

 

Here is a link to the Shimano bc reel maintenance tutorial.  I think you only need to focus on the first page. The second page is for a true breakdown. 

http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fish/en/home/customer-service/reel-maintenance-instructions/_jcr_content/bodycontent/download/downloadFile/file.res/Maintenance Tips- Baitcasting Reels.pdf

 

It's not that hard, especially if someone like me is able to follow these steps.  I do this after every saltwater outing, but I'm anal like that because I need my gear to last.

 

I think the Curado 70 might be slight marginal on the short side of capacity, especially after a few possible long break offs or constant retying. Loss of line adds up and can affect castability to name just one thing. If I were in that situation, I'd bring more line to compensate.  I've fished the salt with 300 sized bc reels and have had to re-spool on the fly so with a 70, I'm thinking, dang, lol! With that said, that was in Mexico that is probably a different scenario.

 

Extremely informative. Thank you for the recommendations

[islandbass]

You’re welcome! If there is any doubt in your mind you can call Lews to double check your reel is “saltwater worthy”. 

It should be unless it has magnesium in as previously mentioned. 

 

The reason I say this is because I was once going use my Pfleuger Trion casting reel in the saltwater assuming it should be alright but at the last minute my gimini cricket told me I should call them. I did and they told it wasn’t a good idea. Whew!