Daily Reel Maintenance for Scummy, Muddy Water?

[VaMushroomHunter]

Hi folks,

 

I'm wondering what I should be doing to my baitcasting reels upon returning from a day of fishing.  I see lots of recommendations for dealing with saltwater, but not so much for my situation: I fish freshwater (actually it's right at the fresh/brackish line, according to the maps), but there are summer days when there's a layer of thick, viscous, brown scum on the creek.  I don't know whether it's from mud, organic matter, or what, but if you've ever fished in it, you'll know what I'm talking about.  It comes in on the line when you retrieve, and then when you cast again the reel throws drops of dirty water with the color of tea or even of chocolate milk, and any that land on your clothes will never wash out.  It stains my braided line, and it leaves the reel coated with a stubborn muddy deposit.  A few times of fishing in this kind of water, and it builds up enough so that my baitcaster's line guide starts to clog, especially since the muddy water tends to bring in creek debris like algae, pollen, tiny fragments of hydrilla, etc.  (Sometimes I even wonder why I fish on days when the creek's like that, but the snakehead seem to love it, so...)

 

I used to wash down my reels with a hose upon returning home, taking care to tighten down the star drag first, but now I have extreme reservations about that procedure.  I took apart my Bass Pro Formula reel and saw that water had gotten in under the spool tension cap; the water was brown from rust, and the source of the rust turned out to be the ball bearing under the cap.  The bearing was so rusty that it only turned with difficulty- and this was in a reel I'd only owned for a month.

 

Does anyone have a (hopefully quick and easy) method of cleaning their reels at the end of the day to deal with situations like mine?

 

[BobP]

I can’t think of a better way to clean a reel than to use a Water Pic to flush out debris from the spool and especially the level wind.  Be sure to relube the level wind afterwards and avoid getting water into the gear case, which should not be affected by scum anyway.  Water shouldn’t infiltrate the cast control knob on a well built reel.  If it did, that allows water to infiltrate the gear case too, which can cause further serious corrosion.

[WRB]

The water more than likely went around the spool and ended up in the cap. 

Rinse the reel off as if you used it salt water and make sure the level wind worm gear is clean and lightly oiled. I use a product call Break Free CLP to periodically lub my reels after cleaning with warm water, whipping off the water, spraying with WD-40 to displace water, then spray the level wind with CLP and spool ends.

Tom