All my tackle got rusty

[Ik_47]

(TLDR at bottom) So i was fishing for a long time in cold weather, and it was slightly drizzling. I had kept one of my tackle boxes open almost the whole ordeal which was about 5 hours. i was cold and in a hurry to get out, i closed my tackle, put it in my bag, and didnt touch for a week or two. I went fishing and saw just rust water covering the bottom of that tackle box and all the lures and hooks were rusty. i let it sun dry and then later came home, and cleaned them fairly thoroughly with some stainless steel wipes, rinsed them off then dried them. They are still kinda rusty but it kinda depended on the lure, like ny $15 lucky craft jerkbait just has a tiny bit of rust while some others are still pretty bad and i had a hook break cleaning them. so my question is, what shoud i do? should i replace the trebles on all of them or just the bad ones(this is $100 ish worth of treble hook lures). I’ve heard to soak the stuff in vinegar, for things like the expensive jerkbait would i have to replace the trebles bc they are mostly good? any suggestions appreciated.

TLDR: I left my tackle in the rain, let it sit for weeks, and now its all rusty, what should i do?

[MN Fisher]

Even just a 'tiny bit' of rust can hide pits that go deeper and weaken the hook. Replace the trebles. Lesson learned - dry all lures before packing them away.

[redmexican5081]

Do you have confidence that the hooks won't bend out or break? I'm not talking every day fishing, I'm talking your new PB is hooked up, are you worried? If I had any doubts I'd change the hooks and with any type of rust I'd have doubts.

[roadwarrior]

Replace all hooks and rings, but take your time and make the job fun. It's just part of fishing.

 

 

 

[Ik_47]

thanks for the reply guys. some of the high quality hooks, u cant even see rust unless u look really close and its just a tiny bit. you cant even see it in a photo. would yall reckon i still have to replace those?

[fishwizzard]

6 minutes ago, Ik_47 said:

thanks for the reply guys. some of the high quality hooks, u cant even see rust unless u look really close and its just a tiny bit. you cant even see it in a photo. would yall reckon i still have to replace those?

Destructively test one and if you are satisfied that they just have some surface rust then go ahead and fish them.  

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, Ik_47 said:

thanks for the reply guys. some of the high quality hooks, u cant even see rust unless u look really close and its just a tiny bit. you cant even see it in a photo. would yall reckon i still have to replace those?

Rust is insidious - it can burrow in through a pinhole and work from the inside out. If it was me - I'd replace any hook that had even a pinpoint of rust on it.

[Ik_47]

ok thanks guys. i have 3 lures with no rust at all and a bunch with just a tiny bit, so ill probably replace all the ones with visible rust

[DomQ]

What's worth more, replacing all you treble hooks or that 12lber you think you just hooked up with but lost because your hook bent out or broke

[EGbassing]

Definitely replace the trebles, and maybe the split rings, I think. The lures should be fine though.

[Fishes in trees]

I learned that lesson once with a bunch of crappie jigs, "just a little rust, I can fish them ok - no problem"

 

Fishing for what turned out to be medium sized bluegill & crappie and the occasional 12" bass, I broke a dozen or so 1/8 oz crappie jigs, all at the same place ( bend of the hook ) in about an hour.  No jig lasted more than 2 fish ( and these weren't big fish).  Point of this story is I don't recommend fishing with rusty hooks at all.

My advice - bite the bullet, invest in a bunch of correct size treble hooks and quality split rings and while you're at it get a GOOD pair of split ring pliers.  I like the pair I got from Texas Tackle.   Get the heavier trebles for your lipless cranks and maybe very sharp lighter ones for your jerk baits, I don't know for sure - do your research.

THEN - pop for a mixer of your favorite barley pop, crank up the stereo in your shop, and start swapping out trebles.  I'd guess that you'd get most of them done in an afternoon.

 

Option B - you've gone to the trouble of cleaning up the lures, go buy the trebles & split rings & pliers and put them all in a box labeled "next winter project". Now go buy enough new lures to get you through this season.  Problem solved.  

[Bluebasser86]

12 hours ago, DomQ said:

What's worth more, replacing all you treble hooks or that 12lber you think you just hooked up with but lost because your hook bent out or broke

Exactly. It sucks, I've been there, but you have to replace them or risk losing the fish of a lifetime because you wanted to save a couple bucks. 

[WRB]

You do the process to the lures as if you found them at the lake, remove the hooks and split rings and clean them with baking soda and warm water solution. 

Rust comes from iron oxides as a result of corrosion. It's possible that only a few hooks caused the running rust that stained everything else or your had salted soft plastics that mixed in with water inside the boxes. Cleaning will remove rust from non metal parts.

Tom

[Spankey]

Rust will compromise the point and sharpness of those rusted hooks. 

[Ik_47]

Update:

I cleaned off all the lures in a vinegar so there was no rust. Only some of the lures that had almost no rust to begin with ended up making the cut. I did a strength test by pulling on them and squeezing them, and all the ones that bent or broke im replacing. The ones that really didnt have much rust that are strong aren’t going to be replaced.

[J._Bricker]

36 minutes ago, Ik_47 said:

Update:

I cleaned off all the lures in a vinegar so there was no rust. Only some of the lures that had almost no rust to begin with ended up making the cut. I did a strength test by pulling on them and squeezing them, and all the ones that bent or broke im replacing. The ones that really didnt have much rust that are strong aren’t going to be replaced.

@Ik_47 good decision on replacing the questionable hooks, and a little file work on the others probably wouldn’t hurt.  I’d liken your original question to those famous last words catching smaller fish “my line is nicked, I’ll retie after the next fish”. And I hate what happened next...

[WRB]

Vinegar mixed 50/50 with water is a good cleaner for metal buy it's a acid and needs to be rinsed throughly with warm water and then dry your lures. Baking Soda is also a good cleaner, is alkaline and less aggressive to metal, plastic and wood.

Suggest you re sharpen any hooks you decided to keep and spray with WD-40.

Good luck,

Tom

[Ik_47]

thanks yall

[Glenn]

Plano JUST introduced the new Rustrictor line of tackleboxes.  I'm so glad I can finally talk about them!

 

They have an oderless chemical embedded in the plastic and inhibits rust on your lures.  This should solve your problem once and for all.

 

[Ik_47]

On 3/15/2019 at 9:11 AM, Glenn said:

Plano JUST introduced the new Rustrictor line of tackleboxes.  I'm so glad I can finally talk about them!

 

They have an oderless chemical embedded in the plastic and inhibits rust on your lures.  This should solve your problem once and for all.

 

thanks for telling me, i’ll have to check it out