Winterizing your gear!

[JediAmoeba]

Well it's that time of the year to start tearing down the reels,clean them up and get em all lubed.

 

To be honest, I only ever tear apart the ones that appear to be grimy and ones I know I used a bunch.  Some of them i just snip off the leaders and leave them in the garage.  I know some of yinz take every reel apart or send them all out to be serviced and others probably do nothing.  I actually enjoy tearing them apart, cleaning them up and doing it but sometimes the c-clips tick me off.  Lol

 

Where do you fall in the "winterizing" your gear?  

 

 

[TnRiver46]

I somehow found a c clip 3 times after it shot off into orbit the other day 

[JediAmoeba]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I somehow found a c clip 3 times after it shot off into orbit the other day 

I think I still have one orbiting earth from last year.  

[Bluebasser86]

I try to clean all my gear, but it's never fully "winterized" since I never stop fishing. Some.of my gear that doesn't get used during the winter months (frog and punching rods), I'll completely loosen the drags to take the pressure off the washers.

[CrankFate]

It’s too early. If I start now, what am I going to do in February?

[JediAmoeba]

1 minute ago, CrankFate said:

It’s too early. If I start now, what am I going to do in February?

Ice fish!  I always leave a few rods ready to go because I fish if I can, but the water is mostly hard from December - February.  I have 14 reels I know I need to do so I am doing a few of them now.  

 

I went crazy and decided to replace all my bushings on the worm gears with bearings.  Also thought I would change out some bearings that were sounding rough.  Why?  Because I shouldn't read threads on Bass Resource, that's why!

[CrankFate]

15 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

Ice fish!  I always leave a few rods ready to go because I fish if I can, but the water is mostly hard from December - February.  I have 14 reels I know I need to do so I am doing a few of them now.  

 

I went crazy and decided to replace all my bushings on the worm gears with bearings.  Also thought I would change out some bearings that were sounding rough.  Why?  Because I shouldn't read threads on Bass Resource, that's why!

No way! Putting bearings on the worm is one of the best upgrades you can possibly do. You should do this. Everyone should do this. I also like to upgrade the sideplate bearing on the main gear shaft. 

[Smelter96]

I tear everything down to the bare frame and clean and re lube it all during the winter. I enjoy it as well and keeps my mind of the mile thick ice we get up here lol. My tiny spinners though get used for ice fishing and cleaned in the summer

[GReb]

Sent an E-clip into orbit Saturday.  Really hate those things

[MN Fisher]

Right now I'm involved in some more canoe mods...that'll take me through December.

 

Yule gift gets spent from 26 December through January - wish there were decent sales during that period.

 

Then reel maintenance happens during February-March time frame. Tear-down, lube/oil, rebuild.

 

Beginning of April is when reels get re-spooled (if I de-spooled them) so I'm ready for ice-out which averages the middle of April.

[Yumeya]

I clean all my reels except my Stella or Daiwa mag-sealed reels.

 

Busting out my ice fishing gear now

[JediAmoeba]

1 hour ago, CrankFate said:

I also like to upgrade the sideplate bearing on the main gear shaft. 

I am doing this on two reels - I got some abec 7 bearings to swap out all the bearings and see if it makes a difference.  I also got a shallow honeycomb spool to try out.  Again, why?  Because I read about monkey's on this page.

[Dirtyeggroll]

1 hour ago, GReb said:

Sent an E-clip into orbit Saturday.  Really hate those things

 

2 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

I think I still have one orbiting earth from last year.  

 

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I somehow found a c clip 3 times after it shot off into orbit the other day 

Take them off with the reel placed in a ziploc bag. The orbit will be contained in the bag.

[NorcalBassin]

One of the lucky ones that gets to fish through the year and nice winter days are some of the best producing of the year for us. I wipe the combos down with a micro cloth and back off the drags... that's pretty much it unless there's an issue.

[GreenPig]

3 hours ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

 

 

Take them off with the reel placed in a ziploc bag. The orbit will be contained in the bag.

A small pair of Snap-On needle nose pliers can also help.

I fish year round and right now I'm hunting also. The middle of summer is when I do my deep clean on my reels. Mid summer I go nocturnal and only need 5 combos so I find cleaning (40+) reels in the A/C to be perfect at that time.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I generally leave the reel maintenance for the limbo period between late ice and ice out.  There's usually a short period where the ice is unsafe, but still is present to prevent any open water fishing.

 

Right now my focus is on getting my ice stuff out.  It was around 5 degrees overnight here so it's coming pretty soon!

[Bass Junke]

Hoping to fish through December this year. Hate breaking everything down and all of a sudden a Saturday in late November early December is 75 degrees. I'm going fishing.

 

Southern Mass is funny, last year the ponds were only hard for just over a month.

[Luke Barnes]

I've not been confident or adventurous enough to completely tear one of mine down. I'm afraid of messing it up, loosing parts, breaking something. But I do want to deep clean my reels so they last longer. 

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

I've not been confident or adventurous enough to completely tear one of mine down. I'm afraid of messing it up, loosing parts, breaking something. But I do want to deep clean my reels so they last longer. 

It’s easier than you think! Just lay everything in order as you take it apart on something like a white towel. The only problems are things loaded with tension like springs and clamps, they go flying when you take them loose. I’ve fixed many spinning reels with a spring from an ink pen after I lost the original 

[umckibben]

Do you have a good system or tool to remove the small c clips? 

[JediAmoeba]

9 minutes ago, umckibben said:

Do you have a good system or tool to remove the small c clips? 

I just use a small flathead screwdriver to put it on and take it off.  Usually they aren't hard but sometimes they can be a pain.  

 

Out of the 4 reels I did so far all went smoothly and I got it done in a few hours.  I ran all the bearings and small parts through my sonic cleaner.

[MN Fisher]

31 minutes ago, umckibben said:

Do you have a good system or tool to remove the small c clips? 

 

20 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

I just use a small flathead screwdriver to put it on and take it off.  Usually they aren't hard but sometimes they can be a pain. 

I do the same thing, with one hand cupped over the spot so that if the clip goes flying, it hits my hand and drops down instead of being lost in the (as the wife calls it) 'Room from Hell'.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, umckibben said:

Do you have a good system or tool to remove the small c clips? 

Expect the unexpected and wear protective eye wear......... but seriously they aren’t that bad and I’m guessing they are easily replaced, I’ve ordered reel parts a few times and I always keep old busted reels for parts. Ironically I’ve never had to order a c clip 

[GreenPig]

14 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

I've not been confident or adventurous enough to completely tear one of mine down. I'm afraid of messing it up, loosing parts, breaking something. But I do want to deep clean my reels so they last longer. 

It take a certain type of person to dare to completely breakdown reels and clean them. I would suggest starting with your cheapest reels to learn. Schematics and a camera phone helps immensely.  

[boostr]

Unless your a tournament fisherman (or a multiday in the week fisherman) No need to completely tear down a reel. I don't fish everyday (wish I could though) I just remove the side plates handles, and spool, and clean up what I can with a Q Tip soaked in a cleaning solution, and relube, if the bearings sound cruddy I try to clean them out. Haven't removed the worm drive so no popping clips into the atmosphere. I don't remember if I have removed a E clip on any other part. It's really not rocket science. If your handy it should be fine. Just put it together the same way you took it apart that's all.