Taking care of my Rod and Reels

[TrippyJai]

I got a few questions about how to take care of my rod and reels.

How often do I change my line if it's mono or braid?

I saw some Quantum Hot Sauce Oil and Grease, Is the Oil for the baitcaster and grease for my spinning reels?

How often should I be lubing them?

Any tips?

[The Rooster]

Oil is for bearings and grease is for the gears inside the reel. I lube mine up about once a year, or as often as they feel like they need it, and that would be when they begin to feel a little rough in the retrieve. If you don't have very much experience, or the reel is very expensive, I'd recommend letting someone do it that knows how.......but of course, I learned how by just diving in and doing it myself........you just have to make sure you put everything back together in the right order after you take it apart, clean it, then relube it again. You'll know real quick if something's wrong after you reassemble it.

On changing line, if it's mono I might change it 2 or 3 times a year, it really depends on how often you go fishing and what condition it gets in while you use it.  For braid, I don't know, I've never tried any.  My mono gets kinked up some after several uses, spinning reels twist it up and when it becomes a hassle to fish with then I change that out.  Baitcasters get kinks in them from backlashes.  Line on those usually lasts me a little longer and I might only change it one time a season, maybe twice.  Spinning reels it might be as many times as 3 or more, but that's after I've exausted the spare spool's line also, 2 spools per reel.  I use mine a LOT!

[J Francho]

I don't change braid until it gets pretty beat.  Even then, I simply reverse it, spooling up another reel.  Mono depends on how much UV exposure it gets, how much you use it, etc.  I don't use much nylon mono for bass anymore, but on my steelhead rigs, it lasts about 2-4 months.  For bass, I use P-Line CXX, and I respool three times between April and November.  Flourocarbon, probably twice in that period.  However, on some of my finesse rigs, the line gets changed more frequently, simply because of snipping off rigs and retying frequently.  I do not like fishing an underspooled rig.  Its worth noting that I KVD Line & Lure.  It makes good line better than new.

[NBR]

Unless it is exposed to sunlight and ozone mono lasts a long time with out degrading. My outfits are in the boats rod box or stored in my cellar tackle room. I have outfits that have not had new line in 3 or 4 years and I have no problems with break offs. I do watch the ends for frays and cut off the bad line. This can result in needing to respool or tie on new line.

I don't fish T's so that doesn't enter into the equation and the lakes I fish have very little wood and few weeds so I don't need to horse fish out of heavy cover.

[mayassa]

here is a good link on maintenance

http://www.steelheadstalkers.com/spin-reel_tutorial.htm

[kikstand454]

wow.

apparently ive been wasting money.

when i was fishing mono....big game 12#... i was changing it like every 2 weeks. or less.  that mighta been me being o.c.d, but its cheap and i can not STAND line that comes off in little curls. line memory makes me want to vomit. if my reel sat more than two weekends without fishing... i would pull about 15 yds off of it in my living room to see if it curled. if it did it went in  the trash.

i fish poly now so its much better... and more expensive.

i need to get some line conditioner.

my braid which i mostly throw when saltwater fishing... i typicallly leave on till ive used a 1/4 spool and then i swap it over to another reel with a mono backing.

i think its a preference... like the post above i know people that have the same line on for months and years... and fish with it fine.

but then when  they cast out and i see those curls running out and slowing down a perfectly good cast..... i want to push them out of the boat............

[TrippyJai]

I use Trilene XL Smooth Casting and I found out the line has very low memory. I don' even have to change it after a trip. All I do is check the line for bumps and cut it off... altho, i think i should change it more often now since it could of been stretched out quite a bit.

thanks for all the helpful tips. i dont think i will take apart my reels tho to lube them. i watched the video and it looks confusing.

[J Francho]

wow.

apparently ive been wasting money.

when i was fishing mono....big game 12#... i was changing it like every 2 weeks. or less.

You get what you pay for .

that mighta been me being o.c.d, but its cheap and i can not STAND line that comes off in little curls. line memory makes me want to vomit. if my reel sat more than two weekends without fishing... i would pull about 15 yds off of it in my living room to see if it curled. if it did it went in  the trash.

Tie your line to a tree, give it a quick stretch, and reel it back in, every ten cranks or so, shoot some KVD at the spool.

i fish poly now so its much better... and more expensive.

Not if it lasts more than two weeks.  Try P-Line CXX.

i need to get some line conditioner.

YES, MAN!  Seriously, get the KVD stuff.

my braid which i mostly throw when saltwater fishing... i typicallly leave on till ive used a 1/4 spool and then i swap it over to another reel with a mono backing.

I always use a backer - who casts more than 75 yards for bass anyway?

i think its a preference... like the post above i know people that have the same line on for months and years... and fish with it fine.

Luckily for them, they probably don't fish that often, and losing fish doesn't matter.  

but then when  they cast out and i see those curls running out and slowing down a perfectly good cast..... i want to push them out of the boat............

Sometimes perfectly good line gets this way after sitting for a few days.  Get it wet, zap it with some KVD and after a few casts, it goes away.

[J Francho]

I saw some Quantum Hot Sauce Oil and Grease, Is the Oil for the baitcaster and grease for my spinning reels?

How often should I be lubing them?

Get OEM grease and oil.  grease is for gears, oil is for bearings.