What A Surprise!

Up here in the northeast, our season is relatively short lived compared to some folks in the lower states. So we end up prepping our tackle, rods & reels during the snowy months, in anxious preparation for ice out.

I usually end up taking apart my rods & reels and giving them a thorough cleaning and polishing. I usually do this only in the early part of each year - January through March at the latest. I've been fishing now for about two solid months; maybe a tad more, but not by much.

I fill my line spools with 2# test Fireline and this line serves me pretty well through much of two full seasons of use. So now, with the prospects of a full week of hot, rainy and humid days ahead of us, I took a look at my rods & reels to see if anything needed attention.

A couple of my Presidents looked like the line was getting low, so I stripped everything down and refilled the spools with fresh Fireline and fluorocarbon leaders. I also applied my tried & true "AmorAll" to the rods to "spiff 'em" them up a bit. Wow.....what a surprise! With just over two months of use, you wouldn't believe how the soft rags with the AmorAll came out black and dirty. The rods looked OK to me in normal use, but they were absolutely filthy. And I normally fish pretty clear, clean water.

How often do you folks look over your equipment and service simple things, like rod cleaning? BTW, the rod guides were really bad too. But the AmorAll does a decent job of cleaning everything up, so now, whenever this weather cycle breaks, I'll be ready! :)

I am a tackle enthusiast.....I admit it. I clean and wipe down my rods and reels I use after each trip....many times I will fish 3-5 days a week. On rods that have cork handles I will wipe them down with a rag with some Dawn dish washing soap to get the oil and dirt off....then I rinse and dry them. About every 2 months I will clean cork handles and apply some U-40 Cork Seal. I clean the rod guides out with Q-Tips. All of my rods are JDM rods now and the micro guides on them are much smaller than the micro guides you see on rods here in the states....so it is best to stay ahead of the grime on those. I clean the blanks with water then I use 303 on them...not as heavy as Armor All. The reels get a brushing to clean any debris out of small nooks and crannies my damp rag cannot get to. To many that may be over kill...but it doesn't take long for the grime and gunk to build up on rods....and reels also.


Regards

I hate to say this but clean a rod? Now clean my reels I do 1 x per year. Organize and clean tackel box...no telling how many times. Got to go and buy some Armor-all.

I agree wholeheartedly with U-40 approach. I use it once each season to keep the cork on all my rods in tip-top shape. I usually clean them first with Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. Keeps my cork looking like new. But now, after seeing how dirty my rods were, I may have to revisit the cork handles as well! I read somewhere that ArmorAll can also be used on cork to keep the dirt off (?). Maybe I'll give that a whirl as well.

I use the stuff line and reel spray ( a couple of brands avail.) works wonders on braid too. it will clean the rods especially the eyes keeps the line from sticking to rod and guides, keeps the braid from loosing its color.:twocents