Thread: Cleaning up after a week of pier fishing?

Hey folks what advice do you all have about taking care of my gear til next year? We rinsed the rod and reel after ever fishing trip. But now I'm home I asked the guys at BPS he said to toss all the line and clean from there.

Wash your rods & reels well with soapy water and rinse. I use dish detergent. Water alone will not get all the salt off. Use a soft fluffy wash brush and lather them up good, then rinse well and dry.

A touch of oil in the normal spots wont hurt.

I dont see a need to remove all the line, I only change mine once a year and I fish saltwater at least twice a month from February to mid November. The line is fine as long as it isnt all nicked up and you keep it out of direct sunlight, even if it is until next year.

After every trip you should always make sure to store your reels with the drags set very loose. If they are tight run the risk of damaging the drag washers. Like Carl said, little oil never hurt anything

I only fish here a few weeks each year but I spray my reels with Reel Magic when they are new and rinse with freshwater after each outing and spray with Reel Magic when I get back home and the reels have completely dried out. I don't have anything expensive but none were free so I try to keep them working. Ditto on loosening the drags after each trip.

I learn something everytime I get on this forum. I myself did not think about loosening the drag for storage. Thanks for all the tips

After fishing the pier or a boat, mine get thoroughly hosed down, air dried and are stuck back into the shed for another week or two.
If I go surf fishing and they get dunked or dropped in the sand, they get quick hosing, wiped dry and the I open the reels and check'em.
Lines get replaced and reels get rebuilt/lubed once or twice a year, or as needed.
X3 for storing with loose drags, especially for conventional reels.

How is 3in1 oil on reels?

Before and after my vacation I use Penn Reel Oil (used to be called X1R).
A few drops in my hand and rub it all over like you would put on any lotion.
I used to notice a bit of corrosion on the rod eyes and the coating of light oil has eliminated that on the rods.
A full coating on the reels has kept them clean as well.
When I get home I wash off all my stuff, rods and reels and after they are dry oil them down before putting them away.
I am not an expert and don't have all the expensive stuff but this has kept all of the corrosion off between trips.

3in1 oil is fairly good for open bearings on casting/inshore reels but I have switched to Penn grease and CorrosionX oil for reel maintenance because most of my fishing is done from the beach and I open up my reels more than the average user. Drag washers get a coat of Cal's drag grease and stored backed off-otherwise you are compressing your drag washers or even glazing them if they were to be stored locked down for a log period of time. For general wipes owns after you've hosed everything off, any good oil will work on a cloth (I've used RemOil, Breakfree CLP, the old Abu oil you could buy by the quart, if it's good enough to protect my $1,000 guns in storage then it's good enough to protect my rod guides once they've had the sand/salt cleaned off).