Now i have noticed when i fish with my friends here and there that their lures alwayz snap of when they toss it out . And they are quick to say its cheap or bad line . I smile cause i dont use high dollar line i use stren smooth cast . But about ever 5 fish i retie my lure on , and by the 2nd fish i check my line for nicks . Lures are costly little things and i am just tryin to do my part in helping you save your favorite lure .

Another thing is that my line gets curly and that makes for a bird nest waiting to happen . I got some line spray conditioner and i am here to tell you that it works and thats awsome cause your line will last a long time . Hope this info helps and good fishing to ya

Good advice MbBass... I would agree that you can never check your line enough and when needed retie. I also agree that line conditioner does help a lot. I personally like Blakemore's Reel Magic:

Well I must say the upside to all the birdsnests i get on my nifty new bait caster is I go through some line! I bet Im restringing my darn poll every 2 ot 3 weeks. But i usually dont put a whole lot of string on her as is.

I was just thinkin i just got my bait caster sittin in my garage. I didnt clean her up or nothin. Im a bit scared to take her apart as is cuz i got a few bucks wrapped up in it and dont wanna break her either. Any tips for proper storage and care of these things?

Walmart sells this Penn product in a spray bottle that lubes and help protect your reel . I spray the reel down and i run cold water over the reel re spay and add some grease type stuf from penn on the worm guide . Everytime i give the rod a toss it throws like butter , no parkay . lol

What type of baitcaster is it?

I have an abu garcia.... Its one of the cheaper ones though.

Got a model number? Just trying to explain how you reel comes apart to clean, grease and oil (if applicable).

Not off hand Im at work but Ill look it up when I get home. Thx forr the help!

Digital cameras are great tools in reel repair or cleaning.

Go to the Abu Garcia web page look at reel schematics, it will show you how the reel comes apart. Now the digital camera comes into play. Take a peice off photograph it, take the next peice and photo and so on. Then put it back together looking at the photos and compare what it looks like and make sure its right. Great thing about my camera are the photos are number in order.

Remember too you do not have to break the reel completely down to service it. The instruction manual will give you lots of info on maintance of the reel. One thing I learned the hard way if it says one drop of oil only use one drop of oil. To much oil can be a bad thing.


I have saved alot of money learning to clean my own reels and replacing parts. Couple of my reels are nearing the 20 year old mark. I would like to replace them but they still work so good I can't make myself do it.

Conley,

I like that tip about using a digital camera... Another simple but important thing you might want to do when working on your reels is to make sure you are in a "clutter free area" that does not have floor vents or other places where dropped parts can vanish into.

BC

Excellent observation Brendan! Can't count the times I have had to chase springs or washers across the floor. I have a tip for that too! Cardboard box! Disasemble the reel in a cardboard box with a white towel in the bottom and all the parts stay right there. Sometimes a spring will fly but most of the time they stay in the box. The towel gives them a nice soft spot to land and not bounce and if its white they are easy to see.


Forgot to mention that I lay the box on its side with opening facing me. That way a spring will hit the top of the box and land on the towel. Then you can slid the towel out and all the parts are laying right there to clean.

That's another good tip... when your finished cleaning your reels, you can use the box and towel as your stage for a puppet show! lol (Just kidding)

Hey now that might make a good Seminar class! "How to clean your bait cast reel and puppet show" all in one! I got plenty of old socks with holes in them for the puppets! lol! I could get me one of the "bass head pieces like "Ike" wears in those Berkley commercials. You know the one "I been to their ship!"