Well for a great many anglers in areas of the country that experience winter cold that can even be accompanied by hard water, also called ice, this is the time to service your tackle so it’s ready for spring. Even if you like ice fishing, the rods and reels you use when the water isn’t frozen are out of service unless you like to stand a ways back from those holes and cast into them. I don’t mean to make light of ice fishing, but the only ice I like is in my drink after a nice day on liquid water.
So with all that winter spare time on our hands, one of the things we should be doing is servicing our tackle. Your reels should be gone over carefully to check for loose screws, worn bearings and line rollers and if you use them a lot, opened up, cleaned out and re-lubricated. If you are not too handy with mechanical stuff, you might want to bring them to a local tackle shop or send them back to the manufacturer for service. Trained technicians go through all the systems on the reel to see if there are worn parts or drag washers might be needed and they stand a much better chance of putting them back together without any parts left over.
I like to service most of my reels myself. I have a work bench in the tackle room in my basement that is the ideal place to do it. I start by stripping old line off of my reels so I can check the spools for possible corrosion. If you fish in saltwater, corrosion can be a problem, but only if you don’t take care of your gear. Then I spread out a clean towel, one that has been retired from people-drying duties, and set the parts out in an organized manner in the order they came out of each reel so I end up with the reel looking like one of those exploded diagrams. It makes putting it back together the way it came apart a lot easier.
Time to clean the old grease out of the gear case, bathe the gears and bearings in reel cleaner and let them dry. I pay particular attention to the areas of the reel that touch the line. In the case of spinning reels it’s the line roller on the bail. Take a piece of line, loop it around the roller and pull it back and forth to check that the roller is turning easily. A corroded line roller bearing that stops it from spinning can cost you a big fish in a heartbeat. I have replaced quite a few line roller bearings over the years, some during the season, but most during winter cleaning. Cheap insurance.
In the case of baitcasting reels, check and see if there are any burrs on the line guide. Start by snatching a pair of old panty hose from your significant other and cut it into some strips. Then pass a strip through the line guide rubbing against the sides and feeling carefully for any snags. If there is anything that can chafe up your line it will snag the stocking material. Most modern baitcasters use extremely hard materials for line guides so this is rarely a problem, but it can still happen. If your reel has a ceramic insert for the line they can crack and eat your line alive! Hang on to the extra stocking strips because you can use them later to check the guides on your rods to see if there are rough spots or cracked inserts. If you find any damaged guides they must be replace or they will cost you a big fish and ruin a bunch of new line in the process.
Once the reel is reassembled, spray it with a light coating of water displacing lubricant spray like WD40 or CRC, wipe it down with a clean dry cloth and it will almost be ready for the new season. Almost, because it’s time to load it up with new line, so you have some decisions to make. Where you pleased with the line you used last season? Did you use monofilament, but are considering switching to a braid this year? Maybe you want to fill one of your reels with fluorocarbon to give you an edge with special jigging and finesse techniques. A lot of tournament bass fishermen have made the switch to fluorocarbon for fishing worms, shaky head jigs, do nothing worms, things that require a slow, but balanced rate of decent without line impeding the drop and subtle action. Well you just happen to be in luck because you can fill all your line needs from one source – HI-SEAS!
Saltwater anglers have been switching to HI-SEAS Grand Slam Braid a lot in recent years because it is a thin, strong, extremely sensitive line that enhances feel when bottom fishing, jigging and plugging. Surf fishermen are using it because it improves casting distance and you can pack more and heavier braid on a reel than you can monofilament of an equivalent pound test. You could try HI-SEAS Wildfire, a fused braid that is rounder and casts more like monofilament on spinning rods while retaining all the great benefits of regular braid.
Are you happy with monofilament on your reels? A lot of anglers still are and HI-SEAS offers a great selection of top performing monofilament lines like Grand Slam Mono and Quattro Plus, two of the toughest, most abrasion resistant lines on the market today. There is no fish too big, no place to nasty for these lines. Grand Slam is available in several colors while Quattro Plus has alternating colors that act like camouflage in the water. Looking for a super thin co-polymer monofilament? You can’t beat HI-SEAS White Lightning and Black Widow, both super thin, extra supple, high performance lines. White Lightning is a clear line that is True Test Rated to be IGFA record compliant and Black Widow is camo colored.
Winter time is gear servicing and line changing time. Out with the old and in with the new. So tune up your tackle and load your reels with the best lines money can buy. The pros know and that’s why our motto is, HI-SEAS – When the Money’s on the Line.
