Fly Fishers Spring Cleaning
With trout season just around the corner for many fly fishers, what better time to have a look at your gear and prepare it for the first outing?
Caring for your rod/reel/line is not only simple, its great insurance that your gear will perform beautifully when you do get out on the water.
How many times have you threaded your rod and, after the first few casts, asked yourself why the rod/reel/line does not feel like it did when it was new? I know I have, and I consider myself pretty diligent about this kind of stuff. The answer is almost always a simple one~the rod, reel and line need some TLC.
Try to think of it this way; water (rain, river/lake water etc.) carries all kinds of dust, debris, algae and is a fact of life when you’re out fishing. When your equipment GETS wet, these substances are left behind. In the case of your fly line, algae can stick to it and drastically reduce it’s performance. This same algae and dirt ends up on the surface of your fly rod, a subject I’ll address in a little more detail. So then, where do you start? Its easy, and requires only a few basic items. Dish detergent (or mild soap), fly line dressing,Q-tips, clean~soft cotton rags or cloths.
Begin by filling the kitchen sink a few inches deep with warm water and add a bit of dish detergent. Remove the leader from your fly line and strip it from the reel into the water. I stop when I reach line near the end that appears to be clean slick.
While the line is soaking, dampen a clean rag with the same soap/water solution and begin to clean your fly rod. Take special care to clean the threaded portion of the reel seat, the reel seat itself, the guides, the entire length of the blank, ferrules etc. Set the rod aside and let it dry.
Using a dry cloth pinched around the flyline, strip the line out of the water. You can either wind it back onto the reel, or simply strip it onto a dry, clean surface.
Squeeze some fly line dressing onto a clean rag and pinch the fly line. Now, drag the fly line through the rag making sure the dressing is coating the line. If you’ve stripped it onto the counter, then simply wind it back onto the reel~through the dressing. The line should feel slick to the touch, but there should not be so much dressing on it that it leaves some on your fingers when you slide it through them as a test.
With the line back on the reel, remove the spool. Inspect it for grit, sand, dead grass etc. and remove this with a clean rag.Clean around the reel foot, and anywhere else the line rubs against on the reel. If there is a build-up of grease, do your best to remove it. It is a magnet for dirt. I find Q-tips, toothpicks, skewers good for this duty as I’m reluctant to take anything apart on a reel. It can be necessary, but avoid it when you can.
Using a rag, clean the old, dirty grease from the spindle. Using a Q-tip, remove the grease from the INSIDE of the center of the spool. It will likely be off-color like this.
Using an appropriate grease (I use a lithium-type, but when in doubt follow the manufacturers guidelines) apply it to the areas you just removed it from~SPARINGLY. A little is all that is necessary. The stuff I use is applied with a syringe, and then I spread it with a Q-tip and clean rag. Put the spool back on the reel. Attach your leader.
Back to the fly rod. Using some of the fly line dressing (sparingly) on a clean rag, polish the fly rod. Make sure to apply it in, and around all the guides and tip top, and the threads on the reel seat. You’ll be amazed at how much better your clean line will fly through a rod that’s been treated to THIS day at the spa!
