Proper maintenance for rod, reel, and line after use?

[LimerickShaw]

So I fish exclusively fresh water but was noticing the other day that some of my WF7F line was sinking as I was fishing the other day and it got me thinking. 1 - Is this something that can normally occur even when not fishing heavy flies? I was just casting a simple hares ear nymph. 2 - If this is not normal is this due to issue with the line?

It was really only a small portion of the end of the line where it I have my leader. I don't typically do anything when I get home from a day out fishing with my rod, reel, or line. I just go put it in the spare bedroom until the next time I want to go out. Should I be rinsing my reel every time when I get home? Do people "clean" their line? If so, do you take it off the reel?

I'm just not sure if what I was seeing is due to lack of maintenance or just something that happens over time. I don't remember it seeing the tip of the line sinking on prior trips so it could also just be me messing something up.

 

[jr spey]

Wipe down the entire flyline with flyline cleaner or a light dishwater soap using a light rag. Keep doing it until you get no more skid marks on the rag. Then you may use a fly line conditioner over the line. Do not use a conditioner over a dirty line. You have to clean it first. Make sure the reel is dry inside and out and release whatever drag you may have applied. Wipe the rod down to dry it and do not put it back in the rodsock until the rod is dry, especially the cork. There's more that can be done, but that's the basics.

 

[silver creek]

So I fish exclusively fresh water but was noticing the other day that some of my WF7F line was sinking as I was fishing the other day and it got me thinking. 1 - Is this something that can normally occur even when not fishing heavy flies? I was just casting a simple hares ear nymph. 2 - If this is not normal is this due to issue with the line?

It was really only a small portion of the end of the line where it I have my leader. I don't typically do anything when I get home from a day out fishing with my rod, reel, or line. I just go put it in the spare bedroom until the next time I want to go out. Should I be rinsing my reel every time when I get home? Do people "clean" their line? If so, do you take it off the reel?

I'm just not sure if what I was seeing is due to lack of maintenance or just something that happens over time. I don't remember it seeing the tip of the line sinking on prior trips so it could also just be me messing something up.

As long as the reel was not submerged, I do not routinely clean my reel. If you have a sealed drag, then there is even less maintenance. I rarely do anything to my reels from season to season.

I will clean a fly line when gets more difficult to cast, because the line gets dirty. I notice this before notice a sinking tip.

A thorough cleaning is shown in the video below. This is the best way to clean a line, but I admit that even a Stage One Cleaning is too time consuming for me to do it after every few trips as recommended on the video.

YouTube

The Madison River and my spring creek in Montana are extremely clean waters. Similarly, my local waters are clean. Maybe I am used to the old fly lines before the super slick ones were invented.

I clean my line on the stream whenever I notice that my floating line line is getting more difficult to cast. I use a chamois or a Scientific Anglers cleaning pad to remove dirt from the fly line and then I treat the line with Scientific Angler’s Line Treatment. So my method is an “as needed” cleaning and treatment when the line effects my casting.

 

[bumble54]

I clean everything after every outing. As far as lines are concerned maintenance starts as soon as you buy a new line, seal the ends.
If your using a braided loop or a nail knot carefully heat the end of the line and roll it between finger and thumb to force the line coating over the open end of the line to seal it, if using a needle knot or whipping a loop into the line use some form of sealant. Once water gets into the core it never seems to dry out no matter how long you leave it.
Rods get a wipe down with a damp cloth and when dried a wipe over with furniture polish on a duster, check for nicks, cracked rings or other possible damage, don't leave it to get worse.
Reels get a wipe over and when thoroughly cleaned a little lubrication on the moving parts, spindle/pawl's/spring, I usually leave disc drags alone, they are pretty reliable and maintenance free, I use sewing machine oil for lubrication.

Don't forget to thoroughly clean your boots and net.

 

[flav]

You can clean your gear as much as you want, or not at all (I lean towards not at all), but it's pretty much inevitable that the tip of your floating line will start to sink a little over time no matter what you do. If the tip of a floating line starts to sink enough to cause issues I usually try cleaning it, then if that doesn't help I cut the tip of the line back a few inches, install a new loop, and I'm good to go for a while. Some guys don't like to do that, but I've never been afraid to slice and dice a little.

 

[Ard]

I'm a lot like our friend flav posted above but I've never had to chop off a tip.

I do carry a roll of Bounty under the console in the boat and if I think a line isn't floating up to par the next break I take I'll unspool it and wipe it down. Once it's wiped dry you can see any dirt in the grooves of the paper towel, now pull the line through the Umpqua line cleaning and conditioning kit / box. I use either Umpqua Glide or Rio Line Conditioner on the pads of the kit.

If you don't know what the Umpqua Glide line cleaning kit is let Google be your guide.

Other than that I do very little and I don't do the line thing often. If you don't get into the habit of dunking your rod & reel when handling a fish things pretty well take care of themselves. I did clean the cork grips and wipe down the shafts of my 6 year old Hardy Marksman rod last week, that's the first time for that rod.

 

[dennyk]

After every trip out I strip more line off the reel then what I used. I go over it with a dish washing liquid soaked paper towel, then rinse the line with a paper towel soaked in clear water (you may need to do this more then once), then wipe it dry.
Then I just wipe the rod and reel down the water soaked rag and dry them off. Done and ready for the next trip out.

Denny

 

[sweetandsalt]

I wasn't going to add to this thread as the subject and its varinences are already well covered but, dennyk, you inspired me. Leaving saltwater aside where very thorough cleaning of everything is necessary, trout fishing does suggest some basic maintenance too. I fish very dirty trout steams, I don't mean polluted but spring creeks and tailwaters fecund in organic matter. I find micro dirt particles accumulate in the little crotches where the guides meet their epoxy coated thread wraps. Not daily during trip but when I return home I'll take rods into the shower with me and soap and rinse them paying particular attention to the guides. If the cork has become too soiled with blood sweat and tears, I'll rub it with SoftScrub at that time as well. Rods sit out for days in my studio (being admired) until 110% dry before being returned to their socks and tubes. Reels tah have seen a months worth of water time get their spools removed and rinsed thoroughly in warm water, again fully dried for days then re-lubricated if necessary, increasingly unnecessary (it is hard for me to get used to not greasing and oiling metal products).

Lines get dirty the fastest and are the most impacted by dirt. They are the one piece of tackle I'll wash during an extended trip. I like washing them in camp because I can sting the rigged line between two trees, actually hooking the fly to a light branch walking the rod 100 feet away to lean against another branch the walk the length of the line with cloth or paper towel. Do not use a harsh grease cutting detergent like Dawn, something mild like Ivory or "organic" and even then diluted with clean water is far preferable. Once no more dirt comes off repeat with the towel moistened with straight water, the dry (letting the sun do the drying is fine) and repeat with the above mentioned fly line preparations, I use the RIO one. Never use Armorall, yes I'll use it on my car bit it accelerates plasticizer migration, exactly what you don't want to do to your fly line.

Separately, I'm not certain it is necessary but I too seal the tip on a fly line (that does not have a factory loop already sealing it) to guarantee water can not wick up into it with UV resin or whatever I am coating my leader attachment to line tip with...as in a recent thread about Zap A Gap, mounting a Braided Butt (or Braided Loop) with a splice includes automatically sealing the tip of the line. Still, because of the basic construction of most floating lines, tips can sink a little anyway. The "micro-balloons" or whatever form of floatation, is less plentiful in the line tip due to its small diameter compare to the belly of the line. I don't see it a problem as much as a fact of life even though I'm virtually fishing surface floating flies all the time in pursuit of trout.

 

[silver creek]

The "micro-balloons" or whatever form of floatation, is less plentiful in the line tip due to its small diameter compare to the belly of the line. I don't see it a problem as much as a fact of life even though I'm virtually fishing surface floating flies all the time in pursuit of trout.

I agree with S&S for the following reasons.

I want to make four propositions in my argument as to why I don't believe a slightly sunken floating fly line tip is very important when dry fly fishing.

My first proposition is that the water just subsurface is flowing almost exactly at the same rate and direction as the water on the surface. I believe there is a difference but it is minor. Unless the fly line tip is well below the surface, I think the movement of the fly line is very close to a line that is floating a few mms above.

The second proposition is that the sunken fly line tip is itself attached to the rest of the floating fly line behind it. To believe that the short section sunken fly line tip can move very differently than the floating line just behind it is simply not true. If there is any differential movement between this sunken tip section and the the floating line next to it, I believe it is very, very minor. The rest of the floating line dampens any difference between the floating and sunken section of line.

My third proposition is that for a sunken fly line tip to affect a dry fly, there must be drag on the leader and tippet, ie, there must be tension from the fly line tip transmitted through the leader and tippet to the the fly. Without this drag, the fly line, floating or not, cannot affect the fly.

My fourth proposition is proximity theory. I believe what is closer to the fly has a greater effect than what is more distant. I believe, when a fly starts to drag, it is not because the end of the fly line is the cause of the drag. Unless you are using an awfully short leader, the cause of drag is a section of the leader the is in the faster flow or slower flow closest to the fly. It is the leader that causes drag on the tippet which causes the fly to drag. So proximity theory states that before a fly can drag, the tippet must drag. Before the tippet can drag, the more proximal leader usually drags. Thus any "drag" of a sunken fly line tip must first work it's way through the proximal leader and the tippet before it can "cause" a fly to drag or sink.

The question then becomes: is the drag on the fly due to the sunken tip of the fly line OR is it due to insufficient slack in the leader and tippet to absorb the differential movement of fly line tip vs fly? I believe it is due to insufficient slack.

There are other situations that require that a floating tip. If you are using a floating tip as an indicator for a sunken nymph, you want the tip of the fly line to float. But for causing a dry fly to drag, I believe there is little causal effect.

 

[coo2]

If you cut your fly line to nail knot your leader and did not seal it, water will saturate the core and cause this to happen. After it has dried sufficiently (maybe with a little help from a hair dryer to drive any moisture out, seal the line with Pliobond or Aquaseal. Goop might work in a pinch.

 

[dynaflow]

Some thorough replies here.I can only add Don’t use ArmorAll on your fly lines.

 

[desmobob]

I also avoid ArmorAll. Orvis used to provide a wet-wipe packet of 303 Protectant with their fly lines, so I always assumed that product was safe. I have used it for years as a line dressing with no ill effects.

Tight lines,
Bob

 

[dynaflow]

I think the 303 may be measurably better desmobob as I do know it’s a Better protectorant for my car’s black bumper plastic.I still only use the proprietary product like those supplied by Rio and S.A.

 

[dennyk]

Wow, not many ArmorAll fans here. I don't use the ArmorAll cleaning/protectant wipes, I'm using the protectant wipes only after I've cleaned the line. I got this tip from a couple bamboo fly rod makers, that is all they ever use on their lines and I've been using this for a long time.

S&S what I've taken from your comment is that the ArmorAll will eventually start to degrade the line? I don't mean to sidetrack the OP's thread, just a question.

Thanks!

Denny

 

[sweetandsalt]

I'm not a chemist but my understanding is that ArmorAll (& similar products) make our vinyl dashboard nice and shinny by encouraging, accelerating the vinyl's imbedded plasticizers to migrate to the surface. Vinyl, which is what most of our fly line coatings are versions of, have these plasticizers which very slowly exude to the surface maintaining the coating's slickness. Most of us have noted an elderly line becoming dull looking with micro fissures on it surface accompanied by reduced shoot-ability through our rod guides. This is a line whose lubricating plasticizers have come and gone, depleted and irreplaceable.

The best way to clean a good line is with water diluted, mild dish soap and a clean rag/paper towel followed by plain water. We are removing accumulated dirt to allow the line's intrinsic properties do their thing. If you feel your line is a little slicker after a fly line cleaning preparation is applied, I also recommend using the SA and RIO versions as these fly line makers understand the chemical properties of their coatings better than anyone. These, applied sparingly post cleaning, should be allowed to dry then get buffed with another clean towel.

 

[dynaflow]

Those who have used Amor All on their vehicles also know two things...1)this product actually attracts dirt and more importantly 2) It doesn’t last!

 

[silver creek]

Follow S&S advice about Armorall

I had several links about Armorall and fly lines. Rio used to have this statement about Armorall and fly lines:

"We strongly suggest not using the many automotive products that are recommended for cleaning fly lines. These products have chemicals in that will certainly de-plasticize the fly line, leaving it dry and cracked over time. Use a cleaning agent manufactured and sold by a fly line company."

Proper Fly Line Cleaning | True North Trout

"The bottom line is we cannot guarantee what is in other dressing or products and how it will react with our lines. A perfect example of this is ArmorAll. For years people said that ArmorAll could be used to clean and condition fly lines. What we know now is that they actually reduce the effective lifespan of the line. This is due to the chemicals in ArmorAll reacting with the plasticizers in our coating and actually drying it out. This can lead to premature cracking and line failure. ~ Erick Johnson at Scientific Anglers"

Sexyloops still has this interview with Simon Gawesworth from Rio about Armorall and fly lines:

Manufacturers Section

How best to treat Rio Lines? What do you personally use (silicone spray? Armorall?)

"Never, ever use Armorall on a PVC fly line. It breaks down the bond and results in very poor durability. The line will dry out and harden with constant use of Armorall. We recommend a mild soapy water with a flannel to clean the line, then if you want to re-lubricate it, apply a 100% silicone, though very lightly. All PVC fly lines use silicone as a lubricant, so it is best to use the base ingredient to prolong the line's life."

Here are some other links about Armorall.

Flyline - Page 2 - Fly Fishing - Nova Scotia Fishing


"Armor All

From Scientific Anglers:

SA would advise against using Armor All. We have found that it will accelerate the aging of the fly lines and the lines may crack prematurely. Our fly lines need very little or no dressing - only cleaning. If you fish a lot - 2 seasons would be a good life expectancy for a line before cracking, which would be lessened with the use of product such as Armor All being applied. Also there are many factors that can accelerate cracking. 1. Time of use, 2. exposure to sun/heat 3. care of lines 4. applying non recommended chemicals to the line (Insect repellent, sunscreen, Mucilen, Armor All, etc.), 5. water content 6. lack of proper cleaning.

We are attaching a document regarding line care.

Hope this helps - thanks for choosing Scientific Anglers
To optimize the performance of your Scientific Anglers fly lines, Here are Our recommendations:

1. Line Cleaning: The best way to clean the line is to use a SA cleaning pad. These do the best job of cleaning your lines, and it is the quickest and easiest method. Mild hand soap and water on a cloth work well also. Don’t use detergents or harsh soaps, some of the important lubricants may be removed from the line’s surface.
Clean your line if you see that it is getting dirty, or if you notice that it doesn’t float or shoot as well as used to. New lines will require less periodic cleaning.

2. Maximum Performance – For maximum performance and line life, keep your lines clean using the above methods. Should you desire a further, temporary performance boost, consider dressing your line with SA line dressing. Any line will shoot and float better after dressing, although the effects are temporary as the dressing will wear off with use, and the dressing tends to attract dirt and algae. Our new coatings benefit less from dressing than other coatings as they are slicker to start with.

3. Dressings: Use only a silicone based dressing. We recommend Scientific Anglers Dressing. Avoid solvent based dressings like Mucilin which can actually damage fly lines.

4. Protection: Avoid as much as possible, excessive exposure to heat and UV light when you store your lines. Do not leave them for long periods of time in a hot car, this can be very damaging.

5. Things to Avoid: Avoid line contact with any solvent based chemicals as well as items such as: insect repellent with DEET and sunscreens.

6. Storage – It is not necessary to remove lines from your reels for off-season storage. They should be clean and dry, and should be stored where they will not be exposed to heat, light, or any chemicals. If you have lines that you plan to store for extended periods, the refrigerator or even freezer is best."


Fly Lines are expensive and I only use products designed for fly lines.

 

[dennyk]

Done deal, no more ArmourAll and Thank You for the replies! Just got home from fishin' and I'll be cleaning my line only.

I'll pass this thread along to my bamboo buddies.

Denny

 

[dynaflow]

Thanks silvercreek for that Post...surely mandatory reading for every Forumite,and every fly fisher for that matter.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I forwarded my above post to a friend in RIO fly line development for fact checking. He said I was spot on and, indeed, never use ArmorAll but he did make one correction.

The imbedded, migrating plasticizers in our PVC fly line coating preserve its suppleness not its slickness. Its inherent slickness is a part of its properties and can be temporarily enhanced with an application a formulated for fly lines treatment.