Being a warmer weather fly fisher of modest ability and experience, my fishing tackle is kept indoors at this time of year. What jobs could/should I be doing by way of maintenance to reels, rods, lines etc?

Do I need to lubricate reels? What should I use? What should I NOT use? Is WD40 a de-greaser? What can my lines be cleaned with?

Any tips and advice greatly appreciated.

therealijn.

I use a spot of vaseline in the reels after cleaning them thouroghly getting any grit out and drying and warm water with a spot of washing up liquid for the lines and leave to dry in large coils

Haven't tried Vaseline but I always clean my fly reels out and grease them with a medium grease, but can anyone recomend the Vaseline as it sounds a much cleaner option.

Also weely boots and neoprene waders than have a pastic outer coating get a small smear of Vaseline to help the plastic.

I'd avoid Vaseline in your reels as it acts like a magnet to grit and dirt. A better option is a very light smear of white Lithium grease on the bearing surfaces- available in small tubes from cycling shops.

If you only use your tackle / reels lightly a good wipe out and spray with DW40 is fine,

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Personally, I don't think there's any need to get very elaborate with maintenance these days.

Lines: Clean lines by stripping them into a bucket that's filled with warm (not hot) water and a few drops of washing up liquid. Keep both ends out of the bucket so the line doesn't become tangled. Swish it around and let it soak for a while, then strip it through a clean cloth held tightly in your fingers. Repeat this soak and strip process until no more dirt comes off the line and onto the cloth.

Reels: You are correct, WD-40 will remove grease. WD-40 is mainly made up of solvents.

Personally, I don't think reels need to be greased. Grease just dries out, gums up, and attracts grit which does more harm than good. Some people seem to want to equate the gears in a reel with gears in a car, but a reel does not operate at car-like speeds or under that kind of pressure, so there's really no comparison.

For years now I've run all my reels without grease or oil, I use just dry silicon spray lube. It goes on like any spray lube, but it dries to form a slippery film on the surface. What I like about it is that this dry film does not attract or hold grit and it doesn't gum up and interfere with the reel's functioning in cold weather. Grease and oil both make reels very stiff when it gets colder.

I've had no issues whatsoever with using dry silicon lube on reels and the benefits besides increased performance in the cold have been that cleaning the reel no longer involves stripping old grease with solvent. All I do is a quick spray with compressed air and then re-lube the workings with a quick spray of silicon. Done.

Grouse

not only is Vaseline a good attractor of grit etc ,in colder weather it stiffens so will just sit there and not do the job correctly,lithium grease is good as said ,as is copper slip applied very lightly, check all braid connectors (if you use them) for wear ,clean and re apply dresssing to fly lines,check all rings on rods for wear ie grooving mainly tip check whippings for damage even a slight chip will allow damp to seep in eventually corroding the legs of your eyes ,check spigots(joints)etc for grooving etc badly worn ones can be built back up with a graphite spray ,and dont forget to check your flies for rusty hooks,blunt points ,damaged tyings etc etc

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Hi, i,ll just wipe the rods down with a cloth especially around the connections to get rid of any grit, reels a good wipe and blow out any grit and spray with wd40 ( small amount ) and the lines get a wipe with a bit of soapy water every six months, cheers ck.