Fishing Pole Maintenence?

[ISX]

My fishing pole has me a bit worried lately.. It is barely relieving the line when a big fish hits it and when it finally does, it lets all the line out.. The actual line is also getting hard and is almost like twine or something now. So my question is how do I lube up the reel to make it all work smooth? And is there a way to make the line better, like adding some kind of very thin mineral oil or something to it? Maybe vegetable oil would be better. I am not sure on if this is a good idea or not though so that is why I came here.
[signature]

[gdn443]

Sounds to me that you need to replace your line. You should do it at least once a season depending on the type. Tighten the drag which is the star looking gear on the side or a knob depending on your reel. This will allow you to retrieve the line when a big fish is on, and won't allow it to take as much line from you. Never over tighten it as you may break your fishing line. DO NOT USE vegetable oil on your reel.Use a high grade oil or better yet take it to your local tackle shop and they can fix the whole thing up for you.
[signature]

[davetclown]

if your not machanicaly inclined, "I take it that your not because most people who are usualy has at least a minimal matainance constitution"

there for it would be good advice to follow the for mentioined tip, but if you do have a machanical aptitude but spent your time or more important matters concider this....

as mentioned
replace your line with a good quality monofiliment once per year, cutting off 3-5 feet of line of the end at the beginning of each fishing trip.. "dont wory about not having enough line on your reel, if you get a fish big enough to spool your reel it will be drawn out regardless as to weather you have 250 feet or 300 feet of line in your reel...

Drags to dend to not be reliable when reels are not properly maintained, meaning the drag can stick and you line will snap, and at other times your drag can slip causing the smallest of bass to run away with your line...

If you provide me with the make and modle of your reel I will see if I have one or one simmilar to yours and post how to disasemble pictures for you..
[ul] [li]to clean you should use luke worm water infused with dawn dishwashing liquid and an old tooth brush. use a quality paper towl or old dish towl or clean shop rag to dry your parts. [/li] [li]allow the parts a couple hours do dry before continuing further.[/li] [li]you can pick up reel lub at cabelas by following the link at the top of this page or you can use pertrolium jelly (vasoline) a quality reel lube is more preferable but vasoline will work in a pinch, using vasoline will require cleaning a little more often.[/li] [li]place a small amount of lub on all moving parts that ride against each other, do not puddle lube on any moving parts but be sure that each moving part receives suficent amount to cover the serface. [/li] [li]lubricants are use for two reasons, one to cool and reduce friction from moving parts that would wear down metals and enylon, and two it keeps internal gears from rusting and oxidization.[/li] [li][/li] [li][/li][/ul]
using the proper test line on your reel also will aid in smoother operation of your equipment, using heavier line than your reel is rated for will ultimatly end up with shorter cast than disired and fish have by far shorter line to pull out when it comes time to playing them...


as for lubricating your line, it is not nessisary if you replace it once a year. the line come already lubricated.

***** NOTE ... there is a line lubricant used for braded line you can pick up at cabela's just ask for by "line lubricant" it is disinged for braded line, smoothing the friction between the braded line and eyes of your rod.

if you provide us with make and modle of your reel, your rod, and the fish you target we will be more than happy to provide you with the information of wich products that would best suit your equipment and the species you wish to target..

**** SPECIAL NOTE *** If ever you dunk your reel in to the drink you will need to clean and lube your reel again before using it, to do so with out will cause damage to internal gears and friction drags when minute dirt particals work their way in.

Merry Christmas,
[signature]

[ISX]

Ah, that is what I was wanting to know.. My reel is a Shimano TX 1000FD. I am pretty mechanically inclined, I just like to know the proper things to use on stuff. Someone taught me how to fish a year ago but I don't see them much so I don't know how to maintain the reel. When I fish I aim for crappie with 6lb line but lately I have been getting everything but crappie. On Nov 29 I caught a 22" white striper from the bank.. The reel wasn't working right that day and the line eventually snapped but luckily I had him on the bank.. Another thing that I would like to fix is that when I reel in, sometimes there isn't enough tension on the line to have it wind onto the reel the way it should. Instead it just goes together loosely and when I cast out the next time it gets all screwed up and I end up with a big knot. To prevent this I usually reel in with the string between my fingers so that there is tension on it.. I just wondered if there was something they made to do what I do with my fingers..
[signature]

[davetclown]

[#800000]My diagnosis is you have a combination of three things working against you...[/#800000] [ol] [li]old line[/li] [li]dirty reel[/li] [li]line twist or wrong line on your reel[/li][/ol]
read below to solve the problem/s

I dont have that reel, so here is what you can do to reduce chance of errors. remove the cover plate and take pictures with a digital camera and up load it to the computer before moving on to the next step. this will show you where every thing goes. Any time you get to an area of the reel that was not visible in your picture take a new picture and upload it to your computer before moving forward.

[#bf0000]unless you have dunked your reel in to the drink, a full disasembly of the reel is not nessisary.[/#bf0000]

you shouldnt have any problems disasembling and reasembling your reel, just use a service tray like used in a cafiteria or a large baking sheet to lay your reel and parts in. lay paper towl on the bottom to catch any greese..

a baking sheet or service tray will keep things from rolling away...

**** note Using jewlers screwdriver set if you have one will help a great deal when working on your reel. if not try to match your screws to your driver as best as posible, wrong size drivers can damage the screws.

---

as for your line snapping, there are 5 reasons or a combination of any of these reasons your line would have snapped at that point in the game. determining the exact problem will require observing all data you can at the time of the break. meaning what the reel was doing and where did the line actualy break. [ol] [li]Line breaks between hook and reel [/li] [ul] [li]line was stretched during the fight or it was old and brittle. [#bf0000]Replace it with triline or berkley or stren. stay away from high abrasion resistant line.[/#bf0000][/li][/ul] [li]Line breaks at the reel [/li] [ul] [li]your line got caught in a gap on the bail barol because the bail assembly has come loose. ([#bf0000]check to make sure it is tight and no gaps are present[/#bf0000])[/li][/ul] [li]Line breaks at the knot of your lure or terminal tackle [/li] [ul] [li]your drag as you mentioned had for no aperent reason had tightened up. ([#bf0000]You [/#bf0000][#bf0000]have an external drag system with a dial on the front of the reel[/#bf0000]) to fix the problem take off the dial, there are bushings under it, clean all serfaces and lube and put back to gether.[/li] [ul] [li]your drag has loosened or tightened while fighting a large fish, thus requireing proper cleaning and re-apply new lubricant. this is a common accurance when reels are thrown in the trunk of your car and left uncovered in a garage or traveling down dirt roads...[/li][/ul][/ul] [li]your line comes untied from your lure or terminal tackle [/li] [ul] [li]you had a bad knot ([#bf0000]try using a Polimer knot or snell knot on your crappie rigs.[/#bf0000]) Be sure if you use a polimer knot that you tie a non slip or ancor knot on the tail close to the polimer knot to stop [/li][/ul] [li]Drag was enitaily was set to tight to make sure your drag was set properly, [/li][/ol]

---

Birds nest and unravaling line in your reel.

three things cause this problem, two require changing the line on your reel. the other requires adding terminal tackle to your rigging.

[#bf0000]Replace it with triline or berkley or stren. stay away from high abrasion resistant line.[/#bf0000]
[ol] [li]Line twist when during the corse of reeling in you line your line twist round and round and round, over time it twist to the point where it refuses to spool up properly when reeling in. [/li] [ul] [li]the solution to prevent the problem is to add a swivel nap or barrol swivel to your rigging. this will allow your line to untwist freely.[/li] [ul] [li] barrol swivel[/li] [li] swivel snap[/li][/ul] [li]to fix a line twist problem from a boat let out the line while moving with nothing tied to the end allowing the line to drag behind the boat. this will allow the line to un-twist.[/li] [li]to fix a line twist not on a boat tie on a barrol swivel or swivel snap to your heaviest casting lure, cast out several times as far as you can and reel back in, the line will untwist itself the more you do this. [/li][/ul] [li]one old line it has become stiff and wants to remain in a curlled shape not laying out flat when casted out.[/li] [li]wrong type of line was spooled on your reel. this results in the line wanting to unravel when opening up the bail or line not rapping smoothly around the spool when reeling in.[/li] [ul] [li]High abraision type of line wants to remain straight. it is great for trolling but because of its tincle properties it is a poor choice for spin cast reels.[/li][/ul][/ol] [center]=============[/center]
I would stay with the 6 pound test line, and buy the smallest spool of 4 test available for when targeting crappies only. [#800000]High abration lines are an excilent choice for making leaders[/#800000].

I personaly use 4 pound test line for crappie making a leader so if the line breaks I am not loosing my main line which I use a 6 pound test. there is an exception, when Ice fishing I use only 4 pound test line but still make a 12 inch leader...

I find crappie tend to hit on lighter line but you can save that question for another indepth question our members will load you up with info...

---

An oval oscillation gear creates a consistent spool speed so line wraps evenly as you retrieve – resulting in better castability and less tangling. Graphite body and aluminum spool offer durability and low weight. Quick Fire II® trigger allows rapid one-handed casting. Dyna-Balance® system eliminates spool wobble during the retrieve while Shimano's Power Roller® II reduces line twist that is often caused by casting and retrieving. Imported.


1000
[#bf0000]For line wt. 2 to 6 lb. [/#bf0000]
[#bf0000]Weight 9 oz. [/#bf0000]
[#bf0000]Capacity 140 yd. 4 lb. test monofilament.[/#bf0000]
[#bf0000][/#bf0000]
follow one of the links on any of our pages and go to the main page copy and paste the product in to the search box.

Abu Garcia Reel Oil and Lube
Item:2UG-120934 $3.19 [center][/center] [center]I highly recomend any one of these three products. ask for them by name. if your shop where you have it spooled on dosnt have this, dont take substitutes - there is no substitution for quality.[/center] [center]they are all available in 6 pound test.[/center] [center][/center] [center] [/center] [center][/center] [center] [/center] [center][/center]
[signature]

[gdn443]

With Shimano reels you should send them back to the company for that complete over haul. Local shops here won't touch them.
[signature]

[ISX]

Hey thanks for all the help guys. I love it when I get so much information from just a few posts.. I have a $10 reel with the same problems that is the same setup as the shimano, so I will try and fix it up first, I guess make it my trial run.. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again.
[signature]

[davetclown]

ya know, there is no one in my area who will even look at a reel, reason may be that a reel can be replaced for less than what most reels cost new.

"avarage being $20

some one spends a couple hours on overhualing and cleaning one, well lets just say with todays rate of pay.... 40 years ago you could afford to have some one overhual a $20 reel when the pay scale was $2.10 an hour... but then again a $20 dollar reel back then is the same in comparison of a $80 reel today.

even the upper class reels today no one wants to look at around here, they would rather sell you a new one...
[signature]