Salty tackle care / TFO application form for instructors

Walter & Group......

Some of you continue to be unable to open the two attachments .... one on salty tackle care, and the other the TFO Rod application form for instructors.    Here they are in text:-

Gordy I hope all is well.  The following is not a question for the study group but one where I could use your vast salt water expertise regarding maintenance of equipment after a trip.  I don’t fish salt water often so having just returned from some bonefishing I wanted to be sure I was not missing any tricks regarding proper cleaning of my rods, lines and reels.  The following is what I have or am doing:

 

            Rods

·         Soaked in bath tub with fresh water

·         After drying thoroughly cleaned them with Pledge furniture polish and re-waxed ferrules

 

Reels & Lines

·         Thoroughly rinsed with fresh water and then soaked in laundry sink –  reels and spools apart

·         Line stripped off to the backing and cleaned/dried when re-spooled.

·         Backing still on spools but soaked and flushed with fresh water

 

Is there anything which I missed that you do to keep your salt water equipment properly maintained?  The reels have sealed drags (Ross Big Game and Rhythm).   Do you store your spools in the freezer to keep the line fresh if you are not going to use them for another year?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

Regards,

Bill Toone

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From: Gordon Hill [hillshead@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 3:14 PM
To: 'Bill Toone'
Subject: Salt water tackle care

Bill....

 

I'm using my salt water tackle regularly, here in Florida ...... so I never put my stuff up for a winter any longer.

 

When I lived up on Long Island, I'd clean and lubricate my fly lines, then wind them under no real pressure on 10" diameter, "Cuban Yo-Yo's"  ( The black plastic hand reels used in the Caribbean for actual fishing.  ..... available in most any South Florida tackle store.)  I placed the reel with the line on it in a plastic bag to be kept in a cool dry place so the line wouldn't dry out with home heating over the winter and wouldn't freeze, either.) 

 

Here, in Florida, I do that with demo lines I use only occasionally.  Some lines, I wind up by hand on a wide tapered large diameter plastic tumbler... slip them off the tumbler and use plastic ties with stainless wire in the center. (In this salty environment, paper covered wire twist ties rust and discolor the line just from the salt in the air !)  I place the coil in a large plastic sandwich bag which, in turn, goes into an opaque plastic box.  I keep those on the shelf in my den ...... usually air conditioned room.  The opaque box keeps the light and sun from changing the color.

 

Twist Ties,  Bradshaw International, Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730  (100' spools)

 

Dennis Grant (CBOG in Nova Scotia .... and owner of the Atlantic School of Fly Casting)  has more demo lines than I'll ever have.  He stores them in large loop loose coils on a peg in a cool dry area after cleaning and lubricating them and has been very successful in doing so.

 

I don't soak my rods.  When I tried that, I noted that the cork handles felt a bit strange and wore more quickly.  Now, I hose them down with fresh water, then dry them with a soft cloth.  Once dry, I use candle wax on the ferrules and 3-M Boat wax on the guides, tip top and reel seat as well as the epoxied wrappings.  I only dry and wax them once or twice a year.

 

When I travel to new salty destinations, sometimes I don't have time to do anything more than hose down the rods before catching a plane.  I dry them with a towel as best I can, then pack them.  Trick is to unpack them and dry them out further right after you get home !

 

3M ULTRA PERFORMANCE PASTE WAX  09030  Part # 05113  269g.

 

It is expensive, but that 269 can will last for many years.  I wax my reels with that stuff, too.

 

When using my SW outfits on a daily basis, I simply hose down the reels with fresh water, then bring them into the house in the air conditioning overnight and use them the next day.

 

If I go away for a month or so, I'll peel off the line to make certain that the backing dries well on the spool.  I use only Spectra for my backing .... one advantage of that is that the stuff is non-wettable (hydrophobic.)  When I used Dacron and multifilament nylon for backing, I'd remove it .... because it would pack down and hold water and at least a little salt which resulted in corrosion of the inner surface of even the most expensive reels.  I tried a material called, SALT AWAY..... Didn't work.

 

When I set up a new reel or remove and replace all line and backing, I clean the spool with soap and water, rinse and dry .... then use the 3M wax on it before placing new backing and line.

 

NIX on the freezer !   Meat and fish get something called, "freezer burn".  My fly lines dried out and cracked more easily when I tried that.

 

I, also, tried to bring them back by using a plasticizer which I think was called, Armorall.  This did help when used lightly.  Then I tried soaking the lines in the stuff and ruined them.

 

Living right on the open salt water, I've come to look at it as living in a milieu of dilute fuming nitric acid !  I used stainless steel nails for my house ...... my dock is put together with stainless screws and bolts. I even have a stainless steel shingle custom roof.  Everything corrodes if not protected.  My flies tied on any hooks other than stainless steel will rust even in plastic boxes on the shelf in an air conditioned room !

 

Gordy

 

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