Reel Maintenance

I have got back into fishing about three years ago. I have bought Pfluger reels and have been very happy with them. I only use them on the open water. I realistically get out about once every couple weeks. I was wondering if I should be greasing and oiling my reels, and how often to keep them in good working order.

I agree with Ditto. I have spinning reels that are 20+ years old, work fine, and have never had the case open. The only reel I ever really have to do any work on is the one I use for trout fishing simply because it ends up getting dunked in the water and silt quite a bit. Then you need to get in there and clean it out to keep any sand from causing issues and to re lube.

For baitcast reels a drop or two of oil on the wormgear once or twice a year and cleaning and re-lubing the gears every year or two. Remember less is better than more! For spinning reels I would not do anything other than keep them clean unless there's a problem.

Obviously it depends on how much you use your reels and what kind of situation you are fishing in. From what you described it sounds like you should clean and lube your reel once a year. I agree with the comments below. Cleaning is just as important as lubing. Getting the dirt and old lubrication out will help keep the reel running smoothly and prolong it's life. Continually adding lube without removing the old stuff can cause two problems. First, excess lube can work it's way into the drag washers causing them to slip. Second, to much grease can actually act like a glue and slow the reel down. How many of you have used a dab of grease on the end of a screwdriver to hold a screw on to get it into a tough place? When re-lubing your reel I recommend using synthetic lubes. Outdoor weather temperature will not affect synthetic lubrication. I advise cleaning the reel as soon as the season ends rather than putting it off for later. It is easier to get the crud off before it gets hardened on. It also gets any water build up that happens over the season out of the reel, especially the bearings. This reduces the possibility of corrosion forming. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or send me an email.

Regardless of how often you use them keep them maintained. You wouldn't use your boat twice a year for five years and not change your lower unit oil or gas would you? I usually go through mine once a month but they get used a ton. The previous comment about over oiling them is dead on. That can actually be detrimental to them. I carry an old toothbrush in my boat just to clean gunk out. Grime finds places in those things that you can't get out with a Qtip or piece of cloth. I hit them with the brush after every time out but only the outsides of them. the inside stuff gets attention once a month. I'll also keep enough spare parts (pawls, clutch arms, drag washers, gears, etc.) in my boat so I can do a quick rebuild on the water if I have to. Can never be over prepared. I'm not as familiar with pfluegers as I am with the abu's I run but the schematics are out there. Some shimanos have tons of springs in them and not friendly to pull apart on the water or when you have a sneezing fit. Just take your time at it....anyone with a little bit of mechanical know how can take a reel apart and put it back together.

Spud- I doesn't appear that you are using your gear a lot, bu oil/grease should be done at least annually- for me, it was always the weekend after the super bowl to strip all my line and take my reels apart for maintenance. Depending on your fishing environment, sometimes a couple of times a year might be required- if the water you usually fish has a lot of algae or gunk, or there is a lot of dust or sand blowing, stripping and cleaning every couple of months is a good idea- And most important, just adding more oil or grease can be bad practice- the contact parts (spool axle, meshing gears, spring releases) should be cleaned of old lube before new lube is added. Lint free cloth or a q-tip soaked with alcohol, or WD-40 should do the trick, then a light oiling and a very small dab of grease. If you don't still have the exploded parts diagram or owners manual that shows the recommended lube points, you should be able to get the diagrams online. Last year, I tried using Blakemores' Line and Reel magic and the KVD/Bass Pro barand of squirt-on daily lube, and while it did provide noticeable improvement in the reel performance, I did find that when I stripped those reels for cleaning, there was a lot of dirt and grit coating the interior surfaces, so I guess the spray lube was acting as a magnet for the finer dust/dirt. If you get adventurous, stripping the reel all the way down to individual parts and reassembling isn't all that difficult, but it helps to have small dentist-type of tools and you will really need the parts diagrams. But for generic lube job, taking off the handle-side sideplate and popping out the spool is about all that is necessary.