Proper care of your fishing pole is required to ensure it lasts long and does not start costing you money far too soon. This post will discuss how you can keep your rod in top condition with three simple steps. One way to do this is to clean your rod after every fishing trip, store it properly, and check for any damage or wear.
Ideally, you should also do regular maintenance, like changing out those worn guides or reapplying rod wax. By sparing a few minutes to clean and care for your fishing rod, you can reel in scores of successful trips. With these detailed steps, read on to understand how you can maintain your rod in viable condition.
Handle Your Pole Gently
Even though angling puts a lot of force on rods, they are still fragile. Small bumps and hits can leave scratches and nicks in the rod, making it weaker and more likely to break. Therefore, please avoid hitting your rod on anything while holding it and use rod sleeves. Additionally, ensure it’s lying flat while travelling so it doesn’t get damaged by the bumpy road as you are on the go.
Schedule Annual Service
You should do everything possible to keep your rod and all the parts of a fishing pole in great shape. While the pole is the most important piece of gear, other parts also have their functional value. It will keep working well as long as you give it a full service once a year after the fishing season is over. Moreover, to keep it in top shape, take it apart and clean every part separately.
Wax Your Ferrules
If you rub your rod’s ferrules (joints) with paraffin or candle wax regularly, this eliminates friction and wear, as well as that feared issue where two sections will not pull apart.
How to Clean Your Fishing Rod
One way around this is to make sure you clean out your fishing rod and reel so that they last a lot longer in the long run. However, if you take a little time to maintain them properly, they should last a very long time and save you an absolute packet. Here’s how to clean your rods and reels the right way:
- Clean up After Every Trip
For anglers fishing in freshwater, you can take easy care of your rod by cleaning it every four or five trips. However, saltwater is very toxic, so rinse your pole and reel off before putting them away. In addition to that, it is ideal to take off the line and reel and store them separately from the pole once your cleaning is complete.
- Clean Your Guides Every Time
Your guides will get a lot of buildup from plants and minerals, no matter what settings you are fishing in. This can easily cause your line to break. Therefore, clean the insides and outsides of guides using a small Q-tip or soft cleaning brush. It can help you get most of it clean without much trouble.
- Use Proper Tools
Do not use rough things on your fishing pole. To clean something well, all you need is warm water, vinegar, or a light detergent. However, be careful never to use a metal brush. When you go fishing, keep a small cleaning kit handy to get rid of the buildup instantly.
- Dry Completely
Remember that water can damage your rod and reel in many ways, so make sure they are completely dry after cleaning them.
How to Store Your Fishing Rod
If you want your fishing rods to last as long as possible, you must take care of them even when you’re not using them. That means storing them with proper measures is the best way possible. Here are some of the ways to store fishing rods:
- Place Rods Vertically in Storage
Whether you use a rack made just for your rods or hangers on the wall, making sure they are straight can keep the pole from breaking. Further, ensure the tips aren’t weighed down and bend the blank if you have to store them horizontally. If they are, the rod will become forever curved over time.
- Use Quality Covers
Not only can you store rods in rod sleeves, but they also keep them safe while you move and keep them from getting tangled up. Be sure to get the right size because putting too much stress on the rods could bend them, additionally causing wear and tear on the parts of a fishing pole.
- Keep it Somewhere Dry
Your fishing rod is like any other thing that can break when wet. The reel, reel seat, and guide rings may rust if they are left in a damp or humid place for a long time. Putting your rods away off the ground is one way to keep them dry. You could also buy a dehumidifier or keep silica gel bags in the sleeves of your rods.
- Let Go of the Drag
There are a lot of small moving parts in fishing reels, from baitcasting reels to trolling reels, and tight drags can damage them over time. Also, letting go of the drag stops lines and blanks from snapping and being bent.
The Takeaway
Once you get into a routine, you will find that your fishing pole maintenance isn’t a big job. Thoroughly cleaning your rods and reels, finding a suitable place to store your equipment, and making small adjustments to the way you transport your rods will become a habit. If you forget anything, please go through the above steps to understand it easily.