Put The Hose Down

Proper Care of Lever Drag Jigging Reels

(Originally published November/December 2016)

By Jerry Gomber

Reels have changed dramatically over the past couple of decades.

Twenty years ago, they were comparatively simple, with fewer moving parts. Now, they have gotten much more precise and powerful, with high-tech drags and gear sets, exotic ball bearings and light yet super-strong materials.

So when it comes to taking care of these intricate and expensive lever-drag jigging reels, there’s a right way and a very wrong way to do it.  I’ll probably be deluged with, “I’ve been doing that to my reels for 20 years!” but that doesn’t make it right:

No matter where you might have read it or from whom you heard it,  flushing your tackle with water after use is not the way to care for your gear.

Before there is a cry of “stainless steel is the answer,” know that stainless steel is only “stainless” if it is kept clean.  Leave even the best SS316 in a salt environment of wet-dry-wet-dry and it will eventually show red and black oxidation.  That same example, properly cleaned, will look factory fresh for years.             

Some of the premiere reels of 20 years ago were still made of plastic parts and chromed brass structural components.  “Tolerances” were little more than a matter of clearances for the flex of the reel parts under heavy loading from big fish.  Lines were heavy and stiff monofilaments that allowed a lot of stretch in use.  That meant spools had to be made really strong to stand up to the stretched lines being wound back onto the reel.  Those spools were heavy and, by today’s standards, overbuilt, to prevent them from blowing up inside the reel frame as the monofilament