Top Tips for Looking After Your Tackle
It's time to talk about your tackle. No, not THAT tackle, your fishing gear!
Chances are, at some point you've gone out and got yourself a ridgey-didge tackle box with more trimmings than Grandma's Christmas Turkey. That's great, but you want to look after your gear right?
We've compiled 5 hot tips on how to keep your fishing gear in top shape and to keep the biters on the hook.
Read on to find out more..
- Throw away your hooks.
These days, hooks are factory sharpened and chemically treated. If you've been sharpening your old hooks to get more life out of them, unfortunately, they're just never going to be as sharp as the day you broke them out of that crispy packet.
Also, once you file off that chemical coating, you'll start getting rust spots on them. And with a 25 pack of Mustad Big Gun Box Hooks under $10 you can't go wrong. So don't cheap out. Don't be that guy.
2.Look after your rods
If you're running monofilament line, you should respool it every year. Whenever you go out, your line is sitting in the sun getting damaged by UV rays. It also starts to coil up after sitting on the spool for a while. After one season the line can develop weak spots and the breaking strain is lower.
Braided line lasts longer and isn't as susceptible to the sun and old father time. You can get away with up to three years of use on a good braided line, but be smart and change it out before you lose the big one.
Here's a bonus tip: After a day out on the boat, let your line play out behind it with nothing attached. This will get rid of the dreaded curlies in your line. Make sure the boat isn't going too fast, and make sure you do it once or twice a month.
- Take clamped reels off the rod
If your rods have been sitting around for a month or more, you should remove the reels. Clamped reels have a knack for getting salt, sand and other nasties trapped against the reel seat. If your rods sit for too long, you'll get corrosion on them as sure as there's poop in a cat. C'mon mate, get reel, look after your rods.
- Keep some pantyhose handy
If your missus left some pantyhose lying around, or perhaps you already have some of your own? (we don't judge), you can use pantyhose to find nicks and cracks in your fishing rods guide linings. Your guide linings need to be smoother than jelly on glass. If there are nicks or burrs in the guides, they'll chew up your line in no time flat.
So grab yer pantyhose, pull them through the guides, and if they snag or rip, you've just found yourself a burr and the guide needs to be replaced.
- Grab some silica gel or damp rid
Tackle boxes seem to be a magnet for moisture, or maybe its cause we keep throwing wet stuff in there? It's a mystery for sure. But one easy way to combat the damp is to put some of those silica gel bags or desiccant in there. Those suckers will, er, suck the moisture up and keep your gear drier, which will of course, make it last much longer.
