How to Clean Your Shimano Fishing Reel

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How to Clean Your Shimano Fishing Reel

Cleaning your reel is important I'm afraid, if you want it to last, and to continue to perform. And nothing is worse than hooking that big one, only to have problems with your rod or reel. Not to mention it'll last a lot longer if you clean it once in a while!

Let's start with frequency. You'll need to clean your reel only once or twice a year (twice is better if you fish in salt water). It's not a difficult process when you know what you're doing. Let's start with the needed tools:

* one clean towel

* a small screw driver (usually Phillips head)

* a bottle of reel grease--not WD-40 (WD-40 leaves a residue that attracts dirt. Use a good quality reel grease)

* some Q-tips

* a few paper towels

Firstly, remove your reel from the fishing rod. Use some paper towels to completely wipe it down.

Next you'll need to remove the handle of your reel. It is generally removed one of two possible ways. There will either be some sort of screw in the handle, or you simply hold the reel in one hand and turn the handle backwards with your other hand. Set the handle down on a clean towel.

Now make sure that the reel is lying in such a way that the screws that hold it together are exposed. Then remove these screws (usually there are between three and five) and place them next to the handle. This should expose a small plate which can now be removed. Remove that plate and put it next to your screws.

You are now looking inside the reel. First, with a Q-tip, clean visible debris and dirt that may be in the reel. Then put a couple drops of that good reel grease on each visible moving gear.

One caution here: a lot of grease is not necessarily a good thing. You can clog things with too much grease--a few drops is usually all that's needed.

Now we reassemble the reel by reversing the process above. Screw the plate back into place. Then, before you put your handle back in place, put a few drops of grease on it as well. Now reattach the handle.