Just curious what how everyone takes care of there gear. I am pretty religious about rinsing my rods and reels after every outing. My waders and boots usually just end up in the back of my truck. My plug bag is lucky to see fresh water once a month.....

I fish in the rain.

8 out of 10 trips I do the following...

I hose down the reel, take the line off the roller and spin the handle a bunch of times, I also spin the knob. Sometimes I'll give my rod a hand job...stroking in-between the guides to remove any crusty objects. I only check my guides if I had any type of "rod drop" during the night or a mystery line snap anywhere between the guides.

Waders get rinsed off and hung to drip dry...wetsuit gets hosed down inside and out and then allowed to drip dry...first inside out, then outside out. End of season for wetsuit will find it's way into deep sink with soapy water and dive weights holding it down on the bottom...every so often I'll squeeze it while under water to force the stinkies out and soapy/smelly back in...I repeat this for several hours....I don't sit over it, but occasionally revisit the garage for squeezing. Every spring, my wetsuit smells niiiiiiice...:D

Plug bag gets opened up, and with plugs still in tubes, I spray it all down.

Boots get soaked...inside, outside AND heavily near the lace area.

Occasionally, after a LATE night with work coming quick, nothing gets washed. I don't live in a perfect world. :jump1:

i actualy carry fresh water with me to pre rinse before i get home
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You were 50 yards south of me, so I know you got rained on too... You're good for another week.:grins: My hooks are what take a beating the most. aders, drytop, rod and reel are getting wet once/twice a day, so the salt doesn't have a chance to dry....

My gear is disgusting. Wetsuit smells like I died in it. Surf top smells of fish and eels. havent rinsed my VS off in a month or so. Hooks are begininng to rust. Im not good at being organized and clean.

Usually take the 2-3 minutes when I get home each night and spray everything down with the garden hose. My saltigas spend considerable time under water, but have held up perfectly since 2004 with just a little TLC at the end of each night. Its a small effort to protect a considerable investment.

Plugs get a freshwater rinse in the kitchen sink, then hung on the window muntins 'til they are dry. Reel gets warm water spray and put in the dishrack. I have had plugs go for two seasons with no hook rust

Hang waders in the basement, throw boots on the table out back. Rod gets rinsed once every 5th or 6th time out.

Everything get's wash down, rod/reels, lures, waders. One thing I do once or twice a year is using a car wax, give my rods a wax job, cleans then up nicely and protects them and make cleanup easier.

Never, unless it rains

My gear is disgusting. Wetsuit smells like I died in it. Surf top smells of fish and eels. havent rinsed my VS off in a month or so. Hooks are begininng to rust. Im not good at being organized and clean.


Sounds like my gear,,, although I religiously check the braid and do routine maint. on my stuff,,, wetsuit stinks like crazy from walking miles and sweating like a pig,,,,

I usally hose of my rod and reel in the backyard, or if it's really late and I'm too tired I just rinse it in the shower. Most of the time, I rinse my plugs, but not this morning. Maybe I'll remember tonight, but I doubt it. Waders and boots get rinsed if they really need it, but not often.

I don't rinse reels unless they are waterproof, it does more harm than good.
A dehumidified basement is crucial to keep things working.

I rinse my lures occasionally - not every trip. When I use my waders, I try to always bring them in the house and hang them up so they don't get any creases that could cause leaks.

I don't rinse reels unless they are waterproof, it does more harm than good.
A dehumidified basement is crucial to keep things working.

Especially with conventionals. All hosing them down does is wash crystalized salt into the gears and drag. It gets in there anyway, from the spray that gets thrown on the cast, especially with braid. Spraying is a poor subsitute for regular tear downs and cleaning, with conventionals. None of them--not even a Squidder--are that hard to take apart and clean, and even a ten thumbed lawyer can break down a Newell, clean it, re-lube, and get it back together inside of a half hour. Abus aren't much more complex, either.

I have 40 year old Penn Spinfisher spinning reels that have no corrosion. I have a green 704 that has more bare metal than paint on it, and there's still no corrosion. And I don't think that any of the sealed spinning reels will corrode on anyone if they're not rinsed. My Van Staals were never rinsed, and they've now sat unused in the basement for almost 5 years. They don't have a speck of corrosion on them, even where they've been scratched.

Waiting for Clammer to weigh in on this one:rotf2:..... he's still on his T&A tour down south.

neglect = regret...

Smelly gross waders and wetsuits-- YUCK!

You are asking for a nasty infection.

Turn them inside out and soap them every now and then, or just rinse with fresh when you can.

Even just a few hours hanging in the sun will help as the uv will kill some of the microbes making the stench.
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Since this post is giving attention to gear maintenance, do any of you regularly clean drag assemblies? I find with frequent use and rinsing, the drag on my Shimano Stratic (when I happen to hook a fish) tends to stick, drawing line sporadically. Solution? I clean the washer assembly periodically. Is a light coating of lube recommended?

Sometimes when I get into my wetsuit I dry heave.

Ihave an outdoor shower w/ hot water spiket, if I'm in the wetsuit I rinse that inside and out, but mostly thats to get the saltwater off as freshwater dries faster and I HATE climbing into it when its wet.

I fill a bucket with hot water and dump the plug bag into then hang them to dry. takes about a minute and stops the vmc hooks from rusting.

My waders never get washed. Between the leaks, the fish smell, eel slime and pogy oil they smell really good. They are LL Bean breathables, and I always chuckle at the thought of the unsuspecting person who opens that box when I mail them back for replacement at the end of the year :grins:

I fish in the rain.

Timmeh and I were talking about this last night.. I was bustin his stones about leaving his gear outside.. His reply... " so what.. I don't have wash them off after I use'em" :rotf2:


My wetsuit and waders smell like death... but they only seem to bother other people. The smell of the waders has been described as an entity :yak5:

Only thing I ever clean is my conventional. She gets dunked a lot.. So when she starts sounding like a flock of seagulls I know it's time :grins:

I believe it's all covered in mojo..and shouldn't be washed off!!

btw leaving your wetsuit outside in the sun is worse for it than the smell for your nose

...i give things the quick rinse...but clearly not enough to prevent my hooks from rust...

Someone looked at the hooks on one plug of mine and said that they were chemically sharpened BY RUST

Someone looked at the hooks on one plug of mine and said that they were chemically sharpened BY RUST

I pulled a Habs out of my plug bag and the tail hook literally disintegrated into a cloud of dust......

Don't use or carry plugs and its one less thing to deal with.
My wetsuit carries me out to my rocks.....

My wetsuit carries me out to my rocks.....

your suit has muscle memory :uhuh:
that's a good thing

My wetsuit carries me out to my rocks.....
Another reason not to wash your wetsuit, the stronger:yak5: the better:)

if i have time I rinse my waders
if my reel gets wet i rinse it
sometimes I rinse plugs to stop the expensive vmc's from rusting too fast.

I never rinse my hip boots, the rain once in a while does that.

stuff costs too much to not try and make it last

If I have time, I will rinse my stuff. When fishing nights, returning early in the mornings ... I will typically try to rinse my stuff the following mornings ... after I sleep if I have time and get the time to sleep.

I have set up a system to hang my stuff with plenty of space between each item to rinse my gear - plugs, waders, boots, cleats, rods, reels so they have room ... it's ritualistic for me ... when I get in at night and don't have much time, I take my reels ... fill up the sink and dunk them for a while then let them drip dry ... I will then spray my reels with the Penn cleaner, usually that's the following day. I also will spray with the Penn cleaner pretty much most hardware such as my pliers, guides, and the metals pieces on my waders and boots to try and prevent corrosion and extend the life of my gear.

When I rinse my reels, I am careful not to send sand or salt into nooks and crannies ... I am careful with the water so it gingerly soaks my gear, not spray it ... but there are lots of times when my gear sits in the back of my car and stinks it up ...

I cannot afford to not take care of my gear ... I work too hard not too. And for the price of gear these days, even plugs and hooks, yes, they get rinsed ... I am still using the same reels that I purchased 30-35 years ago ... and they work as good today as they did when they were purchased ...

Today after work, I washed my AquaSkinz and then sprayed it with the waterproofing spray in an attempt to bring my top back to waterproof status with stuff recommended by Askinz ... then dried it in the drier per the directions. Hopefully it will keep me dry again in the rain. Still stained, but hopefully will stay dry for a while.

One of the reasons for my laborious efforts to keep my stuff in good shape is that when I was in high school, I had come back from fishing a warm October day with my boot foot waders ... barefoot inside, my feet looked like they'd been decaying for centuries, and the smell was revolting ... so now I try to keep my feet dry and clean, smelling nice so I can get into the house or public places, and my waders won't be burned by which ever female may be active in my life at the time be it my mother, girlfriend or former X ...

If I have time after my trips which I usually don't because its late and I'm exhausted. I'll rinse everything down on my lunch break.

My wetsuit smells terrible after a couple weeks so I'll use the wetsuit shampoo on it once a month or so. Same goes for my top, gloves and socks. The socks get it more then the rest. And they well drip dry in the shade/sun for the day.

I'll rinse down my rod and give my reel a good rinsing.

I'll take out all of my plugs hang them up rinse those all down and let them dry in the sun. Then take out the tubes rinse those out as well so there's no seaweed or leftover salt left in the tubes and let dry in the sun. then spray the crap out of the bag and bucktails and let that drip dry as well.