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Lockdown Gear Maintenance

By Sean Bekkers

As I'm sure you're all aware, there have been a lot of snap and longer term lockdowns of late. That, mixed with some less desirable weather, has led to some of my fishing sessions being cancelled or delayed considerably. I haven't been impacted as much as some, however when I have been forced into lockdown I've tried to make the most of it by taking the opportunity to drag all my gear out, spread it all over the kitchen table and check it over. Once the green light is given, I'm going to be on the water with not a doubt in my mind that my gear is ready to go. In this article I'll take you through some of my gear and what I look for when checking it over.

Rods

Let's start off with checking over the rods. If you decide to pull all of your gear out, like I did, then you may need to set aside the entire day or maybe two to give everything a good look over. After every session all of my gear gets a wash with fresh water, so I shouldn't see any build-up of salt residue. What I'm really looking for is corrosion and any damage that is going to ruin my next fishing trip. Starting at the butt of the rod I'll inspect the grips and reel seat, checking for any cracks and damage, whilst also ensuring that the grips are locked solid onto the blank securely. You can do this by holding the blank and gently twisting the grip. If there is any movement then you will feel it straight away. Personally, I can't stand any movement in between the butt section and the blank itself and if I end up fishing with a rod like this, it drives me crazy.

Moving on I'll check over the rod blank itself, once again checking for damage. Although these rods can take a far bit of punishment, it's still good to ensure that there is no latent damage, like a small crack or larger chunks in the gel coats and fibres. Whilst checking the blank, I'll also have good look at the guides and here I'm really looking for a cracked guide runner or the guide insert itself. I will also ensure that the guides are straight and haven't been knocked out of alignment. There's nothing worse than getting on the water and then finding out that your guides are damaged. One tip I have seen is to run a piece of stocking through each guide to see if it catches on any cracks or guide damage, that in turn could see line damaged and fish lost.

Reels

When it comes to the reels themselves, I would prefer to send them in for a service rather than tear them down myself and with that in mind I really just check the following. Make sure that the drag system is nice and smooth and applies an even increase of tension as the drag is increased. I'll give the reel a slow wind through, making sure that it operates smoothly, without any rough spots or binding. I'll also remove the spool and check for obvious signs of corrosion or any other damage that will cause mischief on my next trip. Before re-installing the spool, I'll check there is grease/oil and that there is enough of it.

For the overhead reels, apart from a good visual inspection to make sure that there's no corrosion and damage, I'll check that the reel is operating as intended and then there isn't much more that I'll look for to be honest. If I happen to find anything like binding or a rough running reel, then I'll send them it off and get a service done ASAP. Remember when cleaning reels it's important not to blast them with pressurised water as this can drive salt and water inside the reel. A mist of water is the preferred option, followed by a wipe down of the reel, oiling of the moving parts and then wiping off any excess.

As for the braid and leader loaded onto each reel, I'm always keen to have a good look over it. If the leader hasn't been changed for a while then I'll pull a casting distance worth of braid off the spool and check it over for any nicks and broken strands. Any damaged line can then be trimmed off and disposed of appropriately. Once satisfied I'll wind the line back onto the spool and attach a new leader, ready for my next session.

ZMan Soft Plastics

As you have probably heard ZMan soft plastics don't play well when stored with other brands of plastics. In fact, to avoid a pile of mush in your tackle box, I would avoid mixing any other plastics with them... you only need ZMan ;). I myself have a terrible habit of collecting plastics and just leaving them laying around the boat, kayak and shed. This is usually because they are my favourites at the time and I don't have enough space left in my tackle boxes to store them.

Bearing in mind that ZMan plastics are arguably the most durable plastics out there, you're likely going to have them for quite a while, so these are the best ways that I've found to keep my plastics in top condition. Once you've finished fishing, give the plastics and jigheads a rinse in fresh water. Allow them to dry and then remove the plastic from the jighead and return it to the packet that it came from. You'll notice that most of the ZMan plastics sit within a specially designed moulded insert in the packet and this ensures that the plastics retain their shape for a long period of time. This helps to keep your favourite plastics going for ages.

It's also a good idea to keep plastics of the same colour together in a packet as well, as different colours can bleed across into each other. This can be cool if you're trying to create your very own colour. The other option is store your ZMan favourites in a Moncross ZMan OK tackle tray. I say ZMan OK because over time the ZMan and many other soft plastics brands will react with some tackle trays. Basically, I try to only store my plastics in tackle trays for a short period of time while on the water or over a couple of sessions.

TT Lures Jigheads

Now, onto the jigheads and in particular the pointy end. It's always a good idea to check the jighead and make sure that the point is still sharp, especially if you haven't used it in a while. An easy way to do this is to lightly drag the hook point across your thumbnail and see if it leaves a faint line. If so, the point is still sharp. Obviously the intent here is to see how sharp the hook point is, not hook yourself, so the lighter the better.

Another area to check is where the hook enters and exits the soft plastic. If the plastic and jighead has been rigged for some time, there can be a build-up of salt/water and in turn corrosion/rust at these points that can lead to a catastrophic hook failure when locked onto a fish. If you have a hook break where it exits the soft plastic, this is most likely the cause. I've been there and a world of disappointment followed.

I'll bin the lighter gauge jigheads if there is any signs of rust, however with the heavier gauge hooks I'll keep running them with some signs of corrosion, basically because there is more metal and overall strength there. Out of all of my ZMan plastics I find that the Scented Jerks ShadZ are the worst offender for rust occurring in these areas, so if you're running these make sure you remove the plastic from jighead when you're done fishing.

In fact, with all of my plastics, the way that I get around this issue is to remove the plastic from the jighead and give them both a good rinse with fresh water after each use. I then let them dry out completely, before returning the plastics to their original packets and the jigheads to the tackle box. Speaking of tackle boxes and jigheads, once I have used a jighead it never goes back into the same box as all of my brand new jigheads, rather it is stored in a used jigheads tray for the next trip out. There's nothing worse than realising that you've put a contaminated jighead back and the rest of your jigheads are now rusting.

Overall, being in lockdown and waiting for some decent weather is nothing short of frustrating, however if you're forced to stay at home you may as well get the most out of it and get ready for your next trip. As I'm sure you are aware, when it comes to fishing there is plenty of maintenance that can be done. Don't forget to give your favourite metals and hard bodies a look over as well, sorting, cleaning them up and replacing any trebles that require it.

For those of you that are out and about, I hope you're finding a few fish and for those that are not, sending well wishes and I hope that you're ready for them on your next bash.

Screaming Dragz
Sean