As the season winds down and many of us take up a shotgun instead of a fishing pole, everyone makes plans for winterizing and storing their boats. But in the rush to beat the first frost, most people forget to winterize the rest of their tackle, particularly rods and reels. True, not properly winterizing the engine can lead to most dire consequences, like freezing and cracking the block. But, not winterizing your rods, reels, and other equipment can lead to poor performance, shortened life, breakdowns, unnecessary repairs, and most significantly, lost fish!

The good news is, ensuring your reels will be in top condition and ready for that first screamer of the season couldn’t be easier. First, using mild soap and water, clean off all the grime and slime that accumulated from a season of catching fish -- sticky buildup can quickly gum up gears; dirt and sand will destroy gears and drags. Next, grease all the gears and oil the bearings and other moving parts. There are many good commercial types of grease specifically designed for reels, like Penn Muscle Grease or Hot Sausage, but any quality 70- to 90-weight synthetic gear grease will do just fine. Also, make certain to use good quality reel oil (preferably 10 weight machine oil) so your reels will operate smoothly for the entire season. Oh yes, WD40 is one of the worst things you could possibly use on reels; it acts like a dirt magnet and promotes rust in the long run. Remember, quality grease and oil.

This is also a good time to replace worn drags and clickers, especially if you leave yours “on” all the time like I do. Finally, and this is the step most people forget, be certain to back the drag ALL the way down so drag washers aren’t compressed during storage. Keeping too much pressure on those drag washers over a long period of time will inevitable ruin the entire mechanism. If you aren’t mechanically inclined or fear causing more harm then good—then this is also the ideal time to drop reels off at the local tackle or repair shop.

Remove all monofilament line from your reels; it won’t be any good next spring anyway. If you are running braided or fused line, most likely you can get two or three seasons out of it, but now is a good time to check it for wear and remove if necessary. If you have new monofilament line you’d like to keep for next season, place it in a zip lock bag and store in a cool, dry, dark place—monofilament deteriorates over time, especially if exposed to heat and light.

Rods and reels should be stored in a cool, dry place. Pay particular attention to the cool part and avoid placing rods and reels in the furnace room because the heat will cause the lubrication in the reels to melt and puddle up or leak out, thus defeating all of your hard work to winterize them. Pull two-piece rods apart, wipe the male and female connection points clean (doing this once a year will ensure that your rods will never be “stuck” together as a one piece) and store them, still broken into two pieces, lying flat. The rafters of the garage are a perfect place, but just make certain you don’t have any critters. Mice are particularly drawn to cork handled rods because of the oily sweat residue your hands leave behind, just like deer to a salt lick. For securing both parts of the pole together, don’t use rubber bands because they will become brittle and stick to the poles, a pain to remove come spring and they leave an unsightly ring. And finally, never stand poles up leaning against a wall of anything else because eventually they will warp, just like a board, and you will never get them straight again.

This is also a good time to go through your tackle box. Sharpen or replace dull hooks, pull out spoons for re-taping or painting, and start making a list of stock items like swivels, leaders, split rings, etc. so you can pick them up at sales or shows over the winter. For grimy spoons that haven’t seen a shine in some time, an old toothbrush and some toothpaste—seriously—will restore their luster. On spoons where the tape is too chewed up for repair, a bit of Goo Gone will strip them clean and ready for re-taping. One note on re-taping spoons, make certain you wash your hands before working with the tape because the oil on your hands will breakdown the adhesive making it much less “sticky” and more likely that your tape job will fall off.

All of this takes hardly any time and can save tons of frustration come spring. Cuz when the temperatures finally start to warm up and the fish start biting, who wants to be oiling reels and winding line? Not me, I’d rather be fishing.