Winter storage for reels

krayfish

krayfish

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May 26, 2011
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If you are putting up your gear for the winter and your reel has a disc drag, don't forget to back off the drag before putting it away. Public service announcement.
 
Why what happens ?
 
The conventional wisdom is that leaving the drag tightened will cause it to lose effectiveness over time (presumably due to compression of the friction surfaces?). On the fly reels that I use a lot I pretty much leave the drags "on" all year. However, for the reels that may see months or more without any use, I like to wind the drag back off. I do this for conventional reels too. I'm not sure how critical this really is, however, I did find some years ago that a good quality fly reel that had sat for over a year with its drag in a tightened position did not perform well and I was never able to get the drag back to normal performance.
 
I had a Teton Tioga where I left the drag "tight" while stored. It was a 3 weight that sat for 18 months between use. When I used it, the drag was all but seized up. My buddy Josh had the same happen to him. Able to take mine apart and get it working again. Josh wasn't as lucky. His reel turns but it's like the drag is on full power 24/7. Since then, I abide by the rule on loosening the drag (urban legend or not).

30 seconds to loosen the drag versus 4 weeks / shipping / repair fee if you have to send it back to manufacturer. That's how I see it and my gear is in "storage" 95% of the year and haven't had any issues since doing it.
 
krayfish wrote:
I had a Teton Tioga where I left the drag "tight" while stored. It was a 3 weight that sat for 18 months between use. When I used it, the drag was all but seized up. My buddy Josh had the same happen to him. Able to take mine apart and get it working again. Josh wasn't as lucky. His reel turns but it's like the drag is on full power 24/7. Since then, I abide by the rule on loosening the drag (urban legend or not).

30 seconds to loosen the drag versus 4 weeks / shipping / repair fee if you have to send it back to manufacturer. That's how I see it and my gear is in "storage" 95% of the year and haven't had any issues since doing it.

I'm good I don't own anything lower than a 5 weight reel
 
Dear Fredrick,

The principles remain regardless of the size of the reel, or as Fishidot said, the type of reel. Why would you want to store a drag that depends on friction under full, or even partial, compression?

Play it safe. Back off the drag before you put the reel up for the year and it will work come Spring.

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
Every reel I have (about 20) are stored with the drag "zeroed" out. Just a habit ecspecially with the years of salt water fishing.
 
That's funny this came up, I was just at my local sporting goods store n was looking at an okuma svt 9/10wt and the drag was stuck on that... The reel worked other than the drag adjustment knob was totally stuck.
 
Okuma is junk. nuff said
 
Im not so sure about that. I fish their conventional gear and like it just fine. I also have a helios reel for one of my FF outfits. Also never had a problem with it. I think that slv is supposed to be pretty good for the money.

Does it matter if you have the drag set very low to begin with? I only ever adjust my drag off of "minimal" before I know I might be into a big fish(carp, steelhead). I have my reels set to the point where me stripping line off doesnt cause the line to overspool. Other than that, I dont use the drag system to play fish.
 
I'm glad I don't store my gear for the winter.
 
^^^

+1

I'd rather be fishing than sitting around the house thinking about it. :)
 
krayfish wrote:
I had a Teton Tioga where I left the drag "tight" while stored. It was a 3 weight that sat for 18 months between use. When I used it, the drag was all but seized up. My buddy Josh had the same happen to him. Able to take mine apart and get it working again. Josh wasn't as lucky. His reel turns but it's like the drag is on full power 24/7. Since then, I abide by the rule on loosening the drag (urban legend or not).

30 seconds to loosen the drag versus 4 weeks / shipping / repair fee if you have to send it back to manufacturer. That's how I see it and my gear is in "storage" 95% of the year and haven't had any issues since doing it.

While I completely agree with your advice, who uses a drag on a 3wt anyway? :) Haven't met a brookie I couldn't palm..
 
Haven't fished for brookies in 25+ years so I can't comment. The 3wt would be used at BS where the fish could be large or on the Tully where it's usually light tippets and an occasional big fish. I got it years ago for 1/2 price and thought the number on the reel was the same as the line # it held. I expected to get a 4 or 5 line on it but it's overflowing with 30 yds of backing and et 3 line. It's lucky to see daylight twice a year. Got a regular spool and mid arbor spool. Want to buy it?
 
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