Having listenend to a few people recently, it struck me that we all could do with some winter maintenance
So some wee tips to help with this , as prevention is better than cure
After a days fishing if you remove your rod from the bag/tube when you get home and allow the cork to dry fully, before storing till the next trip, you can prolong the life of the handle by many years.
Unfortunatley the best cork in the world will rot if left in a damp bag.
Cleaning a flyline regularly with warm water and then treating it with a designated product such as Line slick can help a line to last many times longer, it also improves its floatability and castability
( Washing up liquid isn't that good for flyline coatings and neither are silicon based cleaning products, best to use warm water and a line cleaning/slicking agent)
Regularly lubricating the mechanisms inside a fly reel will also prolong its life and make it work better, nothing worse than a reel seizing just as a good fish wants some line
. If you have cork based or sealed drags then just rinse them to remove any grime/sand etc that can cause problems.
Flies, i own flyboxes that have seals to make them waterproof, great for when you drop them in the river
. however after a days fishing you have to open the box up to let the flies dry out, as they seal in the moisture from damp flies as well as they keep the river out
This will stop hooks from corroding and materials from rotting, which they do
Winter is a good time to sort out the leaks on waders too. Once i get past patch repairs i get a bit lost here so hopefully some of you have some good tips for this
.
Anyone got any others
Sandy