Dear All,
Thought about opening a post re maintenance on spinning equipment items. The basic info I found and would like to share is the following:
Rod: After use, clean it up with fresh water and spray car dashboard cleaner over it and wipe in order to protect both guides and rod. Another tip with respect to cleaning the cork handle is to use bicarbonate of soda – the original colour is regained and it also protects the rod. Best not to use cleaning products like the kitchen cleaning products as these might cause damage.
Reel: Clean after use with fresh water and wipe with a dry cloth. When not in use best to leave the drag fully opened. If the line is a braid, one can spray silicone spray which protects and also reduces the possibility of bird-nests upon next use.
Lures: Best to douse in fresh water and dry well after use. Changing of treble hooks once these get rusted
The above is quite basic and might be obvious to many of the experts here one the forum. However I would like to add some questions with respect to other maintenance issues which I am not sure how to go on about.
Lure Hooks: Sizes – when hook sizes vary, will the negatively impact upon the swimming action of the lures? And when one cannot find the right size, what the best solution? With respect to the feathers, how what can be utilised as replacement?
Rods: Changing guides – what is required and how can the process be conducted? This is especially important in case wrapping of the guides is required.
Reels: How should one go about greasing reels and what is ideal grease to utilise?
Regards,
jean ;D
Lures - From my experience with various types of lures, each and every lure has its own unique characteristics in terms of action. The same lure will behave differently under different types of scenarios, including leader size and length, sea conditions, speed, presentation (angle) of lure position in the sea, and hook size. My suggestion would be to find a jetty and simulate the action under various conditions. I used to do that when trying out new lures.
Rod guides - This is a job best left to professionals the likes of (clutch-kick) and Mark at Fishing Frenzy. It is possible to change damaged guides on rods, but the amount of items needed to complete the job does not justify the repair being taken on by yourself. You need special epoxy and paint, wrapping thread, turning machine (where you position the rod on and turn the rod to apply the wrapping tread), and epoxy lacour finish. You also need to align to dead centre the replacment guide to the other guides on the rod.
Reels - If you have the patience and the knowhow, you can do this job yourself. As stated before, always spray your reels after use with a fine jet of fresh water and wipe clean. Make sure to tighten (close) your drags before spraying water, to prevent the water spray pushing in the salt deposits into the drag system. Before the fishing season starts, or in case you use your reels all year round, every 6 months or so, oil your reel with an approved lubricant by the reel manufacturer. The lubrication points will be pointed out on the manufacturer's instruction leaflet. Also, if you feel up to it, slowly take the reel apart and grease as per manufacturer's instructions, wipe clean with a soft damp cloth, dry and re apply grease and lub oil to all moving parts as per manufacturer's instructions. You'll find most reel instructions and how to narratives on the internet or even youtube, with visuals, voice and video to make the dissasembly and reassemby simple enough. I hope this answers your queries!
Jean.
changing hook sizes on lures is a bit risky. Your best bet is to stick to the original hook size/manufacturer. if you really want to change sizes it will invariably alter the swimming/action of the lure, so you need to experiment.
changing guides must be done very cautiously. If you don't know how to do it, YOU WILL damage the rod. Best thing is to watch a professional do it and maybe do it yourself under his guidance. basically speaking, sewing thread and superglue won't do the job at all.
I realised the guides issue a while ago when doing some internet re-search but asked maybe there might be some other opinions. However as you both advised will not attempt the job myself. Better safe than sorry. ::)
Will have a look on the sites like rapala etc, (according to make of lure) in order to keep the lures balanced. Changing the rings proved a little tricky (between lure and hooks), but hopefully will master the process too.
Quote from: jean on January 11, 2010, 14:32:23 CET
I realised the guides issue a while ago when doing some internet re-search but asked maybe there might be some other opinions. However as you both advised will not attempt the job myself. Better safe than sorry. ::)
Will have a look on the sites like rapala etc, (according to make of lure) in order to keep the lures balanced. Changing the rings proved a little tricky (between lure and hooks), but hopefully will master the process too.
Rapala lures exclusively use VMC hooks which you can purchase in many local tackle shops and in my experience are a good,sturdy treble hook.Also i like Owner who do a wicked treble hook :)
As clutchkick pointed out,if you intend on changing the size (or type) of hooks it
will have an affect on the swimming action of the lure one way or the other (positively & negatively) so you will have to experiment a bit! Tbh the only time i intentionally change the size & type of hooks (barring rust/bent hooks) on certain lures is during lampuki season as they are expert escape artists...especially with treble hooks! Still trying to find the best hook's for them tbh ::) :D
To change the little rings (split rings) can be a bit of a chore if you've never done it before as they are tough/stiff to open, and can also easily be deformed if you exert too much pressure on them in the wrong way.
However you can purchase a special tool (pliers) for this job which makes life alot easier.
Check this link http://www.artbeads.com/howtousespri.html or do a search on google or youtube as their is a video if im not mistaken.
As for changing rod guides you do need to use a special epoxy resin as 'regular' (super) glues probably won't be as strong,may possibly mar the finish of your rod & worst case scenario can actually damage a carbon composite rod,especially super glue as this tends to shrink whilst its curing/drying.
My advice,give it to clutchkick or Mark at fishing frenzy,as per gaffer's reccomendation (ive shopped at fishing frenzy but never done repairs there,but if a meticulous guy like gaffer say's he's good then he
MUST be) they'll do you a good job and then some ;)
Tight Lines 8)
Hey thanks for the advice. ;)
The pliers are really cool. Will try get myself one as my nails are suffering!
Got a new reel and went to try it out yesterday. Tried Mistra but the sea was all cloudy and murky - guess not the best for spinning I think. What's your opinions about spinning in murky type of waters? Anyone ever had any success?
jean
Yesteday night also tried again. No luck at all. Just birds-nests and a lost minnow :( used it only once!
Where have the fish all gone hehe??? :-[ :-[ :-[
if you're getting bird's nests with braided line, it means you have one of the following:
Rod or the reel is too big/small for the combination you have.
The reel is not made for braided line ( but your reel is, so this rules it out).
The line is crap ( but the guy you bought it from would not sell you crap line, so it's out too).
The distance of the first guide after the reel is not good, when compared to the spool face diameter.
or else try spraying silicone spray on the braid...
Well the birds nest are cause of a). mistakes I made when casting; b). need to spool the reel a bit more as the braid is so thin that it requries another 100m. New reel and braid were super, no probs at all. The lost lure got to me :( but anyway, that seems to be the sport.
Re silicone spray, do you use the normal one you get from the hardware store?
Unspool the reel, put normal mono as a backing then use the FJ knot to tie your mono backing to the braid.
yeah Normal silicone spray works.
Definitly the worst thing for inducing a birds nest is having too much or too little line/braid on the reel spool..its a 100% guaranteed birds nest!
Re spool with a mono backing as clutchkick suggested a.s.a.p. and whilst your re-spooling your braid give it a good spraying of silicone lubricant e.g. crank 15-20 turns of braid on your reel and spray,repeat till you fill your spool to the optimum level approx 50mm from the spool lip
Sorted the reel yesterday and actually backed it up with some other braid i had. Also managed to use the appropriate knot in order to join braid to a 50 cm long florocarbon ending (.40). At the end I placed a good strong small swivel (which i dont usually put as i tie via rapala knot directly to the lure).
Equipment was a bomb. The new Ryobi reel and the Berkley Whiplash braid worked perfect. No nests or anything. No back pain too and was using the 3.00m spinning rod.
Went to sliema as i figured with wind from the back and swell coming in the conditions would be right for some action. Well the foam and the big waves were fantastic. Started at around 6.00pm and stayed there till around 7.15. Had to make a move cause of waves and rain. Went to the port area in sliema and contiued from 7.30 till 9.00. Had to give up cause of the inceasing wind.
No strikes at all :( This leads me to question my lure sizes but used different ones. (Rapala x-rap; Halco lure, daiwa lure - totally black, and some others). Also questioning the swivel and my retrieve speeds which i varied quite a lot from slow to fast to jigging actions and left to right movmente. However i keep fingers crossed for next time.
ps lost another lure which was a type of jigging lure i think. :(
Not much to say really except welcome to the world of spinning!! Frequent frustrations with the occasional reward!! ;D
No but seriously re your doubts about lure sizes and retrieval speed(s) i wouldn't worry too much if your spinning in and around port areas as you can more often than not still get a 'cuda in these area's and if they are in the mood they'll snap at pretty much anything!! Obviously all things being equal..Check this link i caught this at imsida 3yrs ago in very similar conditions to yours i.e very high wind (which is why i(we) ended up fishing at imsida) in the early hours (dark)
http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php/topic,1305.msg19300.html#msg19300
Also i think with a strong gusting wind you probably had a bit of current to deal with too! so in that case i think a swivel would actually be a necessity.
Also in my opinion you did the right thing experimenting with different speeds and lure types and retrieval methods, esp. in high wind conditions with a nice swell on the sea,as you never know what might be lurking around ;) only conclusion is i guess they just didn't want to know that day..it happens alot mate! Tipo the last time i went fishing... ::)
Imho id stay away from using jigs in ports when its dark, due to most of them being quite shallow for jigging on the whole..and esp at night!! However that being said its quite easy to get a jig stuck on the bottom in deep water during the day too!!! Just ask anyone who's spent anytime jigging!
Best method is to try keeping a gentle pressure on the line when the jig is sinking,by letting it run between your index finger and thumb,and as soon as you feel the line stop letting out,immediately tug the line towards the reel to get the jig off any potential snags and close the bail arm and then reel a 1/4 of a turn of the handle and raise the rod a bit...That should keep your jig from snagging most of the time! However if the bottom is very uneven of has large weed beds it can still get stuck!! ::)
Spinning is 90% perserverance so just keep at it and im sure you'll get rewarded :)
Tight Lines 8)
Hey Martin,
Thanks for your reply and info - the strange thing about spinning is that although I haven't caught anything latley I keep constantly thinking about it! hehe
The jig I was using was pretty heavy, but the funny thing is that I actually think it was seaweed as it started giving way when pulled by hand but then got totally stuck and had to cut the line.
I was having a look at some vids and articles on the net and encountered spinning with soft-silicone lures. From what i gathered the options are two. First using a weighted hook and second using quite big lures without the hook (the lure weight permits a good cast). I notice that most of the rods used are quite light tackle lures and casts are quite impressive but conditions were with no wind at all.
Has anyone ever gave them a shot?
jean
I use silicone lures, I did have one very good outing with it :) but my current rod is a Heavy Moderate action which is not good at all for silicone lures. With those types of lures you need very light tackle and an ultra sensitive rod, but they are deadly for seabass.
I am planning a new Medium-light Fast action rod that i can use with a 3000 size reel. I know what blank I am going to use, i am still a bit unsure about the handle. Surely EVA, but I am still debating with myself wether i should do a split grip (ala japanese) or a more tradional handle. Either way it's going to have balancing discs at the rear and the new Fuji Titanium K-Guides (ajma il-but).
As you know I'm no expert so cannot really give a good opinion on the type of rod and components for construction (need much more experience hehe). However, I managed to find this vid on the net. Its in French - La peche en finesse. Although my french is mega rusty they explain the basiscs for light tackle fishing using silicone lures. There is not much expenation relating to the type of rod and reel but it might help having a look at this: http://www.pecheaubar.com/videos.php?video=La_peche_en_finesse
Basically this is from where i started formulating the idea of using this type of lure. Even though i know that bass is much more 'rare' in our waters I think these types of lures could extend our chances for strikes. The weightless mechanisim used in lakes is also interesting ;) If i can be of any help let me know ;)
Ive only just recently tried silicone's out (this summer) with any kind of consistency (as oppose to a few casts and gave up) and i had some very good results..still haven't had a spnotta take any interest in them though!!
However the general consensus is the bass are being less frequently caught from one year to the next! I must say i concur with this theory as i can't even remember what it feels like to catch one on a lure its been that long!!! :(
And i remember bbq-ing in ghadira when i was still a kid with my family,we used to chuck in a rod and baited line (the bait being bbq scraps e.g piece of sausage,meat etc) and we used to pick it up before leaving and 99% of the time we'd find a bass on the other end of the line..those were the days :( :'(
Whenever I get italian magazines i cry! :-[ :-[ the one fish i always wanted to catch on a rod and never managed! From what i hear and read the thrill of reeling one up is something out of this world! Tried with different rigs on surf casting, rock fishing, various baits (from bibi, americano, imperjal all the way to sardine fillets and kalamaretti) and never managed to land one!
The silicone lures are getting me interested cause since i mainly spin at night, when i go to ports they might play the trick. WOuld like to try the ones that look like garfish (imsell), small mullett, and also the worms. Still getting all the info together. Will post when i manage.
Yet i'm still finding it hard to select the right spots to target at this time of year - whether rocks with deap sea, shallows, ports or sand. Also lures are a dillemma for the time of year!
I had some good takes on curly tails this summer..
http://www.mistertwister.com/images/articles/2008_03/10/11.jpg
In fact i was so impressed i took a few with me when i went out with my cousin on his boat trolling the F.A.D's and they did way better than the traditional skirts
Hi MartinB,what were you catching on the F.A.D,s with the curly tails?
Hi rebus9,We went out in aug for lampuki on handlines and i decided to re-tie one of my cousins handlines with a couple (2) curly tails and i was getting ALOT more strikes..the only problem with them is they deteriorate quite quickly after a few lampuki hit them!!
Thanks for that Martin,thought it might be lampuki ;D
Yeah they are killer for them...although as you probably know,if the lampuki are hungry they'll strike pretty much anything! but if on the off chance they are a bit shy to bite on skirts try a curly tail on them to get them started ;) We found quite few F.A.D's this past season like this i.e full of lampuki but they just gave chase without biting! However the curly tail did the trick quite a few times...and when that failed one time, we hooked a strip of fresh squid! That got the buggers interested!!! ;D
Quote from: jean on January 25, 2010, 20:36:47 CET
Whenever I get italian magazines i cry! :-[ :-[ the one fish i always wanted to catch on a rod and never managed! From what i hear and read the thrill of reeling one up is something out of this world! Tried with different rigs on surf casting, rock fishing, various baits (from bibi, americano, imperjal all the way to sardine fillets and kalamaretti) and never managed to land one!
The silicone lures are getting me interested cause since i mainly spin at night, when i go to ports they might play the trick. WOuld like to try the ones that look like garfish (imsell), small mullett, and also the worms. Still getting all the info together. Will post when i manage.
Yet i'm still finding it hard to select the right spots to target at this time of year - whether rocks with deap sea, shallows, ports or sand. Also lures are a dillemma for the time of year!
I'm planning a trip to sicily, spinning on some selected beaches. If you're interested i'll keep you posted.
Infact was thinking of trying them out too with a weighted hook for spinning - yet not sure how much weight they can take and swim properly. I presume very light tackle will be neccessary and very calm conditions (no wind). Yet i think in ports they might do the trick.
Also i think a thinner leader is required - tipo .30mm florocoated or floro line. And no swivel or clip (tipo the ones rapala have on the steel leaders). Therefore they might be a pain as one will have to keep re-doing the leader every two lure swaps.
Thanks Clutch_kick - yes pls it would be great :) I'm also hoping i try Libya soon!
Once again i state - never thought spinning could be so addictive - yet this weekend will probably have to cook brodo ta' l-ilma bahar hehe
Libya mur wahdek lol
Quote from: clutch_kick on January 25, 2010, 23:33:35 CET
Libya mur wahdek lol
Lol!! :) magbin kemm ghandhom hut hemm.. pero pajjiz bla birra ghallija...no thanks!!
Did you use the once I am thinking of on fads aswell Martin?
Clutch nasigurak li il hut li hemm il libja qas tohlom bih aw malta !
Quote from: LapsiBoy on January 26, 2010, 11:57:52 CET
Clutch nasigurak li il hut li hemm il libja qas tohlom bih aw malta !
Sfortunatament habib, il-libia immur spiss heheh, u naf ezatt x'hut hemm, imma il-pajjiz ma jogobniex. Insomma morna daqxejn off-topic issa.
Aw guys, halli mam-morrux off-topic -
l'ewwel tuni daqqa t'id naqbad huta hawn spinning. Wara nara tal-libya, u jekk naqab hemm sewwa (dejjem jekk immur) naghmel tour ;D
Translation:
Hey guys, so we dont go off topic
First give me a hand to catch a fish whilst spinning here in malta. The i will try Libya and if I catch some nice fish there (always if i manage to go) I organise a tour ;D
Quote from: SPITEC on January 26, 2010, 11:19:12 CET
Did you use the once I am thinking of on fads aswell Martin?
Yes Spitec the ones i bought from you! :) Ill soon be coming for some more mate!! Btw do they come in a bigger size?
can we have some translations PLEASE just when it gets interesting the language changes. ::) ::) ::)
Quote from: jean on January 25, 2010, 21:26:45 CET
Infact was thinking of trying them out too with a weighted hook for spinning - yet not sure how much weight they can take and swim properly. I presume very light tackle will be neccessary and very calm conditions (no wind). Yet i think in ports they might do the trick.
Also i think a thinner leader is required - tipo .30mm florocoated or floro line. And no swivel or clip (tipo the ones rapala have on the steel leaders). Therefore they might be a pain as one will have to keep re-doing the leader every two lure swaps.
Sorry jean i missed this post! You can fish them with a carolina rig set-up.In fact ive tried this method (and others) and found it works well for small silicone's :)
Here's a link for the basic set-up
http://bass-angling.com/wp-content/uploads/Carolina-rig.jpg
Or just google 'Carolina Rig' ;D
I used a 30g bullet sinker and a plastic bead rather than a glass bead.However the idea of the glass bead is it makes noise when it hits against the bullet sinker,which i would use esp. if you intend to fish with it at night,as you mentioned you prefer,as it may help.
But the major reason of the bead is to cushion the knot from the weight banging up against it and weakening the knot!.Also as i was fishing with them mostly during the day i didn't bother with a glass bead..Anyhow with 5-8cm curly tails this set-up didn't interfere with the lures swimming action at all,however you can modify the weight of the bullet sinker according to the depth of the spot your fishing in (less weight for more shallower spots)
Tight Lines mate
8)
Thanks for the tip Martin :)
Whilst doing some research i had a look into the Carolina rig. As a starter i decided to get some weighted hooks (http://www.gamakatsu.nl/html/english/popup/jig/3_oranje.html) which have fake eyes on them. To these i have attached a curly tail and also a small mullett type fish. As yet I got a 14g and 24g hooks and am going to give them a try tonight i guess. Yet as soon as i get the hang of using them will try with the different rigs.
Also got a WTD lure which i am quite keen on trying. Will keep you posted ;)
With respect to the WTD lure - no luck. Yet i think the sea was to rough to use it effectively. On the other hand the silicone lure (mullet fish type) on 14g weighted hook worked perfectly and landed my first cuda :)
I still have to get the hang of using such types of lures and would like to try without the weighted hook but need a finer rod i think. Will keep you posted guys. Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. I had forgot what a buzz this is :)
Congrats my friend!! First fish on spinning is always exciting. Keep it up :)
Quote from: clutch_kick on January 28, 2010, 12:51:06 CET
Congrats my friend!! First fish on spinning is always exciting. Keep it up :)
This x2 :) well done mate!