Have you shown your fishing reels some TLC lately? All fishing reels need to be cleaned and lubricated at LEAST once per season. Check out these tips on the process from Paul of @Burly Fishing!

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#baitcaster #fishingreels #monsterbass #fishingreelmaintenance #howtouseabaitcaster

Video transcript:

Paul Glass:
What's going on, Everybody?. Welcome back to the channel, the Monsterbass channel. I'm here today to talk about my chores.

Paul Glass:
No, but for real, I do have a chore to do. I've probably got one, two, three, four, five bait casters that really needs some TLC, some tender loving care so I figured I would bring you along. We are going to clean and we are going to lubricate these bad boys. But before we get to that piece of things, I just want to say first and foremost, thank you so much for stopping by the channel. If this is your first time, please smash the Like button, ring the notification bell so you can see when we post more videos.

Paul Glass:
If you're into one-on-one stuff, if you're into the advanced stuff, if you're into bait, if you're into tackle, if you're into rods and reels, fishing in general, good times, please also consider taking a look at the Burly Fishing channel. We do the same type of things. We've got videos, we've got a podcast, we've got a live stream, we've got all kinds of stuff so come check us out as well.

Paul Glass:
That being said, let's get down to the good stuff. How often should you do maintenance on your reel? Make it work the way you want it to work, maybe make it work better than the way it came out of the box. How often should you do that? Honestly, it really depends on how much you fish and it depends on if you're fishing for money or not. Really, for the sort of average angler, my recommendation once a season. Realistically, once a season. Now, if you're dunking this thing in the river, if you're dropping it in the mud, if you're beating the crap out of it, if it's sitting in the bottom of your kayak and just getting dunked every couple of minutes, you're going to want to do it more often.

Paul Glass:
If you're a [inaudible 00:01:30] angler and it really matters how your gear is performing at every single time, you really need to do this probably once every couple of months. And if you're in the hot and heavy in the season, probably once every couple of weeks or maybe even before every tournament. Every single person is going to be different and every single reel is going to be different as well. But my recommendation is at least once a season, realistically, for most people.

Paul Glass:
Before I move the camera and zoom in on everything that I'm going to do, I just want to give you a quick breakdown of what we're actually going to do. We're going to take the side plate off and we're going to expose some of the bearings, some of the control mechanisms inside of here, we're going to pull the spool out and then we're going to use some oil.

Paul Glass:
You're going to want to put this on any piece of the reel where there's going to be metal on metal, friction, right? Or metal on plastic, but I think it's mostly metal on metal. You do not want to overdo it. I cannot overstate that enough. Do not overdo it. At the end of the day, if you don't know what you want to do, if you don't feel confident, if you're using a different reel, that's totally different than this one, which is absolutely going to happen, do what I did. I actually went to... My computer's on right behind here and I'm looking right at right now at the Shimano maintenance tips for bait casting reels. Google the manufacturer of your bait caster and just look for maintenance tips. They're going to show you exactly what to oil, what to grease and what needs cleaning so that's my disclaimer.

Paul Glass:
All right, so we've got everything we need here. We've got our reel that we're going to be clean. Again, it's the SLX, standard model, nothing crazy about it. Got some Q-tips, boom. Rags, boom. Some grease, boom. And some oil, super boom. Though, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to pop this side plate off. Now the SLX is pretty easy. As you can see, close, open, and that's going to be popping the side plate off. The first thing I do is whoa, super easy, right? The first thing I'm going to do too is I'm actually going to pop... I told you I was going to pop the spool out. You can already see it's coming out so we're going to go ahead and take that out. Painless.

Paul Glass:
We're going to degunk all of this.

Paul Glass:
All right, so rag, done. Step one complete. We got a bunch out of there. You can still see there's a bunch of gunk like back there and there. I can't reach out these big old paws so I need to get all up in there and start cleaning this out so how am I going to do that? That's where the good old Q-tip comes in.

Paul Glass:
All right, so got everything cleaned up and you feel like, "Man, I'm ready to start greasing up." Now's the time where you're going to come back again. Now you can just squirt it on. I do not recommend that. I actually recommend taking some of this oil and just putting a couple of drops on here and just getting it a little bit wet like that. Then dabbing it on the areas where you know you're going to need it most.

Paul Glass:
All right, I'm going to oil the backside of this plate here. Real light, not going super heavy. That was the back of the side plate. Now I'm going to come back, a little more oil, and just enough to be wet. It's probably too much.

Paul Glass:
All right, now I'm going to do the outside here of this area. This is actually a seal and also going to get some friction as well so you're getting a little bit of both. I'm going to go ahead and hit that with the oil. Now, I like to grease this piece. I'm just going to put a little dab in here. That's it. Not much on there at all. And that's it. What I'm actually going to do is I'm going to put it on and I'm going to wipe it off, a little tiny, tiny bit.

Paul Glass:
I'm just going to wipe it off, wipe it around and wipe the excess off. Then I'm going to come back to my... I've still got a little bit on there, quite a bit. I'm just going to put a couple of dabs on here and I'm going to run it back and forth and I'm going to let it spread itself around a little bit. There we go.

Paul Glass:
Again, I like the grease here. I think it does really well. A lot of guys like the oil. I think Shimano calls for oil. So do as I say, not as I do, but this is a... There you go. We're so much better. I'm feeling so much better about life right now.

Paul Glass:
All right, let's go back to the oil, picking up my oil again. I'm going to hit this line over here. I'm going to hit the line where the line guides going back and forth. I'm going to oil the line guide as well, both sides a little bit, a little tiny bit. Now, I'm going to hit this back plate right here. I'm going to get all the way around here. Now, I'm actually going to come back with my dry side. I'm just going to spread everything around. I'm going to clean up a little bit. Feeling really good about that.

Paul Glass:
All right, now for the spool. Real light. I'm going to do the outside here. Same thing on the other side. I'm not going to do a lot here. I'm just hitting a couple of quick dabs everywhere, make sure everything is happy. Got our spool done, got everything oiled, grease that we want greased, and go ahead and slip my spool back in gently, close this bad boy up like so. Remember, close, boom. The reel test. And that, folks, is exactly how you do it. So much better. Back to almost factory. I'm not upset at all.

Paul Glass:
Thank you for watching me do my chores today. Thanks for joining us at the Monsterbass channel. Again, if you're enjoying this content, if this video was helpful for you, again, if you like the one-on-ones, we got fishing videos, we got tips and tricks, we got it all. If you're enjoying the content, smash the Like button, ring the notification bell, give us a subscribe. Then while you're at it, go ahead and check out the Burly Fishing channel as well. We've got the same type of deal. Got some live streams, got all sorts of things as well so please come check us out. Give us a like if you're so inclined. Thank you again. We appreciate it and we'll catch you next time.