Due care and attention

When I was fishing the other day the reel, a click pawl Speyco, jammed solid at one point. I noticed a small sliver of metal between the spool and frame and had an “uh-oh this isn’t good” moment. Not wanting to break the reel down bankside, I got my pliers and extracted what was obviously a piece of broken spring. Back home I went online just to check instructions for changing out a check spring in this reel, and came across another bloke’s images – he’d had ALL of his springs broken on a single run of a steelhead.

Other bloke's reel

Hmmm. Anyhow, I broke down the reel and it was a complete mess inside.

Inside my reel

So, out with a bottle of white spirits and a tube of silicone grease. I broke down the click pawl system (2 of the 4 springs were gone) and cleaned the reel out completely. A wipe out with light oil and then grease applied to the springs and bearing, the 2 spare springs employed and she was back to good working order.

From Speyco's site. Nice and clean

I really should have done this when I got the reel, and it will need a wipe down inside after each trip. Goes to show how effective the sealed drag reels are these days. I'd be unlucky to have to clean some of my other reels more than once per year.