Tips and tricks?

I’m really ocd with my reels. After rinse them off with fresh water, I open up the ones with the quick take down spool removal and let them dry for a few hours. Might add oil, depending on how the reel acts after.

If you are new to squidders and the reel bearings are too fast. You can slow them down by adding drops of oil with a higher viscosity to the non handle side bearing. If it’s still too fast for you, a mixture of oil and light grease can be smeared with a toothpick. You can always clean the bearing later, if you want to speed it up. I see too many people crank down the bearing with pliers.

Yeah, that’s definitely a no no to tighten the exterior bearing cap with pliers to add more tension to the spool to decrease its speed. Thicker grease is definitely a way to take out a little “free spool.” Really enough to slow down the spool from over-run and a possible “backlash.” I also know that the width of the spool (instead of height) makes it easier for me to rotate my thumb to the side plate of the spool for some cast control (a little harder for me to do on Jigmaster).

OCD with reels? That’s me with any yard sale reel I find.
Here are my procedures for a working , but not at peak performance reels:
I use a screwdriver to scrape out the big bits of old grease, finish off with qtips soaked in old paint thinner to clean up the residue, brush off the gear teeth with a brass brush and wash the parts in dish soap with a toothbrush. Scrubbing bubbles for “left outside for 10 years” reel bodies and brake cleaner or carb cleaner for the bearings only. Vinegar bath for crusty green parts. After the wash, dry and wipe oil on graphite/Bakelite parts to get the shine back. Grease unexposed metal parts, non-spool bearings/bushings, moving parts, screw holes and gears etc. with marine grease. Oil bearings and bushings (spool, handle, bail roller) with a non gumming oil, I use air tool oil, as it protects from corrosion and has non-gumming agents. Too much grease can slow down a reel and clog up some functions. An oil/grease mixture can be used in place of grease only for lighter reels or less slowing. Oil only on levelwinds. Wipe a greasy napkin on exposed metal parts. Clean non- felt drag washers if they are any good with lighter fluid. Grease with drag grease or leave dry. I leave them dry, but a good drag grease is definitely better. My abu has dry old style drags, but dusted with graphite powder(pencil lead) and it is fairly smooth. Wipe some grease on the insides of metal side plates as well.
That should cover most reels.

Lol Man, you just listed almost all the products that I have in my reel repair/service bag. Yea, if I put a tiny scratch on my reel, it bugs me. If I get a reel that somebody else put a scratch on, it doesn’t bother me too much.

I was given a Shimano Calcutta 700a that spent some time under water. I did everything I knew to get that thing working again, after I got the sand and rocks out of it. Lol It’s an ugly pig but it works perfectly now.

What I’d give for free reels...wait a sec...
The part of the challenge in fixing old reels really does excercise your brain. It’s like getting a new reel that you can abuse a little more because the last guy got it beat up already.

Yes! Exactly! I don't have to baby it like a new reel. What scratches? It came like that. Lol

That's a tip for us OCD people. Lol

A trick for dog springs flown into outer space, a bic lighter spring will usually fit after a little work with a plier, it’ll probably be a direct fit for most reels. I had accidentally crushed the dog spring in my squidder a while back, but got it replaced with a tweaked spring. The springs are stronger, and the dog will become louder as you crank the reel.
Old DE razor blades cut up may work well for the flat type of spring, but I haven’t tried it.

For the really, really new guys out there, skip the Walmart spincast combos and go for a spinning reel combo. Saves a lot of headache when the spincast reel seizes up from the saltwater being trapped inside the cone or the main line gets tangled in the housing. Once you get the hang of a cheap spinning combo, you will be more ready for a serious spinning combo. Spincast does not belong in saltwater.

A small sized croquette needle makes for a decent backlash pick. I picked mine up at a yard sale for 50 cents a piece.

Small bungee cords are good for wrapping rods together and stopping rods from slipping down slick metal railings like those at Huntington and the Cabrillo Mole. For the latter use, I don't bind the rod directly to the railing, but instead wrap the cord around the railing a couple times to create a stop.

Rectangular styrofoam blocks are good for wrapping and storing sabikis and leaders in a neat manner.

3/4" x 3/4" to 1/2" x 1/2" blocks of balsa wood make good inexpensive floats for sabiki rigs and high-low rigs. I run a piece of wire through a 3-4" long piece of wood and crimp each end into loops, with a snap on the bottom loop where I can attach the rig. The advantage is that there is no line damage like slip floats and fixed floats, and the float itself is low profile and less prone to tangles. You can get five 36" pieces for a little over 10 dollars on Amazon.

Dilute citric acid can be used to take surface rust off of hooks and touch up hookpoints.

Been trying to find a list of tips we made up at one time. Still looking.

Same concepts, but cheaper with styrofoam, hot glue, a coffee stirrer, snap swivels and thick mono instead of wire and wood. Can’t rust or rot, but the mono can deteriorate, the foam can dent/delaminate and there isn’t much choice in the color department. I use sharpies to color the tops.

Tip for people with store bought bobbers:
Not all bobbers with the snap on top and a swivel on the bottom are connected inside the float. Sometimes it is just hot glue holding it together. Learned that the hard way, lost a $3 bobber and a rig. The funny thing is, as it was drifting away from the pier, it was getting bites from smelt. Tie the two ends together with mono and don’t take any chances. I also like to have 2 duolock snaps on to the top and bottom(not pictured), helps with switching out rigs and such.

I ran across an article on outdoor life on sabikis rigs going through my old magazines from the days of school fundraisers with cookie dough, overpriced merch, and cheap magazine subscriptions: Sabikis rig alternate uses

To stop the penn eccentric levers from denting your Bakelite side plates, try slipping on a piece of vinyl tubing over it to hit it some cushion. The tubings from a baby bubbles aerator fit snugly. To cushion the eccentric lever on abus, try putting 2 or so layers of electric tape under the push tab. Trim with a razor for neatness.

I forgot. I do that too.

How about using a trash bag like a poncho when fishing in the rain.

It’s sort of like the things you do that you forget about because it becomes second natural and it feels natural after a while.

How about making shims to put under loose penn gear sleeves? Just sandwich a piece of soda can aluminum between two pieces of scrap wood and drilling a 1/4” hole in it. Then, cut it to size and it will decrease the amount of in/out movement between the sleeve and the bridge.

Yea, the metal of a soda can is the perfect thickness to reduce play from the gear sleave. I also pack the shaft with thick grease so it doesn't move a lot too.