Ask the experienced anglers you know about tips on how improve the performance of your fishing reel and how to extend its life, and the first rule they will tell you is that you have to keep it clean. But the second rule is almost as important, as it’s about regularly lubricating your fishing reel bearings and gears. You have to know what kind of grease for fishing reels to use, and how to use the lubrication properly.
The point here is to make sure that the moving parts of your fishing reel keeps operating smoothly. That way, you’re able to reduce the friction that results from all that movement, as the friction will wear out these parts more quickly than you’d expect.
But that leads to lots more questions. What kind of grease for fishing reels is the best? How much do you apply? When do you use oil, and when do you use grease? How often should you lubricate the fishing reel?
These are the questions we will answer in this guide.
What Kind of Grease for Fishing Reels to Use: Best Options for Grease and Oil
What kind of grease for fishing reels should you use? What type of oil is best?
While you can make do with fishing reel lubricant alternatives or even make your own homemade fishing reel oil, your best bet is to go with the premium oils and greases. It’s worth the extra expense, especially if you’re using high-quality fishing reels that you don’t want to replace any time soon.
It’s best if you go with a lightweight lubricant, whether you’re buying grease or oil. You don’t want something too viscous (or gooey, to save you the trouble of looking up what the word means). If you use axle grease for your fishing reel, it will be too thick. You’ll have issues about gumming and excessive wear afterwards.
When to Use Grease and When to Use Oil
You should also know which lubricant to use for which parts of your fishing reel. Here’s one quick rule: use grease if the parts mesh. Use oil on the rotating parts.
The lightweight grease should be applied to the gears and other interior components. That means applying the grease to the drive and pinion gears. You should also apply the grease to the drive shaft post and clutch pawl. You should even apply it to the 1-way roller bearing, which is the exemption to the rule about using oil on the rotating parts.
With the exception of the 1-way roller bearing, you should use oil for all the other bearings. Apply oil on the worm gear as well.
You also need to apply some minimal oil to the collar type (clutch bearing) type of an anti-reverse part in spinning reels. Do not apply grease here, as that will cause the anti-reverse brakes to not brake at all.
For the anti-reverse pinch-finger dog and ratchet, do not use any kind of lubricant at all. If you use a lubricant for this part, the dog will slip and your anti-reverse will fail. Keep this warning in mind, whether you’re using a conventional or spinning-style reel.
How Much Oil and Grease Is Right?
A lot of people seem to think that with lubricant, more is always better. But that’s not true at all. As with many things in life, it’s all about moderation. Apply too much oil and grease and you’ll actually reduce your casting distance instead. Then your fishing reel may also end up wearing down too quickly.
You can apply a thin layer of grease for the gears and other interior components, using a small brush. Then for each bearing, about 2 drops of oil will do just fine.
But then again, there’s another exception to this rule. This is with the worm gear, which will need a lot more care. That’s because of all the parts of your fishing reel, the worm gear is most likely to be the working part that takes in the most abuse.
In addition, it’s annoying how a lot of debris find their way into the casing around the worm gear. You may find lots of grime and sand in there, and the debris can wear out your pawl a lot more quickly.
For the worm gear, start by turning your fishing reel upside down. Then you can spray it with a high pressure can of oil. The oil you spray should foam up, and then wash away any grime and sand that might be hiding in the worm gear casing.
If you’re not able to find any high pressure can of oil for the moment, then you might make do with some WD-40. It’s a good cleaner, but then you’d still need to follow up this treatment with a few drops of reel oil afterwards.
Lubrication Frequency
In other words, how often should you oil and grease your fishing reel? There’s no right answer for everyone, though, as it depends on how much you fish and even where you fish.
If you’re an angler who joins lots of serious bass tournaments, you should oil your fishing reel bearings maybe once every 2 months or so. You can also apply some grease to your gears maybe once or twice a year. go with twice a year if you also fish a lot in grassy areas.
There’s also an exception to this, and that’s if use your fishing reels in saltwater. If you’ve dunked your fishing reel in saltwater, it’s crucial that you rinse it with freshwater afterwards. Then you should reapply the lubrication to everything. Saltwater is just too damaging for fishing reels, so you should clean your fishing reel after each saltwater adventure.
As with many other types of moving equipment, the proper lubrication will improve performance and boost its lifespan. This is absolutely true for your fishing reels. Lubricate them properly, and you’ll have a lot more fun on your fishing adventures!