dunked reel (and fisherman), help!

[adesai73]

yeah, so this afternoon, right as i was getting ready to wrap up an afternoon at long branch , i took a fall in the surf. wasn't down long, just enough to submerge my reel. (abu garcia c706x)

after i got back up, i went to crank the handle and realized that my reel had seized up. so, i packed up, trudged to the lot and rinsed the reel off with fresh water. i took the spool off and there was a mess of sand in there. i rinsed some more and put everything back together.

the reel spins decently now, but there's something off. kind of a light gritty feeling when i crank the handle.

what should i do? i have no experiencing servicing reels at all.

did my rinsing do enough? should i take it to a b/t for servicing? this sucks, as it's my primary (only) plugging reel.

it was a rough day out there.  got careless, wasn't shuffling my feet and the undertow knocked me down.  luckily, i wasn't too far off the beach, just a few feet.

today's catch = 0.  but, those of you who have read my threads in the past already expected that. 

[Bucktail]

Hate to say it, but if its crunchy, you probably have sand or salt in the reel.  It will need to be stripped and cleaned.  Continuing to use it in that condition will cause more damage to the reel.

If you are mechanically inclined, you can try to do it yourself.  However, if you really like the reel and you've never done it before, you'd best bring it to somebody that knows.
-Bob

[adesai73]

after i got home, i re-rinsed with fresh water.  i set everything out to dry and just put it all back together.  it seems to be spinning fine, now, with really no trace of "crunchiness" when i crank the reel.

did i escape w/o a big problem?  will i be okay if i continue to use and send out for cleaning/servicing over the winter?

i'd hart to part with this thing right as the fall season ramps up.

i'm so not mechanically inclined! 

[Bobby Wilds]

if you cleaned out the inside and the re lubed and oiled everything, it might be ok.  i would suggest taking it to a B&T and getting it serviced, and pick up another reel.  cant hurt to have a back up.  just picked up a new reel myself, and turned the old one into a backup.

[Salty Dog]

After fishing in the salt,I dunk my reels in a full five gallon bucket of fresh water.The grease and oil that you have on your reel already will take care of anything you might be worried about.

[kezsr]

had the same thing with an old Penn reel a friend gave me,took it apart and cleaned real well,now I can't get the bale spring back in the way it's supposed to be,so I'm going to probably have to take it in for repair.

[Bucktail]

after i got home, i re-rinsed with fresh water.  i set everything out to dry and just put it all back together.  it seems to be spinning fine, now, with really no trace of "crunchiness" when i crank the reel.

did i escape w/o a big problem?  will i be okay if i continue to use and send out for cleaning/servicing over the winter?

i'd hart to part with this thing right as the fall season ramps up.

i'm so not mechanically inclined! 

If there is no more crunchiness and you rinsed everything off, dried all the parts, re-greased and put them all back the same way (with no parts left over ) you should be OK.  I would definitely bring it to a qualified repair person at the end of the season to make sure.  Better yet, just ship it back to Pure Fishing.  They will strip it down, clean it, re-grease it and replace any questionable parts.  If you send it out as soon as your season is over (whenever that is for you) you should have it back in "good as new" shape by Spring.
 

After fishing in the salt,I dunk my reels in a full five gallon bucket of fresh water.The grease and oil that you have on your reel already will take care of anything you might be worried about.

I don't recommend dunking your reel in a bucket of water (fresh or not).  Leaving any kind of moisture inside your reel can eventually lead to corrosion and rust. 

You're better off using a fine mist or light spray of water to  rinse off the sand and dissolve the surface salt.  Then add one drop of oil on any of the moving parts on the outside of the reel (line roller, handle knob, etc.). 

On a conventional reel, you should pop the spool out to make sure you don't have any water inside.  At the very least, you should "spin" the water out by turning the handle. 

For a spinning reel, your best bet is to leave the gear box closed until you are ready to do your annual maintenance. However, if the reel has totally been submerged, you will want to open it, dry it out, add some grease (not oil) and reseal it.

had the same thing with an old Penn reel a friend gave me,took it apart and cleaned real well,now I can't get the bale spring back in the way it's supposed to be,so I'm going to probably have to take it in for repair.

Kezsr,
Do you have a 700 series Penn?  If so, those bails can be tricky to put back on.  But it's really not that hard.  If you bring it to a shop that services Penn they should be able to pop it in and hand it right back you.

Good luck!

-Bob

[Pops Soul]

Hey Ad would you trust the reel if you hook the fish of a life time  If the sand gets in those drag washers and binds up a smooth drag say good bye the that 50 pounder.....

[rugman]

hit it with wd-40

[dikdanger]

hit it with wd-40

i would give it a good servicing ... do it yourself... its not that hard... if you cant remember what goes where... tape the pieces to a piece of paper and label them... 

dont go to a B/T if you dont need to ... use that money on more bait...

[Pfishingruven]

Yeah, I would make sure you completely clean it and relube.  It sounds like you got some sand in the grease!  It only takes a few grains in the grease to completely destroy your reel.  I wouldn't be completely satisfied with just rinsing in water, unless you are sure that sand didn't get into the grease.  The grease will protect against the saltwater and rinsing will fix that problem.  BUT not sand in the grease.  When I relube, I completely clean with a degreaser and apply all new grease and oil!

Be careful out there!!  Glad you didn't get hurt at all! 

It is a good point to make.  Luckily it is still a bit early in the season for waiders, but very soon a lot of people will be going to them.  The waves are very unpredictable and very hard to time and judge with this east and northeast winds.  The undertow was very bad today too.  There were a lot of rogue waves that hit me and I decided just to stay a little higher up on the beach to be safe.  There is lots of debris in the water as well...almost got clobbered in the shins with a 12' long piece of wood!

 

[IrishAyes]

Ash, getting dunked in the ocean makes you an official surf rat now.  Ya can't be one without the dunking. A right of passage, so to speak. As Pfish said, good thing it was early in the season and the water isn't freezing yet.

If you can take the reel apart, do so. Not too major of a job. Give it a good cleaning and re-grease it. It should be fine after that. 

[Pfishingruven]

Ash, getting dunked in the ocean makes you an official surf rat now.  Ya can't be one without the dunking. A right of passage, so to speak. As Pfish said, good thing it was early in the season and the water isn't freezing yet.

That is certainly true!  It happens to everyone at some point.  No matter how careful you are, you end up getting wet sometime or another.  It is definitely scary, especially when you aren't expecting it.  Then you get up, look around and hope no one else saw you.  If they did, you just laugh really, really loud at yourself !

Ash, I wasn't trying to use you as an example...just the situation.  I am sure you know what you are doing.  We all take wrong steps or get caught off guard often out there fishing.  I just see(in the summer) and read a lot of crazy people going out in the water or out in waders in the winter, all alone, no belt on, take one wrong step and they are gone!  Or up on rock jetties and get washed off!  It is tragic to get killed having fun fishing.

 

[dikdanger]

[/quote]
  It is tragic to get killed having fun fishing.

 
[/quote]

yeah... but if I cant go in my sleep... let it be with my pole in my hand... my fishing pole that is...