wet backing

[pigpen]

Anyone who has ever flyfished has dunked his or her reel into the water, right? Does it hurt to store away your reel without unspooling your line and backing to dry them out? Would mold or mildew appear?

As long as you use real backing...dacron, etc, you'll be fine.

Mono will shrink if it gets wet and can mess up a reel.

Ken

[This message has been edited by kphume (edited 22 July 2005).]

[hikepat]

I think it depends on if its clean water or something like lake water. I found one of my reels had some mold on the backing just a few weeks ago. When I thaught about it it had not been cleaned after using it in a lake the last time I used it and I had some of the backing out of the reel at one point hanging in the water to get a knot out. Since I caught it early it seems to be ok but I cleaned the line and dried it well before putting that reel away this time. On the other hand I have never had any trouble with the backing being wet if the water was clean such a tap water or clean river water.

HikePat, that is interesting. I had not thought about that.

I may do a test with an old reel just to see what happens.

[anglerdave]

90% of my fishing is in lakes and ponds and I have never had a problem with mildew forming on my backing.

I think if you are fishing in the salt, then you might want to change your backing after a couple of seasons. Maybe every year, I don't know. But for freshwater, if you are using dacron flyline backing you shouldn't have a problem.

[darrell]

pigpen - best possible answer - maybe ....

Standard practice here (for me) is fish, go home, wipe line down with damp cloth of tap water. Let dry - spool it.
End of year (or when you find the line getting dirty) - rag wipe with mild soap and water - rinse - dry and respool.
We're fishing mostly sedimentary waters, so the 'dirt' content is pretty high. Add in a river that runs through a city - the downside is pretty ... messed up (comparatively).
Free stone streams run cleaner, however, even then there is some extent of soiling on your line and backing.

It only takes 10 minutes ..... 10 minutes / 70 bucks .... hmmms .......besides, a clean line casts better.

[flymaker2]

May I suggest a way to very simply clean your lines and backings? Use the "Super Simple Line winder".

[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc336.html:c6fc9]Super Simple Line Winder Link[/url:c6fc9]

This winder makes it a 5 minute operation to remove a line from any size spool-even SW reels with a 1/4 mile of backing. Sometimes i'll go to the trouble of spraying the line and backing off while on the winder. Then-allow to dry overnight-and rewind to reel.

Another way I clean/treat the lines is to wind the flyline and backing from the reel to the Super Simple Line Winder and then wind it back onto the reel while pinching the line/backing in a hand towel to clean it (or even a rag treated with line lube). This only takes a few minutes with this very large winder.

I hope you find this helpful.

Rich

[ducksterman]

Rich,
Now if you can figure a way to get the line off of the winder it also would be perfect for storing lines in larger coils in the off season.

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Respect Your Elders!

[flymaker2]

ducksterman

Well, as you know, the darn plastic spool is not comming apart easily! I just made-up a couple of winders & can store a line short-term on one of the winders if needed.

FYI- For those that have not seen it-ducksterman added a motor to the Super Simple Line Winder:

[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum1/HTML/012733.html:3b2dc]Ducksterman's Modified, Motorized Winder[/url:3b2dc]

[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 22 July 2005).]

[Marco]

As Artie would say " verrrrry, verrrrry intErEsting!

Gotta admit, I never even thought of mold. And the linewinder? I hate people who exibit more brains than I have. I HATE YOU ALL!!!

Mark

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I'd rather be in Wyoming!