Winter spinning at low temperatures
In winter, the angler is limited in the choice of reservoirs, since many of them are covered with ice. A good place for spinning fishing will be reservoirs where there are power plants or factories that discharge process water, which prevents the reservoir from freezing. In such reservoirs, the water is not covered with ice even at very sub-zero temperatures, and the fish are quite active.
Spinning anglers who decide to go fishing in sub-zero temperatures are faced with a list of problems. The rings, cord, and stacker roller freeze on the form, which greatly interferes with the fishing process. In winter, the rod is cast from the shore. The fact is that at low temperatures, fishing on a boat is not entirely safe, and on some bodies of water it is also illegal.
Spinning rod for winter fishing consists of:
- rods.
There are no special requirements for the rod compared to what you use in the summer. A good choice would be a plug-in spinning rod made of carbon fiber, resistant to low temperatures;
- pass rings.
We give preference to non-metallic rings with ceramic inserts, to which the fishing line does not freeze so much;
- spinning reel;
- fishing line
Monofilament or braided thread is suitable, preferably thin but strong. Most people choose braid for better control of the bait, which plays an important role in winter when the fish are not so active.
Monofilament freezes less, but this is not a sufficient advantage, since the braid can be treated with anti-freeze compounds.
Don't let the gear freeze
Anyone who has tried to fish in sub-zero weather without preparing in advance is familiar with the fact that after a while the reel begins to spin poorly, the reel starts to spin with a creak, and the line roller freezes. To avoid this, you need to take care of the condition of the coil in advance by treating it correctly.
There are no special secrets. Here is a list of items you need to treat your coil to protect it from freezing:
- WD-40;
- door lock defroster;
- silicone lubricant in aerosol form.
These products can be easily found at an auto parts store. Don’t save too much, buy a good lubricant that contains all the components of high quality; they will not negatively affect the operation of the reel.
Stacker Roller Processing
- We tape the outer part of the roller where the fishing line passes with tape to prevent aerosol from getting on it;
- Apply the contents of the defrost to the inside of the roller;
- We treat the outer walls of the roller with WD-40, which will repel moisture and protect against rust. If the design includes a bearing, it cannot be treated with any of the listed means;
- we process the spring, the mechanical rod of the bail release mechanism with WD-40. It is located under a protective cover;
- in the same way we pass along the bushings of the roller stands, the stacker arch, the housing cover, and the bushing of the handle key.
Read: Repair of spinning reels
Fishing line for winter spinning
Over the years of spinning fishing, many anti-freezing agents have been tried. It makes no sense to list them all; usually these are water-repellent solutions, oils, and fats. Let's look at the most popular, proven effective means:
- Vaseline oil from the pharmacy. A proven product that does its job well even at temperatures below minus 10 degrees;
- car or fishing aerosol made of silicone. It washes off relatively quickly and loses effectiveness at low temperatures;
- Johnson Baby lotion. A convenient option, suitable for temperatures down to minus 10 degrees.
Process of thread processing using silicone aerosol:
- partially (about a third) of the cord onto the reel, spray with silicone;
- we wind another part and process it;
- completely reel it in and spray it again.
To treat the line with baby lotion, apply it to the line during the winding process using an oil-soaked cloth, passing the thread through it.
Passage rings are freezing
To solve the problem of freezing of the passage rings, it is enough to use lubricant for rubber door seals, sold at any auto parts store. Lubricate the rings on both sides with this lubricant.
This treatment is not a universal method, since the rings still freeze over; it is necessary to shake off the formed ice, but this has to be done less often. Relatively speaking, after treatment with silicone, it will be possible to throw the form 5 times, instead of 2, before the rings need to be cleared of ice.
How to lubricate the rings and cord of a spinning rod against freezing
As a result, it can be stated that it would be advisable to use different lubricants for each element. Thus, it is most convenient to treat fishing line with Johnson Baby lotion. When processing rings, we give preference to lubricant for rubber door seals.
A universal remedy for each element is automotive silicone aerosol, which can be used on every part of the spinning rod, but it is not always the optimal solution.
Read: Do-it-yourself spinning rod repair
Fishing line for winter spinning
Briefly about what fishing line should be like for winter spinning fishing. Monofilament does not freeze much, but has very poor sensitivity. This is critical for a winter passive predator, so I don’t consider it. Fluorocarbon - similar to mono, better in sensitivity, but inferior to braided cord. I use it only in lead rigs. Braid has differences within its class. Fireline type cleavage is more resistant to frost. Among the classic ones, thin eight-core cords freeze less often, but it is quite convenient to fish with four-core ones. The lineup is the same as for the warm season, except for the loosest ones.
In its natural form, the line quickly becomes covered with ice droplets at subzero temperatures, which reduces the casting distance. The wound fishing line increases greatly in volume, this can cause “beards”. If the weight of the weights used is large, the range is not critical, then you can simply not wind the thread to the top of the bobbin and do nothing. The droplets will scatter on their own. The second option is to treat the wicker with special compounds. In winter, they often fish with spinning rods from the shore and with light weights, despite great depths, so the second option is the main one.
Let's look at the dangers that processing braided wire during winter fishing can bring. These should be kept in mind when conducting experiments:
- Antifreeze can affect the quality of the braided cord material, reducing its strength and wear resistance.
- Indirectly influence the characteristics of the cord. For example, small abrasive particles of debris or grains of sand will stick to the lubricant, which will wear out the braid.
- Unpleasant odor of some compounds. It may not affect the fish’s bite, but it will be uncomfortable to fish in such conditions.
Of all the options for winter antifreeze for braided cord, I liked two. The first is a multi-purpose silicone lubricant in the form of an aerosol can. I don’t remember the manufacturer, since it’s out of stock, blue-yellow in color with the inscription SI-M and with an indicated wide range of application temperatures. The big advantage of the aerosol was that it was very convenient and quick to spray it on a spool with braided fishing line and all over the walls of the room. Now I don’t use it, since I switched completely to the second option, which I’ll talk about later.
The second antifreeze is Johnson's baby oil for children. In terms of characteristics, from the point of view of winter spinning, this treatment is approximately the same level as silicone, but psychologically I like it more. Smells nice. I treat a spool with braided line at home before fishing. I drip enough oil onto the cord to saturate all the turns. On a pond, if it’s frosty all day, I periodically repeat the treatment every couple of hours. If the temperature is near zero, then the impregnation may last for the whole day. I assume that oil from other manufacturers with similar properties will also be suitable.
The lowest temperatures at which I fished with a spinning rod treated with Johnson's Baby were down to -8 °C, but this was on unheated reservoirs on the verge of freezing.
How to Lubricate Rings on Spinning Rods in Winter
Features of winter fishing
Operating the reel in winter
When operating in sub-zero temperatures, the spinning reel creaks, turns tightly, and the line roller screams and freezes. So what should I do? Go to any auto parts store and buy three things there. door lock defroster, WD-40 and aerosol silicone lubricant for rubber car door seals that does not contain caustic components.
It is better to take all these funds more expensively, better. some recognizable manufacturers, European or American, responsible for the technical characteristics and quality of their own products. For example, I use Lock De-icer from the French-English concern Holts, fortunately this “chemical abomination” does not contain active components that can corrode the coating of the roller. We spray the inner surface of the line roller with this defrost. In addition to everything else, this product also contains a lubricant. Oh, yes, I almost forgot: before working with the roller, cover its outer part with tape or adhesive tape, along which the fishing line passes, because if the oily spray gets on this part, the line will begin to slip. and the video will not spin.
We sprayed the defroster, move on to the next procedure: the outer surfaces of the roller on both sides and its supporting walls must be sprayed with British-made WD-40 aerosol. This product helps displace water (“WD” brand, short for Water Displacement. In English, “displacement of water”) from the iron surfaces of the roller, covering these surfaces and ensuring the absence of water even in the microscopic roughness of the metal or coating, and the resulting film, by the way , protects parts from rust and corrosion. All this leads to water not getting inside the line laying mechanism. By the way, it’s worth warning that the chemical substances listed above should not end up inside the roller bearing, if your reel has one.
Subsequent node. mechanism for releasing the line handle. Washing the rings on a spinning rod from yourself to the question: what to lubricate in the winter or not. Everything is very simple here: remove the protective cover of the mechanism, take WD-40. and we spray, we spray, we spray, but only on the spring and the iron rod. We do the same with the bushings of the roller stands and the line handler. You can also treat the case cover around the perimeter and spray it on the sleeve of the handle button, also on the attachment points of the handle itself, it won’t hurt. That's probably all there is to the reel. On a spinning rod, you are wondering: what is silicone lubricant for? You will need it on the farm and for spinning. But in a spinning rod this will not work, lubricating the guide rings and fishing line. Where am I at at the moment? And if, with all this, it differs by more than 0 on the spinning rod with the rings on. Well, since I mentioned spinning, let's talk about it.
