What Are The Alternatives To Fishing Reel Lubricant?

You want to take the best experience while fishing. For this, You need to maintain all the fishing gear along with top-quality fishing equipment. When I talk about maintenance, the first thing that comes to my mind is properly lubricating the moving parts of a fishing reel.

Also, It helps to protect the reel from external damage such as water, temperature, and many more. You’ll get lots of dedicated oil and grease on the market, which only come for this task. But, sometimes, we don’t have access to those items.

For this, You might think, Can I use vegetable oil or vaseline to lubricate the reel, or are there any other alternatives? Yes, there are. In this article, I’ll talk about a few alternatives to fishing reel lubricants. You need to avoid some lubricant products, which are also mentioned in the following article. 

5 Fishing Reel Lubricant Alternatives:

1. Vaseline

Vaseline will be a good alternative for your fishing reel. It mainly works as grease. For this, It’ll provide you best performance among the reachable parts. But, It cannot reach the smallest part.

2. Lithium Grease

You can use LIthium Grease to lubricate the fishing reel. But, Avoid aerosol or acetone-based lithium grease to lubricate the reel. Otherwise, It’ll damage the fishing reel.

For this, You can use white lithium grease, which doesn’t contain any aerosol or acetone. Also, it lubricates and protects your reel from water resistance, especially from saltwater. 

Also, If your fishing reel is aluminum made, lithium grease protects it from oxidizing where other regular greases can’t do this task.

3. Synthetic Automotive Oil

Some anglers recommend using synthetic automotive oil to lubricate the reel as they find better results and success. 

Also, High-quality grade pure light machine oil is used for making fishing reel oil. So, A light machine oil is acceptable to fulfill this purpose. 

But, If the oil contains any TFE, never use this on your fishing reel. Otherwise, Your fishing reel will gum up because TFE is solid.

4. Gun Oil

Many people want to use their gun oil in the fishing reel, especially in the USA, as they have legal access to guns.

Yes, You can use gun oil if you have one. Because Some gun oil can be used for multiple purposes, avoid the oil to use in ball bearings because it’s too thick. 

5. 3 in 1 Oil

The anglers have mixed reactions about using this in a fishing reel. Some anglers prefer this because of its availability and work without any major problem. 

But, If you search in various forums and communities about this 3 in 1 oil. You’ll get its negative result most. For example, some users complain that it gums up the fishing reel and which leads to the jam issue. Also, This oil isn’t compatible with saltwater. 

So, My recommendation is only to use 3 in 1 oil when you haven’t any other choice. 

Note: I want to briefly mention to you that if you have the opportunity to collect the dedicated reel-care product, never try to find alternatives because Those products work better than alternatives.

What Should You Avoid To Lubricate The Fishing Reels?

• Vegetable, cooking oil, or Fat: You should not use these items to lubricate the fishing reel. Those oil mechanisms are completely different from reel oil. These oils are vicious. Their viscosity will increase in the cold temperatures. 

• Mineral oil: Mineral oil can damage the rubber and plastic parts of your fishing reel. So, You should avoid mineral oil to lubricate the fishing reel.
• Wd40: WD40 works as a degreaser and is generally designed for water displacement. So, it’ll not be perfect for lubricating a fishing reel. If you use it as a lubricant, It might create an issue at the inner components of your fishing reel. Also, It breaks down the oil and grease used to make easy movement in the outside elements.

• Silicone Spray: You should avoid using silicone spray on the fishing reel because it makes it hard. But, Some anglers recommend using it, as they don’t do any harm to the rubber and plastic parts.

Frequently Asked Question

How often should you oil your fishing reel?

It depends on how often you’re going fishing. Most manufacturers recommend oil spinning reels or baitcasting ones every year if you’re a weekend fisherman. But, If you prefer fishing more often, then oil your fishing reel a few times a year. Most of the anglers like to oil their fishing reel at the beginning of spring spawn.

What is reel oil made of?

Most of the manufacturers use synthetic oil to make reel oil and others use petroleum-based. Both provide better results and protect the reel from rust and corrosion.

Final Words

You’re searching the terms what are the alternatives to fishing reel lubricant because you haven’t access any dedicated fishing reel oil to lubricate it, or you want to try some dry product. Then, The above guides will help you to find out the solution to your query.

But, My recommendation is always to go with dedicated lubricant oil to do the task. Because Sometimes, using other products might cause problems in your expensive reel. But, If you haven’t an option, then you can use the above alternatives but not use those over time.

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