Tangled tackle fondling 2025

The Super Bowl is over, pitchers and catchers have reported for spring training, and that means spring is around the corner.

Which in turn means it’s time for the annual Tangled Lines Tackle Fondling report.

I noticed the reel bag, which has traveled around in the car for at least one full year, was full of dirt. This was in addition to reels, waterproof matches, a knife, and the extra pair of polarized sunglasses that I tore the car apart looking for back in October.

Hmmm. Maybe the definition of “tackle fondling” should be expanded to include “car cleaning.”

Anyhoo, I went to the hardware store, bought a can of compressed air, and started blasting the dirt, sand and grit out of the reels that float around loose all year in the reel bag.

While doing this I clipped off ancient brittle leaders and noted which lines needed cleaning and dressing.

Not a difficult process. They all need cleaning and dressing. Anglers don’t do this often enough. I do it a couple times a year, and as needed when my floating line stops floating.

Some people use hand wipes, the kind that come in a little packet. You can get them cheap online.

I’m even cheaper, however, so I use Dawn dish soap, which cleans everything from fly lines to birds caught in oil spills. You can even do the dishes with it.

I make a weak solution, defined as one cup or so of warm water with one small blob of Dawn dish soap. Stir until frothy, and dunk a brand new sponge in it.

Run your line through the sponge, recharging as needed. You’ll see the yick come off on the sponge.

For dressing regular PVC-coated fly lines, you can use Mucilin green label line dressing, which has silicone in it. Or you can use Albolene, which is a face cream designed to remove theatrical makeup. A tub of Albolene costs about the same as one dinky little thing of Mucilin. But the dinky thing is a lot easier to carry.

For dressing your silk lines, I refer you to Izaak Walton’s “On Ye Dressynge of Ye Snootye Sillye Silke,” 1655.

Next up, the waders and boots.

I have four pairs of waders, one is right out of the box. None have patches or known leaks. So, fingers crossed.

On boots, I have four pairs, felt and rubber soled, sizes 9 and 10. Looking them over, I see some studs have come out of the rubber soles and they have stayed put in the felt. So that means replacing a few here and there and hoping for the best.

Wading sticks: I have several, and I fully expect at least one to fail this year. So I have spares, both of the collapsible type, and the trekking poles which are adjustable but do not fold up and go into a holster.

Rods: I only have one new rod to test out, a Chinese-made bamboo number that is an experiment.

Fly boxes: I am not even going to pretend to sort this out. I’m just going to pick up where I left off.

But I am NOT buying any flies until I use up what I have. And since I have thousands…

Next time we’ll go back to the Tangled Lines medical report, featuring Mohs surgery, rotator cuffs, and how to splint your pinky toe when you bash it into the furniture at 3 a.m. — Hint: It involves duct tape.