Hey everyone. I was surf fishing in NJ over the summer and my reel got repeatdly dunked. I came home and found it was almost frozen. It is very hard to turn the spool because of all the corrosion inside. I did spray it with fresh water after the fishing but it seems that didn't do anything. Is there anything I can do or should I just pitch it? (It was a cheap shakespeare reel, like $20.)

Its toast. Pitch it and buy something meant for saltwater.

Alright thanks mark. I wanted a lighter combo anyways so I've got an excuse for another combo. what's different about saltwater reels?

The only difference is the sie, salt water reels re lager. A cheap reel is a cheap reel because of the materials it is made from, the finish, and all the internal components.

Aluminum is highly sacrafical metal when subjected to salt water. Reels made from composite engineering plastic and use stainless steel components work best in salt water. Take a look at Okuma reels, good for the price and good materials.

You try to spray the reel with WD-40 after you rinse it with fresh water, may help in the future.

Tom

Saltwater reels do tend to be larger, the components used are typically far more resistant to corrosion.

FWIW, Shimano reels are geared for BOTH salt and fresh, but you can buy salt-specific reels if you want.

Reels that are designed for saltwater have corrosion resistant bearings, many of my reels are made of aluminum, magnesium is something to stay away from, water tight drags are important too. Sizes run all over the map, I use 2000-4000 and 8000 reels and they go as high as 20000.

I fish saltwater nearly 365 days a year, I'm not a real technical kind of guy but after 30 years I have a good idea of what kind of reel I want for the locations I'm fishing.

Pier, jettie or inshore boat fishing, most Shimano reels are pretty good, I love my stradics for that kind of fishing, you don't want to use them from the beach or offshore. They have a reputation of being sand magnets and are not durable enough for offshore, the Shimano sagasso (about same price range as a stradic) and the stella sw shine in those areas, there are brands that are equal to the task too. I fish quite a bit from the beach, I prefer not to wade in but many guys are up past their waist, the reels are constantly being soaked. I couldn't say what the best brand is but I do see more people using Penn spinfishers than anything else. That reel is updated to the Penn spinfisher V and haven't much about it yet. I do own 4 Abu sorons in various sizes, I find it's pretty hard to beat that reel in it's price range, sadly it's discontinued and a cheaper model is in it's place, one of which I have not used.