Temps in early spring and late fall can hit lows in the 20s or 30s from time to time, it’s all over the place. I like having everything on my trailer ready to go, but not at the expense of losing a fish or a $150 glide bait. 💀

In my experience, no but I've seen people do it and just keep fishing.  

It isn’t safe to leave lures tied on over night let alone getting the reels cold.

Tom

I personally would never leave my fishing equipment outside overnight.

Theft is not an issue in my driveway but we have lots of night critters.

I've been loading my boat the night before for the last year and have yet to have any issues with the cold affecting the line. Granted, it's uncommon to get below freezing at night by the time I start fishing down here in VA. 

 

I think of all the photos I've seen of guys' front decks/rods frozen from fishing in the cold. If that doesn't mess up the line, I don't see how getting cold over night would. 

while it's contrary to logic, polymers get longer and relax in the cold.  

It's the heat that makes them short and tight.  

29 minutes ago, WRB said:

It isn’t safe to leave lures tied on over night let alone getting the reels cold.

Tom

I’m curious about the issue with reels getting cold. I normally leave my reels in the boat all winter, that’s 6 months below freezing and 4 of the below zero potentially. I never realized this might be an issue.  

If you're getting frost, then leaving things like reels, rods, and plastic crankbaits outside is a bad idea. 

The gear grease can gets stiff and mono line takes a permanent set in tight coils below freezing temps. If you service the reels and change line should be OK. Why not remove the reels and put them in controlled temp environment?

Tom

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

while it's contrary to logic, polymers get longer and relax in the cold.  

It's the heat that makes them short and tight.  

That's very good to know. I've always pulled my gear out of the boat when not in use during the summer because I suspected the heat would do some sort of damage. Guess I wasn't wrong after all. 

 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

The gear grease can gets stiff and mono line takes a permanent set in tight coils below freezing temps. If you service the reels and change line should be OK. Why not remove the reels and put them in controlled temp environment?

Tom

Wouldn't the grease lose that viscosity once it warmed up again? 

I load up my gear the night before because it takes the better part of an hour to load 20+ combos and all my tackle. I'd rather do that the night before than get up at 3am instead of 4. 

I never leave anything outside no matter what the season.

It takes time to warm up or cool down grease it’s not thermally conductive.

Can’t imagine using all 20 combo’s in one day. I keep out the 6 or so that I’ll use and load those on top when booking up the trailer.

Tom

PS, I use lighter line then most bass anglers so knot strength is critical and the reason to re tie often, knots over 12 hours weaken mono and FC.

 

Fishing is just sooo complicated.  🤪

4 hours ago, WRB said:

It isn’t safe to leave lures tied on over night let alone getting the reels cold.

Tom

I never leave lures tied on, are you referring to the tension?

Mono & FC both cold flow under time under pressure of the knot.

Reel oil is very low viscosity the cold doesn’t affect that much but grease makes  the gears little harder. 
Some line conditioners* can contaminate the lubricants gumming the gears.

Tenson?

Tom

* Reel Magic

Ah really, what about us folks that ice fish......on the ice when it's cold-like frozen in sub zero temps???

Do you cast ice fishing…..stiff line isn’t and issue for ice fisherman out on the elements, the cold is!

Tom

My boat has been stored with a cover on it outside over the winter since I am redoing my garage. My rods stayed stored in the rod box and I haven't had an issue with rotty line so far.

Rods and reel stay on climate controlled basement. If I’m fishing a lot I may leave the rod in the car for a few days at a time with no issues 

12 hours ago, Basshead091221 said:

Rods and reel stay on climate controlled basement. If I’m fishing a lot I may leave the rod in the car for a few days at a time with no issues 

 

12 hours ago, WRB said:

Mono & FC both cold flow under time under pressure of the knot.

Reel oil is very low viscosity the cold doesn’t affect that much but grease makes  the gears little harder. 
Some line conditioners* can contaminate the lubricants gumming the gears.

Tenson?

Tom

* Reel Magic

 

15 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I never leave anything outside no matter what the season.

 

17 hours ago, WRB said:

The gear grease can gets stiff and mono line takes a permanent set in tight coils below freezing temps. If you service the reels and change line should be OK. Why not remove the reels and put them in controlled temp environment?

Tom

 

18 hours ago, FishTank said:

In my experience, no but I've seen people do it and just keep fishing.  

So I probably need to respool all of my combos that have been outside for 3 weeks?

I'm curious as to why you wouldn't just bring them in and not worry about it. It can't take long to carry 6 rods out of the house or garage.

16 hours ago, WRB said:

Can’t imagine using all 20 combo’s in one day. I keep out the 6 or so that I’ll use and load those on top when booking up the trailer.

It's rare I use all 20, but commonly use 12-15 in a given day. But when it's a tournament and you haven't been on the lake in a while, I find it better to be overprepared than waste time rigging or switching up lures once on the water. Factor in 50+ lbs of tackle that needs to go in certain spots so I can find it again, and you're looking at close to an hour getting the boat loaded.

 

Probably shouldn't say I leave the graphs in the truck the night before too or I may get shunned from this site. 

3 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

 

 

 

 

So I probably need to respool all of my combos that have been outside for 3 weeks?

Were they sitting in direct sunlight or protected in a car or boat? 

10 hours ago, Basshead091221 said:

Were they sitting in direct sunlight or protected in a car or boat? 

In neoprene sleeves in a storage tube under a carport.

I leave a few rods in my vehicle overnight in the winter, fairly often.  Granted the vehicle in a garage. but I leave a bucket of water out for the dog and carts to drink it freezes in the garage when its gets really cold.  If its going to be bitter cold long enough to lock the water up, I bring my gear in.   

Grease and lubricants may congeal a bit, but I don't think it does any permanent damage.  As far as line, I've never seen any incontrovertible evidence that FC is compromised structurally from the cold.  I've done a lot of resident striper fishing when its below freezing.  Some reels are prone to losing their AR slipping or completely failing in the cold, but it's not a permanent problem.  Once the clutch warms up, the reel works properly.  My biggest headache in the cold is line freezing.