I Have Five Greases in the Shop. Which One for Baitcaster Gears?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I'm putting this poll up to see what you prefer.

I went fishing today in 33°F weather.  I'd used Ardent Reel Butter when I broke down and cleaned my Ambassadeur reels this past fall.  It seemed to work well then, but in the cold the reels felt a bit dry.  I have a feeling the grease got chunky, but I didn't have time to tear down a reel to see.

I've heard bad things about Quantum, so I'm not going to use it.  It'll probably be between the Abu Garcia grease and the blue Penn grease.  I remain unsure about the Berkley.

What do you all think?

Regards,

Josh

[Tightlines667]

I have heard the Ardent or Diawa grease is good for these smaller reels.  I wouldn't rule out the Cals purple either.  Penn Blue thinned a bit with reel X will also do the job.  The type of grease used is less important then regular maintainance and proper lubrication IMHO.

[handi2]

The Ardent Reel Butter is my choice.

[foakes]

Hi Josh --

Cal Sheets and his son recommend the new purple they sell for really cold weather fishing.  

It is a little thinner.

The regular grease they sell is for every part of the reel, including the drags -- Purple is for all of the reel also.

I can only justify using it on the drags -- due to the cost, and the amount of reels I service.

Plus, I really like the Yamaha Blue Marine grease for basically all reels.

Reel Butter is very good -- and basically any of these greases can be thinned down.

John is right -- regular maintenance, and some reelX added to your choice of grease will work fine.

The grease just has to stay where you apply it -- and not be too thin to run out.

Best,

Fred

[0119]

Quantum Hot Sauce will discolor the reels internals and frame. Shimano has denied warranty repairs when they find evidence of Hot Sauce in a reel sent to them.  I wasn't impressed by Ardent, it felt gritty and pasty, never seemed to coat gear teeth, just roll around until it fell off the surfaces I wanted coated.  Ardent makes nothing themselves whether it be reels or cleaning products, I don't trust them or their products after many many breakdowns of their american made reels, now long into history.  Penn grease and Daiwa blue grease has been o.k. in my use but I've grown to prefer Rocket Fuels Liquid Grease which is almost identical to Phil Wood's Tenacious Oil.  Both stay on surfaces through a wide range of temps.