ice reel freezing up

[new panfisherman]

I was out fishing and after a couple hours of mostly waiting, I was reeling in a largemouth and my Celsius Boiling Point rod started getting harder to turn until I couldn't turn the handle and had to grab the line. It would be helpful if anyone had a solution to this problem then it would be very helpful.

[cbducks78]

you can try and lube it with a cold temp grease, but basically at 25 below wind chill nothing works well.    I hate fishing in a shelter, but the only way to fish these past days has been in a shelter. 

[ice dawg]

I use Quantum hot sauce for sliding shafts and bearings. I use some cold weather grease that I use on my garage door screw drives for the gears. Works good for me. I think hot sauce could be used for gears also.

[SpoonieLuv]

x2 on the Hot Sauce, but at these temps any moisture is going to cause freeze up.

[Unclegillhunter]

Well, well, well freezing reels, line guides, holes freezing up, fingers, toes, and noses! Guess we haven’t had good ice fishing weather in awhile! Part of ice fishing folks!
Keep it safE! JDL

[Qceskimo]

Well, well, well freezing reels, line guides, holes freezing up, fingers, toes, and noses! Guess we haven’t had good ice fishing weather in awhile! Part of ice fishing folks!
Keep it safE! JDL

True story.  Temps like this everything that gets wet is gonna freeze almost immediately.

[RyanW]

Just a friendly reminder.... re-lubing your reels involves removing ALL previous lube from the gears and bearings. Just adding sub-zero lube to an already lubed reel isn’t going to benefit much of anything.

I clean every part of my reels with warm water and dawn dish soap. After everything is COMPLETELY DRY, I reassemble the reel and just use Quantum HotSauce oil on both gears and bearings (I only use the oil in the winter). Come springtime, I do the same thing but then I put Quantum HotSauce grease on the gears instead of oil. A good way to check if you did a good job is to put your reel/s in the freezer for about 30-60 minutes. If it’s still tough to crank, there is probably still moisture in the parts. Strip it down and try again. If you’re doing this for the first time it may take a time or two to get it all down correctly. Before you know it, you will be able to do it with your eyes closed.

Rinse and repeat seasonally as necessary.