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Lubricants for kayak fishing stuff
- Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation
- Published on Tuesday, 22 December 2009 19:31
- Written by Josh
Not so long ago I wrote about how I'd arrived at the conclusion that Lanox was the superior lubricant (when compared with Inox and WD40) for the Miragedrive, as well as my Leatherman tools. In those same paragraphs I added that Inox was my lubricant of choice for electrical contacts, of which is seems to do an excellent job. Recently, however, I have concluded that WD40 still has it's place in my shelf full 'o lubes, proving itself to be the most capable eradicating annoying squeaks (in the Miragedrive in this instance). But more important than that, I've decided to lubricate the hooks and trebles on my lures with WD40 as well.
Why lubricate them at all? Well... some of these lures aren't cheap, and kayak fishing off shore, it's hard to keep them 100% dry and salt free. Even the most waterproof containers can be penetrated by water when the lid is open, after all. And lately I've had to replace too many trebles, hooks and split rings because of this reason. All 3 of those lubricants have a fairly distinct smell about them but only one of them is known as a fish attractant - WD40. As hard as it is to imagine, many swear by it's usefulness as an attractant. So I figure if this is the case, then it's probably the wisest lube to be using for this purpose. If the lures start to smell a little WD40ish... good!
That said, WD40 is a petroleum based product (not made from fish oils as many claim) so I do go really easy on it. Spraying metal parts only, wiping down the body of the lure and letting it dry out on news paper overnight. This certainly removes all or most of the liquid, leaving only a minute film of oil. Here's what wikipedia has to say about the properties and ingredients of WD40 (in relation to being used in this manner).
The long term active ingredient is a non-volatile, viscous oil which remains on the surface, providing lubrication and protection from moisture. This is diluted with a volatile hydrocarbon to give a low viscosity fluid which can be sprayed and thus get into crevices. The volatile hydrocarbon then evaporates, leaving the oil behind. A propellant (originally a low-molecular weight hydrocarbon, now carbon dioxide) provides gas pressure in the can to force the liquid through the spray nozzle, then itself diffuses away
So no, I'm not using WD40 directly and exclusively as a spray-on attractant - and I'm not spraying it on lures as I fish - I'm doing this to protect my lures. That the wiff of WD40 may (or may not) attract fish is really just a small advantage that makes WD40 a good choice for the job. Because the volatile hydrocarbon evaporates, the environmental impact of what is left should be little or nothing. That's how I interpret what I'm reading at wiki anyway. It'll be interesting to see if I detect any truth to the notion that this stuff does indeed attract bites!
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