Cleaning scales off fishing rod tips

[airshot]

I mostly fish for yellow perch because we enjoy eating them. The emerald shinner minnows we use as bait shed their tiney, shiney scales and they stick to everything ! Once dried they need to be scraped off. Many of my rods have cork handles, so....does anyone have an easy way to clean fish scales off the rods and handles ?? Can cork handles be soaked and dried without damage ?? Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated....gonna spend the boring winter cleaning fishing rods....

 

[Billy H]

I mostly fish for yellow perch because we enjoy eating them. The emerald shinner minnows we use as bait shed their tiney, shiney scales and they stick to everything ! Once dried they need to be scraped off. Many of my rods have cork handles, so....does anyone have an easy way to clean fish scales off the rods and handles ?? Can cork handles be soaked and dried without damage ?? Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated....gonna spend the boring winter cleaning fishing rods....

I’ve cleaned up cork handles with Mr Clean magic eraser. Does a fine job.

 

[airshot]

Will give those a try, thanks

 

[ripdmup]

You can seal the cork with a low sheen epoxy/urethane, then use a scotch-brite scrubber to clean after use.

 

[Billyfish]

Look up cork sealer. Fly fisherman use it to protect their prize rods. Using it lets you keep the feel and texture of cork!

 

[Lost But Happy]

Try using clear packing tape to take them little buggers off.

 

[airshot]

Finally finnished cleaning up my 6 perch fishing rods and reels from all those shinner minnow scales...whew..what a job !! Someone should create a glue from these sticky scales !! After soaking for hours in dawn, simple green and plain hot water, after using scotch brite pads and a brass wire brush, I still had to use a plastic scraper to get them off. Learned my lesson, will never let them build up like that again. Also coated everything with some auto wax in hopes of making this job easier in the future!! At least it will look like I have all new fishing gear when next season starts !! I have to say, my reels work really smooth now that they are cleaned and lubed, won't wait so long in the future...lesson learned !!