Can anyone outline with pictures how to properly “hot sauce” a reel? Are you using the oil or grease or both? Is there a better option out there now? Are you replacing drag washers on the Okuma Ceymar 10’s? If so what size washer? Thanks!
There are some write-ups here if you dig for them.
Remember grease for gears/sliding parts,and oil for bearings.Anti-reverse clutch bearing gets very little oil,no grease.
Drag washer seems ok,I just cleaned it and re-lubed with HS grease.But there are carbon fiber options.
On that note, unless something has changed recently, hot sauce no longer seems to be available. I’d like to know what people think a good substitute is in its place for cold weather reels
I have had good luck with Lucas Fishing Reel Oil.
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Never seen Lucas reel oil, thanks for sharing that.
Thanks for the reply milemark. I remember reading some posts a few years ago which spurred me to go out and buy some hot sauce (which I found in the garage), but I couldn’t recall if it was ever detailed out as to what parts get what. I believe I took a stab at it in the past but wasn’t sure if I did it correctly. Ill dig around and see what comes up. As far as the drag washer goes I haven’t read anything about them in a while and I was curious on these ceymars if people were replacing them as they have the felt washer (I believe?) like the sienna’s did. Im really good at taking baitcasting reels apart…… then putting the parts into a bag because I couldn’t put it back together. I gave up on them and seem to be getting the bug again to go through my ice fishing spinning reels.
Thanks for the oil option folke2000, anybody else got any recommendations that hold up in cold weather?
I used the Frabill Sub Zero grease on my Pflueger Presidents. I cleaned out the old grease with rubbing alcohol first. Only fished with them in 0 degree weather so far, but they worked just fine.
Funny, I have some of that lucas oil and I have been having issues with my Trion and I lubed it up and it didn’t help. Might have to flush it out with rubbing alcohol and regrease it. Gets irritating trying to reel when fishing outside and it’s hard as hell
If you didn’t clean out the grease and oil that was already in the reel, no amount of oil is going to help. You must clean out all grease and oil (especially grease) before lubing. I use q-tips and warm soapy water. Everything must also be completely dry before reassembling the reel. Then, put only oil on the bearings and gears. Less is more with oil. After working the oil into everything by cranking the handle for a minute or two, put the reel in the freezer for 30 minutes to simulate outside temps and see if it turns smooth. If it doesn’t, either you didn’t remove ALL of the previous grease/oil or it wasn’t completely dry. If that’s the case, you have to tear it down and do it again.
No grease in the winter, just oil. “Flushing with alcohol” isn’t good enough. Take it apart and do it correctly if you want to see any actual benefits. That goes for any brand of reel grease/oil.
No grease in the winter, just oil.
Same, only a lighter oil on winter reels. I re-do them every other year, or after it gets dunked in my minnow bucket. 
I disassemble reels and soak the oiled and greased parts in Simple Green. Dawn Dish Soap is good too. Baitcaster spool bearings get soaked in acetone or lighter fluid and thoroughly air-dried. Some use ultrasonic cleaners for deep cleaning, but that’s overkill, IMO.
I’m not a fan of Hot Sauce products at all. They’re one of the worst I’ve used. My bass reels were always running rough at the end of the season when I used their grease and oil.
I really prefer Superlube grease and TSI 321 oil. It’s about as light of an oil as you’re gonna find, so it needs to be applied a little more often, but boy is it smooth. Shimano oil is excellent too.
Get a needle oiler on eBay. I use small paint brushes for applying grease.
Great thread with lots of good information.
Wow! Thanks everyone! Awesome info!!
And thanks for the pics Mat!
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