Bass Fishing with a Fly Rod

Everything looked "normal" to me until I started counting the times she dipped her fly reel in the pond water. After the 2nd or third time, I mentioned it to my wife and just then Elice just dropped the reel and rod and let them go clear to the pond bottom and to cast she had to pull them up by the fly line! "WOW! sez I and the Blonde Lady sez "Don't you ever let your reel get into the water"? "Not if I can help it", sez I, "and I NEVER let my rod and reel go to the lake bottom!" I tried to explain to her that a rod and reel fit nicely under an arm while you are releasing a fish. Also I mentioned it's a bad habit to get into around salt water and corrosion. And I chimed in with plus what if you get sand in the reel and a Big bass gets on? "Poof," she said.

Does anyone else worry about keeping their fly reel out of the water, or am I just paranoid?

Thanks John

I don't fish with anything that I'm afraid to get wet, except a can of chew.

Sometimes when streamfishing my reel gets grit in it, typically when I beach a fish and put the rod down to handle the fish. If I hear that ugly grit sound, I put the reel in clean water and strip hard two or three times. It's always worked, so far.

In saltwater you should be using gear designed for saltwater, and a quick rinse at the end of the day is all you need.