The other night before going out of town I finished wrapping my 4 wieght fly rod and applied a coat of color preserve. In the morning I went outside and cast it for a little while and I've noticed that the wraps have accumulated a dab of dirt at the base of the guides.

Is there some simple way to clean the dirt off that isn't going to screw up the thread? I don't mind re-coating with CP but I'd rather not re-wrap the whole rod.

Thanks

Mark

"...the wraps have accumulated a dab of dirt at the base of the guides."
Try a clean tooth brush to remove this dirt at first. Avoid the use of a liquid, at first. Try any physical means of removing the dirt first, without a lquid. If you have a can of compressed air, like from your computer stuff, try that, too. Read the label first. If it is an older can, it might have a flourocarbon pressurizing / solvent in it. That stuff gets very cold very quickly upon expansion, and can cause the flourocarbon to condense as a liquid SOLVENT on the CP-thread, which you DO NOT want. (It has the smell of a dry-cleaner's solvents, and can be oily.) Only use the compressed air kind of cleaner. If that isn't enough, then move to a liquid cleaner. If your brand of Color Preserver is the kind that is milky or slightly milky before applied, when in the bottle, then you should not use water to clean the threads. It may redissolve the CP. If you test a spot and use only a slightly moist tissue, you may be okay. (Do not use a tissue with all this moisturizers in it. Use a cotton swab instead.) If your CP is the perfectly clear kind, slightly moisten a tissue either with water or alcohol. Whatever you do, do not use acetone or nail polish remover or any other organic solvents. They will completely mar the CP, and you will have to re-wrap. ... Next time, hold the urge to dry-cast, and wait until the rod is done. LOL. -Cliff Hall-