OK here is my question. Just what is proper drag or drag setting. What is it you are trying to accomplish when you set up the drag on your reel. Do you want to lock down a bass or do you want a little or a lot of of pulling drag from a fish. Do you vary this much depending upon line type or line gauge. I really never knew what the proper use of drag is supposed to be.
Moderator, I put this in the wrong place. Will you please move this post to Reels, rods, line
Thanks
Bud
Thanks Lou
Drag for me is situational. On power techniques my drag is cinched down. Once the fish is free and clear of cover and the fish decides to surge, I will adjust the drag on the fly with the right balance of tension and give to prevent the hook from pulling out.
On non-power fishing techniques, my drag is set at a certain tension to allow for runs and sudden surges. Again however, I will adjust on the fly depending on what happens when fighting the fish.
Quote from: Bud Kennedy on August 28, 2018, 04:59:32 PM
OK here is my question. Just what is proper drag or drag setting. What is it you are trying to accomplish when you set up the drag on your reel. Do you want to lock down a bass or do you want a little or a lot of of pulling drag from a fish. Do you vary this much depending upon line type or line gauge. I really never knew what the proper use of drag is supposed to be.
On any of my setups that require a hard vertical hookset I lock the drag down tight. Flipping n Pitching with 65# braid, and even on my skipping and topwater setups.
I have a ML casting rod that I use for exposed hook finesse fishing. The line is lighter than my other setups, 8# fluoro, (not light for some but way lighter than I used to fish) so those hooksets are more of a reel up the slack and just load the rod. I want the drag to slip at about half the breaking point. I dont set it with a scale or anything official, when I am tying on my baits I load the rod and see if the drag will play out without over stressing my knot. I can always use my thumb on the spool if I hook something really big or if its heading towards trouble.
Rule of thumb is to set your drag from 1/4th to 1/3rd the Lb. Test of your line, measured at the rod tip, with a fully spooled reel. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, and they usually apply to situations where the line LB test is way more than what is actually needed to fight the fish in question. Such as is found in many special applications in bass fishing, like pitching or frogging as an example.
Even though, 1/3rd of 65 lbs (21 lbs.) is still pretty close to cranking it down on a bass reel.
The importance of drag is multi faceted. When it breaks of course it relieves stress on the line, rod tip, and even the reel, which is pretty important when getting near breaking points on such components. Horsing in bass is pretty much an accepted practice usually because the lines used are strong enough to take on this task with minimal stress. This practice doesn't work on other species of fish which are usually caught with much lighter lines in comparison to the strength of the fish, thus demanding more care in understanding drags.
The reason why setting the drag so low compared to line test is because of a little physics problem that we encounter when the line pays out off of the reel spool. As the line on the spool decreases, the Pressure needed to "break" the drag increases exponentially. On some spools half spool drag will be "tight" enough to exceed the breaking point of the line, even though it was fine at full spool.
This is another phenomenon which we don't see too often when bass fishing since most casts aren't that far out. Although those that fish deep and some long cast presentations may experience this.
You can use the "rule of thumb" for bass fishing and be quite successful with it, but it usually isn't that critical as compared to lets say sturgeon fishing.
The true reason I asked this question is just to acknowledge that we all have our own preferences for drag. Like some I will set the drag for the conditions I am facing. Frog fishing in heavy mats and long casts usually have me on a very tight drag. Otherwise I like to have drag set as not to slip during a normal hookset but still allow the fish to pull some drag if needed. If too much slip then simply tighten the drag during the fight. Bottom line is this is variable but also to ones personal liking. I honestly don't know how you could get a precise setting other than just going by feel by stripping a bit of line prior to the cast.
Oh so this is not the guy that fights a fish to 6ft of the boat and proceeds to quit reeling and walks his hands down his rod then grabs the line and proceeds to pull the fish to him. Followed by coddling the fish as though it was his newborn child. (https://i.imgur.com/jLYpckj.gif)
OK seriously I also change mine up depending on the lure, the type of line, the lb test of that line, and the rod. Not to mention where and what I am fishing in. I also have certain reels that I feel the drag is more well suited possibly by the lbs it will hold, and how smooth it breaks and gives line.
You actually use a scale to set the drag. I know a few shark guys that are pretty anal about it, but then again it is a pretty big deal when you are talking about that size of fish and the small line in comparison.
I actually set my lines to almost free spool because I don't want them to be pulled off of the pier while they are sitting in their rod holders. When there is a strike then I will tighten up the drag incrementally until it is in a good place, it is a feel thing.
I adjust drags much tighter in comparison when tossing lures, or when holding the rod, but still probably a lot lighter than you bass guys.
For the fish I'm catching, I don't think you want to lip, gill, or coddle, it is rough on fingers that way. Better to use a net and grippers, easier on both the fish and the important digits. ;)
Quote from: Pferox on August 29, 2018, 02:06:09 AM
You actually use a scale to set the drag. I know a few shark guys that are pretty anal about it, but then again it is a pretty big deal when you are talking about that size of fish and the small line in comparison.
I actually set my lines to almost free spool because I don't want them to be pulled off of the pier while they are sitting in their rod holders. When there is a strike then I will tighten up the drag incrementally until it is in a good place, it is a feel thing.
I adjust drags much tighter in comparison when tossing lures, or when holding the rod, but still probably a lot lighter than you bass guys.
For the fish I'm catching, I don't think you want to lip, gill, or coddle, it is rough on fingers that way. Better to use a net and grippers, easier on both the fish and the important digits. ;)
I have a friend that fishes salt and he sets up his drags the day before with a scale.
He swears by having his drag set to his precise setting.
So I'm sure that's the more factual scientific method of setting drag. Us bass anglers just don't use it or need it in most cases.
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So what type of scale would you use to set the drag and where would you find them?
Quote from: Bretts_daddy on September 17, 2018, 01:47:46 PM
So what type of scale would you use to set the drag and where would you find them?
Just use your fish scale.
For pitching and flipping I've got the drag locked down, I'm using heavier hooks and pulling a fish out of cover. For finesse techniques like dropshot I loosen the drag and turn the boat away from obstacles.
Rodney