Max Drag Capacity Vs. Size Of Fish

[Loop_Dad]

Please educate me...Assuming the line and rod are strong enough for the fish, what kind of problem can you get into if you are using a reel which has too small of max drag capacity than what you just hooked? People talk about good to have strong drag, but I have never had problem with drags and have never pay much attention when selecting my reels, to be honest.

 

And does anybody know how much of pull in lbs a health 10lbs bass can give you when it is swimming away from you? More or less than 10lbs?

 

Lets say the pull (in lbs) by a fish is 10 lbs, same as the weight of the fish, total guesstimate. That means 10 lbs pull at the rod tip, not by the reel. The rod takes a way the some of force by being bent. So at the reel the pull is dramatically reduced, I would think. Maybe by 50%? I have no idea.  If so 10 lbs pull at the rod tip equates 5 lbs pull by the reel. If I am using a reel with max drag 11 lbs, this should be able to handle 22 lbs pull by the rod tip with this calculation. So I would not have any trouble unless I hook a 22 lbs bass.

[SirSnookalot]

You are putting way to much math into this.  Max drag on reel is not that much of an important issue, the drag should be set to the line you are using.  The drag is meant to allow the fish to pull line out, that reduces the tension on the line and knots.  Lighter line, too tight of a drag can spell disaster, I personally like my drag set just strong enough for a good hookset, nothing wrong with increasing the drag just a little bit with the fish on, but do it gently.

The amount of drag that fish can pull out is going to vary with the species.

[.RM.]

You are putting way to much math into this.  Max drag on reel is not that much of an important issue, the drag should be set to the line you are using.  The drag is meant to allow the fish to pull line out, that reduces the tension on the line and knots.  Lighter line, too tight of a drag can spell disaster, I personally like my drag set just strong enough for a good hookset, nothing wrong with increasing the drag just a little bit with the fish on, but do it gently.

The amount of drag that fish can pull out is going to vary with the species.

X2  

[motodmast]

on my spinning reels, i have the drag set quite loose, i like the fish to be able to fish on those ML and M rods, where as on my MH casting rods, that drag never moves 

[BrettD]

The advertised drag rating for most reels are way off anyways. A smooth drag is much more important then a strong drag.

[mjseverson24]

I usually have my drag on baitcasting equipmet almost totally locked down. I do not want that drag to go out untill i tell it to. This is why When I have a fish worthy of taking out some drag I will freespool the line and use my thumb to keep the right ammount of pressure. I feel this gives me a smoother drag operation and more consistant performance. Since I changed to this method I have not had any line breakage issues and or fish loss issues. with my spinning gear I usually have the grag set about 50% the maximum line rating and adjust as necissary when landing fish.

 

Mitch

[s freud]

So how do I know 50% of my line strength? If I have eight pound line, how hard should I have to pull on my line to engage the drag?

I usually have my drag on baitcasting equipmet almost totally locked down. I do not want that drag to go out untill i tell it to. This is why When I have a fish worthy of taking out some drag I will freespool the line and use my thumb to keep the right ammount of pressure. I feel this gives me a smoother drag operation and more consistant performance. Since I changed to this method I have not had any line breakage issues and or fish loss issues. with my spinning gear I usually have the grag set about 50% the maximum line rating and adjust as necissary when landing fish.

Mitch

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Just for kicks you can hook up to a spring scale and measure the weight needed to move the drag. After a few tests you can tell by feel to get close enough. 5-8 lbs of drag is plenty for general bass fishing.

I wouldn't recommend locking down the drag or pressing the thumb-bar while a fish is pulling. That's a good way to wreck a pinion gear or something else.

[BobP]

What I most often hear is your drag should be set at 1/3 the rated strength of your line.  Who actually does that with a scale?  Almost nobody.  Like most guys, I set the drag and then pull some off the reel to insure it has some give, but not too much.  Probably around 4-5 lbs.  4 lbs of drag will whip any bass pretty quickly.  The only reason to crank a drag tight IMO is if you are fishing heavy vegetation like lily pads with heavy braided line, where you don't want ANY give.

[Jonas Staggs]

I have a question regarding max drag.

 

I have a reel, with a max drag of 11lbs. 

 

This would mean that once there is 11lbs of force, the drag will pull out

 

So if I was to tighten my drag to the max, which is 11lbs, and I am using a line stronger then 11lbs, lets say I have 15lbs mono on. Then I shouldnt have to worry about any line snapping, even with my drag as tight as it can go, cause it will spool at 11lbs, and Im fishing 15lbs line. 

 

Is this correct? 

[Tim Kelly]

7 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I have a question regarding max drag.

 

I have a reel, with a max drag of 11lbs. 

 

This would mean that once there is 11lbs of force, the drag will pull out

 

So if I was to tighten my drag to the max, which is 11lbs, and I am using a line stronger then 11lbs, lets say I have 15lbs mono on. Then I shouldnt have to worry about any line snapping, even with my drag as tight as it can go, cause it will spool at 11lbs, and Im fishing 15lbs line. 

 

Is this correct? 

Not really. The angle of your rod has a huge bearing on when the drag starts to give. If you point the rod directly at the fish, then yes it would theoretically give drag at 11lb, but you'd probably pull the hook out of the fish. Set the drag by feel. Tug a bit of line out and get a feel for it. If the drag slips when you set the hook with heavy line, you probably want to tighten it a bit, with light line, maybe not. There are no exact ways of doing this as it depends so much on the situation.

[Jonas Staggs]

7 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

Not really. The angle of your rod has a huge bearing on when the drag starts to give. If you point the rod directly at the fish, then yes it would theoretically give drag at 11lb, but you'd probably pull the hook out of the fish. Set the drag by feel. Tug a bit of line out and get a feel for it. If the drag slips when you set the hook with heavy line, you probably want to tighten it a bit, with light line, maybe not. There are no exact ways of doing this as it depends so much on the situation.

 

I appreciate your advice. A few months ago, i learned how to properly set my drag here on bassresource.

 

My current question isnt in regards to how to set my drag.

 

So im really just wondering if ill be ok to set my drag to max, as long as Im fishing line, heavier than what the drag max is. 

 

The reason Im asking is I usually just set my drag to give at max rod bend, but when I ocean fish from my kayak, sometimes the fish shoot straight down from the side, given the angle of the rod from the side and the fish shooting straight down, seems like I have my drag set too loose. If I could set my drag to max that would be nice to be able to really pull them up, but I dont want to snap my line. I typically saltwater fish with about 15-20 lbs mono and the reels max drag is 11lbs.

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Most people set their drag to about 1/4 - 1/3 of their line strength.  I would set my drag to around 4 lbs for #15 mono. 

 

I recommend this test to educate yourself on the actual forces your equipment can handle.  Tie your line to a gallon jug of milk (or water) which weights about 8 lbs and VERY CAREFULLY try to lift it with your rod.  Unless you're using a very heavy action rod and more that #15 test,  you will not be able to lift it without breaking something.  Make sure it's not your rod that you break.  I personally wouldn't try to lift much more than 4 lbs with the typical medium heavy rod.

[MN Fisher]

36 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

If I could set my drag to max that would be nice to be able to really pull them up, but I dont want to snap my line.

If your rod is bending over too much, don't worry about the line...worry about the rod breaking.

 

Even my Heavy rig with 50# braid - I've got my drag set at about 6#...which is less than 1/2 the 13# max-drag rating of the reel.

[DomQ]

I dont like cranking down my drag to much, I just set my drag a little bit and use my thumb if the fishy starts pulling more drag. 

[fishwizzard]

Just now, DomQ said:

I dont like cranking down my drag to much, I just set my drag a little bit and use my thumb if the fishy starts pulling more drag. 

That’s basically how I do it. I keep my drag set low enough that I can pull line out with just my pitched fingers. So thinner lines get a little less drag and thicker lines that are easier to grab get more drag.

It’s not a terribly precise system but the way I hold the combo when fishing places my thumb directly on the spool, so if I ever need more drag I can just add pressure.  

[NOC 1]

On 4/16/2013 at 12:49 AM, Loop_Dad said:

Please educate me...Assuming the line and rod are strong enough for the fish, what kind of problem can you get into if you are using a reel which has too small of max drag capacity than what you just hooked? People talk about good to have strong drag, but I have never had problem with drags and have never pay much attention when selecting my reels, to be honest.

 

And does anybody know how much of pull in lbs a health 10lbs bass can give you when it is swimming away from you? More or less than 10lbs?

 

Lets say the pull (in lbs) by a fish is 10 lbs, same as the weight of the fish, total guesstimate. That means 10 lbs pull at the rod tip, not by the reel. The rod takes a way the some of force by being bent. So at the reel the pull is dramatically reduced, I would think. Maybe by 50%? I have no idea.  If so 10 lbs pull at the rod tip equates 5 lbs pull by the reel. If I am using a reel with max drag 11 lbs, this should be able to handle 22 lbs pull by the rod tip with this calculation. So I would not have any trouble unless I hook a 22 lbs bass.

A 10lb fish cannot pull 10 lbs of force because he is having to push against water with his tail and the water gives way easily. Imagine that you are swimming in water over your head. Let's say you weigh 200 lbs. Do you think that you could pull a 200 pound weight off the bottom and haul it to the surface? No, because you only have the water to push against. Add to that the fact that a fish is like most animals made of mostly water, so in the water that part of the fish that is water (or anything lighter than water) doesn't count as weight because it will be supported by the water.

 

Take your open hand and swipe it hard under water. Your hand would make a fair sized fish tail. How much ever force can you generate?

 

On the other hand pulling a 10 lb fish wrapped up in vegetation would weigh more.

 

Most of my reels have about 8 or 9 lb drag maxed out and I've landed fish up to 18 or 20 lbs using them and 10 lb. line. Of course you can't just flip them up into tje boat or onto shore, you're going to need a net.

[Jonas Staggs]

3 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

If your rod is bending over too much, don't worry about the line...worry about the rod breaking.

 

Even my Heavy rig with 50# braid - I've got my drag set at about 6#...which is less than 1/2 the 13# max-drag rating of the reel.

So its actually the opposite. I have a sit inside, since I'm so low to the water, unless I hold my rod tip very high, it's more like they are pulling the line straight out.

 

In theory, as long as my line is stronger than my max drag I should be alright?

 

The fish I'm catching are only a few pounds. I just use heavy line cause I kept getting break offs with 10 lbs test, assuming from their teeth or gill plates. So I'm not worried about the pole breaking.

 

I have gotten quite confident in properly setting my drag correctly, I have been doing quite a bit of freshwater fishing with 2lbs test for small creek fish. I'm just not sure about cranking all the way down. I think it's more common for saltwater guys to max their drag out.

 

Here's a pic of the saltwater size I'm catching. And also the smaller fish on 2lbs test.

 

 

[Tim Kelly]

Try it and see. 

[Catt]

I've caught 35 double digit bass on a Shimano Calcutta 100A which only had 9.5# max drag & is set at 6#.

[king fisher]

A fish does not pull at a slow steady pace.  Put a rod in a holder get a scale, set the drag at 5 pounds.  Slowly pull drag off the reel with the scale.  After pulling a few feet off making sure the scale is set right, give the scale some jerks and hard pulls.  Notice the max amount of pull on the scale.  You can easily double that to ten pounds  just by pulling with jerks and uneven pressure, similar to a panicked fish and angler when the fish is close to the boat.  That is why many people will recommend setting the drag at 1/3 the rated pound test. 

     When I am fishing in heavy cover, I will have my drag set very tight, so I can instantly get the fish away from the cover.  Once the fish is in open water, I loosen the drag, and let the fish fight until tired.  Making the boat side part of the fight less hectic.  If I'm not fishing in heavy cover, I set my drag at approximately 1/3 rated line strength.  One of the  most common phrases, I have heard while fishing is, this big fish is taking drag, I think I need to tighten it.  Followed by the very common sound of line snapping, or sometimes even the rod.  I watched an angler try and slow a big king salmon once by thumbing the spool.  He burned his thumb so bad he let go of the rod.  Set your drag correctly and trust it.

[Catt]

So if I'm using 65# braid my drag should be set at 21.67#? 

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, Catt said:

So if I'm using 65# braid my drag should be set at 21.67#? 

I could almost get that with my Patriarch...20# max drag

 

Though since I'll be using 12# leader on 40# braid - probably set it to 6#-8#

[Big Hands]

6 minutes ago, Catt said:

So if I'm using 65# braid my drag should be set at 21.67#? 

Pretty sure that when you get up into that territory when bass fishing that there are other considerations you must account for, like hook strength, rod strength and how much force you can put on a fish before some aspect of the connection fails.

 

But you knew that already ;~)

 

 

[Catt]

That ain't a bass that swims that would require 21# of drag to land.

 

This 11 lb 3 oz was caught with the Calcutta & 15# Big Game in hydrilla.

 

I've had plenty bass in deepwater slip drag but it's a spool rotation or two before the thumb comes into play.