Understanding Drag

[Brett's_daddy]

Okay, this may be a silly question but often times an even sillier question is the one not asked so here goes. I don't really understand much about adjusting the drag on a reel (either bait cast or spinning), how do you do it? What are you looking for? Should you adjust it while reeling in a fish? So far what I've been doing is taking the line in my hands and bending the rod down while trying to pull the line out...if it pulls too smoothly I've adjusted the drag until it pulls hard enough to offer good resistance but still pulls freely. Thanks for helping me expand my limited knowledge...lol!!!

[blckshirt98]

Drag depends on the pound test of the line.  Think of it as the clutch on a power drill.  You don't want to set it too light where the fish will just pull all your line out and run into cover and break you off, but you don't want to see it too tight where the fish will run or jump and break your line.  To take it to extremes if you were fishing with 100lb line and fishing in heavy cover where you want to horse the fish in and not give it time to run under a bunch of down trees, tighten that drag down as much as possible because your rod will probalby break before that 100lb line will and you'll be able to pull on that fish without worry about breaking the line.  Now if you're fishing 2lb line and hook onto a 10lb bass, you want to set a light drag so every time the fish makes a run or does a head shake, the drag lets some line out to absorb that shock.  Go to 3:07 of this video and he kind of explains it in a technical way, but if you fish enough you can kind of get a sense of how much drag you have set just based on "pulling" the line out of the reel while the bail/free spool is closed.

 

[rippin-lips]

A good rule is to set your drag at about 1/3 of what the line is rated for. If using #12 then set it at 4lbs. If using braid set it at to 1/3 of the braids mono equivalent.  I've never really found myself backing the drag off while fighting a fish but I have many of times had to bump it up a little on bigger fish. 

[papajoe222]

The system I've always used uses the rod as the reference, not the line. I feel the drag should start slipping just prior to the rod loading up completely.  This will not only avoid line breakage, but rod damage as well. It is very similar to how the OP described how he is doing it.  

The drawback to the system comes if using line lighter than the rod is rated for, it will break before the rod loads up.

[WRB]

First thing to know about drag is how the fish you plan to catch puts force on your line, reel and rod combination. The fish swims against the line pressure and has very little weight in water. LMB are not fast swimmers compared to most game fish, they can turn quickly getting sideways and this act increases their pulling strength. Bass have low endurance and can't fight very long, about 1 minute.  All you need to do is control where the bass is going by putting enough pressure to prevent the fish from wrapping your line into cover or structure damaging the line or getting off the hook.

Rods; the lifting power of rods are rated in pounds force. 

2 lbs is about 2 power or medium light

3 lbs or 3 power medium.

4 lbs or 4 power medium heavy.

5 lbs to 6 lbs 5 power heavy

7 lbs to 8 lbs or 7 power X heavy.

All the above can very between rod makers within 1/2 lb.

Never set the drag higher than it's lifting power, it can break the rod or higher than the line rating.

There isn't a LMB on the planet that can pull 8 lbs of drag by swimming against that much force and very few bass rods that can apply that much force.

Set the drag using a scale and run the line through all the guides, tie the line to the scale and pull until the drag starts to slip using the lbs shown for the rod power.

Tom

PS, no scale then use 1 pint plastic bottle of water for 1 lb, 3 bottles for 3 lbs etc.

 

 

[WPCfishing]

I set my drag at 50-60 percent when I'm throwing open water baits. In the junk it's locked down. That's my cup of tea! 

It's Seldom, but I will adjust on the fly if necessary. 

[gulfcaptain]

I would stick to either Rippin Lips advice or Tom's (WRB).   Both are the best answers in two different ways of explaining it.  Just my opinion though, but that's who's advice I'd follow if I didn't know any better.

[Florida Cracker2]

After thinking about it, it's hard to explain. I just pull it out of the reel and can feel where it needs to be set. If your not sure, then go light and adjust it when playing a fish. It's better to be light and tighten it if the fish is taking it too easily and not tiring. You want to keep enough tension on the fish to wear it out without breaking the line. Trial and error is about the only way to learn...if that helps any.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

One other thing dont real a spinning reel when fighting a fish use your rod and.drag for that.that twist.your.line even more then realing a lure.in

[tbone1993]

I just wing it on each setup. I don't want to have a loose drag on my jig rod, I want to set the hook and bring that fish up. If it turns out to be a giant I'll quickly back the drag off. Another bait casting tip is to hit the thumb release and use your thumb as the drag kind of like back reeling. On a spinning reel I normally keep enough pressure to set the hook but not snap my line which is usually light. 

[Grantman83]

I play it by ear Considering I have no way to measure the drag other than testing it by hand before I go out.  With treble hooks I keep the drag light and will tighten it on the fly.  With large single hooks, it's locked down.  Moving baits are some pull but not too much.  

 

It's worked so far so I'm not gonna change it lol

[0119]

Wow...... awful lot of folks "wing it" or "lock it down".  That should make reel manufacturers and reel shops very happy.  Especially since most use floro and braid.   Brett's Daddy, if you don't want to replace your equipment prematurely  take Rippin-Lips advise to heart.  A fisherman is supposed to "fight" the fish using his rod and proper technique of pump and reel pump and reel.  A drags purpose is to protect your line from breaking not so much fight the fish.  All because a "pro" uses a wrench to lock his drag to max doesn't mean its the right way to do it. He has a locker under his deck with 50 free reels to replace it with.

[WIGuide]

After reading how some do it, I begin to wonder how much time some of you actually spend fishing vs tinkering around to get everything set perfectly. Are y'all fishing or conducting a science experiment? If that's what you want to do you're more then welcome to just not my cup of tea to over complicate things. My k.i.s.s strategy is for single hook baits tighten it down enough it won't slip on a hook set, treble hooked baits looser (possible a little slip on the set even), and heavy cover to crank it down pretty tight. It's worked for me for a long time with a pretty good track record.

[blckshirt98]

I think once you fish long enough, you can get a feel of how your drag should "feel" when pulling on the line from the spool.  If I change the drag I always like to err on the "too light" side and will know if I need to tighten it down after trying to set the hook or trying to reel a fish in.

[djflats58]

On March 5, 2016 at 9:09 PM, WRB said:

First thing to know about drag is how the fish you plan to catch puts force on your line, reel and rod combination. The fish swims against the line pressure and has very little weight in water. LMB are not fast swimmers compared to most game fish, they can turn quickly getting sideways and this act increases their pulling strength. Bass have low endurance and can't fight very long, about 1 minute.  All you need to do is control where the bass is going by putting enough pressure to prevent the fish from wrapping your line into cover or structure damaging the line or getting off the hook.

Rods; the lifting power of rods are rated in pounds force. 

2 lbs is about 2 power or medium light

3 lbs or 3 power medium.

4 lbs or 4 power medium heavy.

5 lbs to 6 lbs 5 power heavy

7 lbs to 8 lbs or 7 power X heavy.

All the above can very between rod makers within 1/2 lb.

Never set the drag higher than it's lifting power, it can break the rod or higher than the line rating.

There isn't a LMB on the planet that can pull 8 lbs of drag by swimming against that much force and very few bass rods that can apply that much force.

Set the drag using a scale and run the line through all the guides, tie the line to the scale and pull until the drag starts to slip using the lbs shown for the rod power.

Tom

PS, no scale then usec1 pint plastic bottle of water for 1 lb, 3 bottles for 3 lbs etc.

 

 

W....when you say pull do you mean in a straight line pull or with the rod tip up, bending the rod?

[WRB]

The 1/3 rd line lb. test is the basic rule for drag settings.

The reason I suggested actually loading the rod while setting the drag is to educate anglers how pulling force affects you rod and reel combo using a known force. I know the 1st time doing this is always surprising how a force loads the rod.

Guessing is OK when you have a good method to estimate pulling force, really should use a scale until you learn what the difference between 3 to 4 lbs drags feels like.

Always back off your drag at the end of each outing to save the drag system from taking a set ruining the disk and spring washer components. If the drag isn't smooth and tends to skip or jerk service the drag.

You pay a premium price for state of the art drags....use it.

Tom

 

 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

33 minutes ago, djflats58 said:

W....when you say pull do you mean in a straight line pull or with the rod tip up, bending the rod?

Best pull straight or you'll find out the hard way you went too far. 4# is 4# either way. 

[blckshirt98]

+1 to straight out, "testing drag" by high sticking could break your rod tip.

[djflats58]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm going to set all of my reels.