Why do people pull line out of their reels when fighting fish?

[kenmitch]

Sometimes braid will get stuck in the reel as it'll sqeeze between layers of line on the initial strike or another hard jolt would be one reason you'd have to do it.

[Siebert Outdoors]

They watched Wicked Tuna.

[Todd2]

20 minutes ago, Siebert Outdoors said:

They watched Wicked Tuna.

I thought of that show as soon as I saw this thread.

[Fishingmickey]

3 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Nope, probably not. 

Two screaming spinning reelS in harmony?

[Bankbeater]

They want other people to think the fish is bigger than what it really is.

[long island basser]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

All you hear is Ike screaming giant bass giant bass....running from one end of the boat to the other, talk about drama! 

Set your drag and trust it, you paid a lot of money for it.

Tom

 

Forget about drama, the guys an idiot.

[N Florida Mike]

I have been doing it on big fish for years. The main reason I do it is because  I believe it gives me an advantage in landing the fish. I know this might be hard for some of you to understand but I have not been able to afford reels with quality drags. I lost more than my share of big fish by " trusting the drag ", despite my best efforts to set it properly.The best spinning reel I've ever owned is a shimano stradic , which has a good drag system.But by the time I bought it I was used to stripping line, so I still do it even with the stradic. I also do a lot of finesse fishing with lighter line, so one little misadjustment, and the line snaps.

I now catch 90+% of the big fish I hook stripping line. I don't do it to look a certain way  or to hear the drag. I do it because it's become a habit, and it works for me. 

[Sam]

Letting the fish swim away from a snag.

 

Letting the fish fight longer to tire itself out.

 

 

[Deleted account]

9 hours ago, portiabrat said:

While they're fighting fish, some people use their fingers to pull line out of their reels. I've seen musky and bass guys do it with casting and spinning gear. What's the purpose?

 

8 hours ago, Troy1985s said:

Is there any better sound than a screaming spinning reel drag?????

"Hay Pappi, hay Pappi, que rico", popper indeed.

[BrackishBassin]

On 6/28/2018 at 12:25 PM, WRB said:

All you hear is Ike screaming giant bass giant bass....running from one end of the boat to the other, talk about drama! 

Set your drag and trust it, you paid a lot of money for it.

Tom

 

I watch MLF and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “It’s a big’un!” Only to have them pull up a 1.5lb bass. 

[FishDewd]

I only pull out line initially to test the drag, but I might also do it if a fish got snagged on something, that sounds like a valid reason to me to do that. I don't see why one would so that to "make the fish seem bigger" since you can hardly pull line out and not have it noticed that you're doing so. That'd be what my generation calls "epic fail".

[Paul Roberts]

Probably bc people have drag set tight. They then adjust -usually at boat-side, with a short line- by stripping line off.

 

The only time I do it is when in my float tube. And I do it on almost every fish. From watching my GoPro footage of my catches, I realized that I do it bc, to land a fish when I'm sitting so low on the water, I need a certain amount of line out to reach them. In buckling down on the fish at the end of the fight as they approach the boat, my rod tip is low, and the line is then too short to land them. So I strip out a few feet of line at the end of the fight.

 

I only do this with casting gear, since I don't use the drag at all on my spinning reels. As a back-reeler, I can adjust line both in and out with a partial turn of the reel handle. I control tension directly, rather than having the drag do it. SO I never have to reset any drag "settings".

[lonnie g]

I just want the fish on that makes me worry about my drag

[Eric J]

On 6/28/2018 at 1:45 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Nope, probably not. 

I don't know..... A monster exploding Topwater hit is like an adrenaline shot to the heart for me!