Releasing and thumbing the spool while fighting fish

[diehardbassfishing]

The drag shouldn't be "set and forget". A star drag is right on the handle for good reason - decrease (or increase) tension quick when needed!

Often, as mentioned, when the fish is close to the boat and makes a run straight down or under the boat. Quickly backing off the drag saved a lot of rods for me.

 

 

Karl

[Columbia Craw]

My first three LEWS BB1's had an anti-reverse switch to back reel.  Withe advent of longer rods, good drag systems and the ability to give and take line by "reactive reaching" thumb barring has not been necessary for me.

[Patrickt]

18 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Thumbing the spool to me is as useless as back reeling. I rather rely on my reels drag system. It might be ok for small fish that do not fight much but it is not good for something powerful enough to peel line from your drag.

I just listened to a musky podcast and the reel repair guy said it was a good idea to use thumb to stop the drag from being damaged when landing large muskys.

[FryDog62]

I have done this on occasion when fighting a bigger fish near the boat.  Usually because my drag is too tight or loose and I need to release the spool to adjust the drag.

 

Its usually a pretty quick thing but acknowledging some points above, we are in pike/muskie territory here and leaving the spool disengaged very long could lead to a thumb burn and/or the fish can take off and wrap around a tree/weeds/dock, etc.  

 

Same thing could happen on a ML bait caster, 8 lb line, a big smallie and your drag is too tight. Its a quick adjustment method but not a long-term fix for me.  

[J Francho]

There is less drag resistance when a fish is close to the boat. 

[soflabasser]

11 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

I have my drag "dialed" and trust it completely.

It is best to trust the drag system of a reel and not rely on thumbing the spool which is a good way to have your thumb injured when a truly powerful fish peels drag from a reel. There is a reason why back reeling was known as knuckle busters. It is a outdated useless technique.

6 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Ya, with today’s drags I can’t see the need, compound that with the good chance of damaging internals if your technique or timing is off why chance it. 

I agree.

[TnRiver46]

You guys crack me up. Injured? Get real! Every single pro thumbs the spool when they have a bass over 2 lb or better bass on a treble hook bait. ALL OF THEM.  Why? In order to not lose the fish. All the people on the forum trust drag but all the guys with money on the line don't??? They trust their instincts that are screaming "let him have more line"

[soflabasser]

16 hours ago, Scott F said:

I tried it a couple of times when pike fishing which can be a big mistake with a big fish. Got my thumb burned more than once. 

Imagine hooking into a 100 pound or bigger shark and trying to thumb the spool or try back reeling, it would not be wise to say the least. That is why it is best to get a reel with a good drag system and learn how to use the drag well. No point in using these outdated useless techniques for bass fishing as well.

[Mike L]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

You guys crack me up. Injured? Get real! Every single pro thumbs the spool when they have a bass over 2 lb or better bass on a treble hook bait. ALL OF THEM.  Why? In order to not lose the fish. All the people on the forum trust drag but all the guys with money on the line don't??? They trust their instincts that are screaming "let him have more line"

You said it best

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Mike L said:

You said it best

 

 

 

 

Mike

Thanks, I was beginning to think nobody watches pro fishing

[J Francho]

Why aren’t people that don’t do this losing fish then?  I think pros sometimes do it to create drama for the camera.

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Why aren’t people that don’t do this losing fish then?  I think pros sometimes do it to create drama for the camera.

Money on the line, I doubt they are doing anything but trying to land it

[soflabasser]

9 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Why aren’t people that don’t do this losing fish then?  I think pros sometimes do it to create drama for the camera.

That is why I do not pay much attention to them or most Youtubers. Many of them like to overhype for attention to get more views. Seems like they are selling the sizzle more than the steak. 

[J Francho]

Do you think tournament purses are what is driving the pro fishing industry?  I’m seeing a shift in that traditional model. It’s already happened in other individual “sports” like skateboarding. They’re creating a persona in order to sell goods. It’s less about tournament success anymore. That’s a separate topic, though. 

[Mike L]

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Thanks, I was beginning to think nobody watches pro fishing

It’s not what they’re watching. 

Regardless if they do or not, it gives me more control when trying to pull a fish out of the junk or when she gets hung up especially when using a high lb test braid. 
I’d rather not have to lock down the drag and put an undo amount of strain on it. 

 

 

 

Mike
 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Mike L said:

It’s not what they’re watching. 

Regardless if they do or not, it gives me more control when trying to pull a fish out of the junk or when she gets hung up especially when using a high lb test braid. 
I’d rather not have to lock down the drag and put an undo amount of strain on it. 

 

 

 

Mike
 

I agree. If it helps you and me and hundreds of others, it's not "useless"

[Fishin Dad]

Well darn it.  Let’s recap.  So, I was correct in seeing pros do this.   Some say it is crazy TO do it, some say it is crazy NOT To do it.  I guess it has been the rare case for me when I have felt I needed more than the drag, with correct line, on the correct rod, and having the ability to drop my rod towards and into the water.   In thinking about it, I was worried about my thumb not knowing how hard to push, if I let off too much would it backlash, would it burn my thumb.   All legit concerns.  Thanks for all the replies.  It still has me thinking.  I may just try it once on a smaller bass to see what the deal is.  I also don’t want to break $300 reels. 

[GReb]

I’ve done this a few times in the past out of panic. Today I trust my equipment and just loosen the drag mid fight if needed

[JustJames]

I mostly use thumb to assist more drag if needed, only a few time that I had to release the thumb bar and rely on my thumb for drag. 

I don’t watch enough pro fishing in tournament since that educates me nothing but how PRO horse, flip then weight the fish. I guess they (pro) use more thumb because the set drag super tight for guaranteed hook set and to be able to horse the fish as fast as they can. They also bring the fish in too fast so fish still have a lot of energy to run when near boat.

 I fight fish with ROD and rely on my drag to let the line out when needed. Just one rod tip down that should be enough when bass decides to go deep one last time. 

[Bankc]

Back in the days before drag was a component of the reel, this is how everyone did it.  Today, it's a useful technique, but one that probably isn't necessary most of the time.  I still do it from time to time.  Mostly, it's because I reeled the fish in too far and need to give it a bit of slack so I can lip him without grabbing my rod in the middle.  Sometimes it's for other reasons.  But I probably only do it once a month or less.  

 

If you pull back on the rod, and then quickly move the tip towards the fish, you can create the slack you need to relieve the tension on the reel so you can disengage the spool.  Sometimes you'll want to roll the spool forward a hair first as well.  Just a quick pop will usually do it.  It takes maybe a quarter of a second.  

 

I'm much more likely to set the drag low and put my thumb on the spool to get more drag than release the spool to get less drag.  But do whatever works for you.  

[Bandersnatch]

I'd bet most of the pros doing this are NOT using high end reels. Unfortunately due to sponsors a lot of these guys are using middle of the road gear, at least from what I can see. 

[WRB]

Back in the days of knuckle busters or reels the handle didn't disengage to free spool line the only drag you had was your thumb. I know from experience how that worked from blistered thumb pads trying to slow down fish using braided line.

Free spool reels today have instant anti reverse bearing preventing the reel handle from turning backwards. However these reels all have reliable drag systems to allow line to be pulled off the spool without the handle turning backwards like the knuckle busters of the past. 

If you push down the spool disengagement thumb bar under high tension to release it without first stopping the spool from spinning you may break the a few parts. If you stop the spool spinning you may break off the fish at a critical moment or burn your thumb creating the blisters of yesteryear.

Set and trust the drag you pay a lot of money for and add more pressure when needed using your thumb or back off the convient star drag adjustment as needed and add use your thumb.

Tom

[Team9nine]

48 minutes ago, WRB said:

 

Set and trust the drag you pay a lot of money for and add more pressure when needed using your thumb or back off the convient star drag adjustment as needed and add use your thumb.

Tom

 

The drag they force you to pay a lot of money for - lol. Which brings up an interesting question. How much cheaper could they build a reel if they didn’t include a drag, washers and adjustment mechanisms for people like me? How much less weight and size could they save? An even lighter/simpler bait cast reel with the thumb bar/disengage lever that was on the original Castaics and I’d switch every reel I have over to them ? I do use that expensive drag, sort of...I just set it at around 70% of max or line wt. 

[WRB]

When Shimano came out with Curado and Calcutta reels in the early 90's the drag design was today's state of the art. I was using Daiwa bait casting reels back then because they had the free spinning spool system allowing longer casts. However the Daiwa drags sucked they were sticky compared to Shimano smooth drags at that era and everyone was upgrading to slick drag washers.

If I set my drags 70% of 10 or 12 lb force it would overwhelm my rod strength and break off ever bass over 8 lbs unless backing off the setting every time a strike occurred. 33% works for me 100% of the time.

Tom

 

[Team9nine]

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

 

If I set my drags 70% of 10 or 12 lb force it would overwhelm my rod strength and break off ever bass over 8 lbs unless backing off the setting every time a strike occurred. 33% works for me 100% of the time.

Tom

 

Even on your traditional long casts with all the inherent stretch in nylon and fluoro based lines, plus “sag,” you feel you generate enough force to break 10-12# line on a hook set with a minimum 30% forgiveness (drag) built into the system (the line tests stronger than rated, obviously)?