Can I put 17 pound braid on a reel that has 22 pounds of drag?

[Boomstick]

Absolutely. You're going to want to set the drag to a much lower number, either no higher than 5lbs or 25% of the max rated line strength on the rod you're fishing it on anyway. 22lbs of drag is overkill for just about anything bass related.

[NOC 1]

24 minutes ago, MickD said:

I agree with all exc that you can in fact pull 24 pounds of drag on any rod without damaging it if you point that rod at the source of the pull.  There is a lot in how one fights the fish, how he orients the rod to the fish.  I am not saying that there are many or any times when 24 pounds of force is necessary, only that it doesn't matter how high the force is if the rod is pointed at the source of the force.  The line will break with no damage to the rod.

Right you are...I should have been more specific I suppose and said that you will trash the rod if you tried putting 24 lbs on the rod.

 

On the other hand, I can't ever recall actually fighting a fish by keeping the rod pointed directly at the fish. I'm not 100% that would even be possible without bringing a step ladder on board the boat so that you could keep that rod pointed at the fish as you brought it up next to the boat.

[MickD]

29 minutes ago, NOC 1 said:

On the other hand, I can't ever recall actually fighting a fish by keeping the rod pointed directly at the fish. I'm not 100% that would even be possible without bringing a step ladder on board the boat so that you could keep that rod pointed at the fish as you brought it up next to the boat.

Agreed, but my point is that one can moderate the force on the rod by the direction it's pointed.  Never directly at the fish, but the rod will have a lot of power if offset from direct by some amount.  If pointed back over your head it wouldn't take 24 pounds to trash it.  No problem keeping it pointed directly at the fish if you want to, just lean over point it at the line, reach out if you have to.  Not that I'm saying that's the correct way to fight a fish, only that the direction the rod is pointed can have a lot to do with the load on the rod, and the extreme case is pointing it directly at the fish.

[NOC 1]

8 minutes ago, MickD said:

Agreed, but my point is that one can moderate the force on the rod by the direction it's pointed.  Never directly at the fish, but the rod will have a lot of power if offset from direct by some amount.  If pointed back over your head it wouldn't take 24 pounds to trash it.  No problem keeping it pointed directly at the fish if you want to, just lean over point it at the line, reach out if you have to.  Not that I'm saying that's the correct way to fight a fish, only that the direction the rod is pointed can have a lot to do with the load on the rod, and the extreme case is pointing it directly at the fish.

Again you are correct and spite of my giving you a bit of poking about it, you are giving sound advice. My rule of thumb when fighting the fish is to try to keep my rod pointed down somewhat and never higher than a 30 degree angle or so. That keeps the load on the backbone of the rod instead of the tip. And then I move it towards pointing it at the fish as I reel in the slack and then pull the fish with a more sideways action keeping the rod down. I do this based on exactly the principle that are talking about. You are 100% correct that the closer that you can keep the rod pointing toward the fish, the better off you are.

 

The trickiest part is when you get the fish to the boat where it not really possible to point the rod at the fish to land it. at that point you just have to bend down and get it while holding the rod behind you but still at a low angle. Of course in an ideal situation you have a partner who won't mind lending a hand with a net.

 

This all sounds pretty picky I guess to the guys using IM6 rods who are used to boat flipping their fish, but a high end HM rod will not take much of that kind of abuse.

[newapti5]

On 1/19/2021 at 2:07 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

You’re right for not locking down a drag, but the AR takes the brunt of the force not the gears. Winching fish in instead of using the rod to fight the fish stresses gears unnecessarily. 

 

I respectfully disagree about only AR taking the brunt of force.  I think every part of the chain of force takes in the same amount of force.  The chain of force goes from fishing line, to spool, to pinion gear, to main gear, to drag washers, to shaft, to AR. Let's say we set the drag too high, and a fish is pulling the line with a 10lb force when the drag is not giving at all. That 10lb of force should go through the chain of force all to way to AR, and every part in that chain is under 10lb of pressure. 

 

Now if I start pressing down my thumb on the spool, my thumb is taking part of the 10lb force. Then starting from the spool, the rest parts of the chain of force, such as the pinion, main gear, ... are taking less than 10lb of force. 

 

Hope I explain my thoughts clearly enough. These are just my 2 cents. 

 

[MickD]

11 hours ago, NOC 1 said:

The trickiest part is when you get the fish to the boat where it not really possible to point the rod at the fish to land it. at that point you just have to bend down and get it while holding the rod behind you but still at a low angle. Of course in an ideal situation you have a partner who won't mind lending a hand with a net.

Yup.  I have never mastered how to flip fish into the boat, just don't even try.  I'm pretty good with the net while fighting the fish near the boat, though.  We usually net or lip our own fish to allow the partner to keep fishing.

 

6 hours ago, newapti5 said:

 

I respectfully disagree about only AR taking the brunt of force.  I think every part of the chain of force takes in the same amount of force.  The chain of force goes from fishing line, to spool, to pinion gear, to main gear, to drag washers, to shaft, to AR. Let's say we set the drag too high, and a fish is pulling the line with a 10lb force when the drag is not giving at all. That 10lb of force should goes through the chain of force all to way to AR, and every parts in that chain is under 10lb of pressure. 

 

Now if I start pressing down my thumb on the spool, my thumb are taking part of the 10lb force. Then starting from the spool, the rest parts of the chain of force, such as the pinion, main gear, ... are taking less than 10lb of force. 

 

Hope I explain my thoughts clearly enough. These are just my 2 cents. 

 

Nailed it.