What’s your school of thought on how hard you set drag?

[Darth-Baiter]

I feel I’m too (up)tight.  Mine drag is too tight (I think).
 

yesterday I backed off to safely strip line to re-tie a lost lure.  I tightened it down but looser than usual. Then it happened, one bass saw me, saw my kayak, saw me fumbling with net;  he got renewed vigor......bzzzzzzztz.  It stripped line. I feathered the spool with my thumb -  almost instinctively.   But hot darn! If that wasn’t kinda exciting. 
 

im not fighting a marlin.  But I can’t imagine some cushioning is a good thing.   You adjusting mid fight? You run tight, or loose?  My buddy goes tight with heavier line and he just winches them in. 

[OilfieldCowboy]

No one drag setting is good for all situations. If I don't feel like a longish fight, I will set my drag to about 50% of the breaking strength of my line or leader (whichever is weaker) with a fishing scale. That is assuming that 50% of line breaking strength won't require me to lock my drag down tight, which I refuse to do.

 

If I am okay with a longer fight, which I generally am because I would rather have one good fight for the day than have 10 fish in the boat, I just pull on it by hand to set it where it feels okay. If I hook into one and its just pulling line without any resistance I will change it mid fight without a seconds hesitation.

[Jig Man]

One thing I never want to do is break the line setting the hook so I keep mine loose enough to slip on a hard hook set but tight enough to bury the hook.  I can always add more drag with digit pressure.

[Deleted account]

Treble hooks, I set a light drag. Things with heavy hooks I crank it down to 11, everything else I set fairly tight, mostly guided by he pressure that would straighten the hook I'm fishing. 

[Dwight Hottle]

I set my drag based on single hook versus treble hook & weight of line used. Also I adjust for how heavy the cover is I'll be fishing. Light line with treble hooks in open water I set the drag lose enough to barely slip on a hard hookset. I also like reels that have individual detent on drag settings so you can adjust one interval at a time. For single hook baits with heavy mono or braid in heavy cover I tighten the drag so I can just barely pull line off the spool. Everything else gets set in between light drag to heavy drag. I will also loosen the drag a little when I get a big fish close to the boat in case it  goes ballistic at boat side. 

[Angry John]

Technique matters a lot.  If I am drop shotting I rely on my drag to protect my line so I set it about half of breaking strength with my trigger tester at home.  If I am punching or swim baiting with the jig hook I lock it up and bring the hate.  I use non the fly adjustments for my cranking setup 

[WRB]

FC, Copolymer/mono 1/3 the line strength. Straight braid Med/3 power 3 lbs, MH/4 power 4 lbs, H/5-6 power 5 - 6 lbs.

If more force is needed I use my calibrated thumb.

Tom

 

 

[Mike L]

A properly calibrated, experienced thumb is the best drag and almost always better in all situations. 
There is no guesswork involved. 
 

That being said, pulling a 6 lb bass out of a 2ft thick mat of hydrilla using both, again if set correctly, can be the best way. 

 

 

Mike

[roadwarrior]

I occasionally set the drag with a scale because it's fun and to see

how close I am with "feel". The exact number is 2 lbs, but +/- a little

is fine. I will pull a little line when I rig up, but then I'm one and done.

I would never consider adjusting my drag with a fish on. 

[Dens228]

I'm very scientific and particular.  I tighten it all the way and then back about a quarter turn. 

[bulldog1935]

I always set with spring scale to 1/4 of weakest link - line, tippet, or rod max line rating.  

Heck, I have the spring scale.  Not using it would be like having a beaver hat in the closet and out on a cold rainy day.  

If I need more on the water (say with a determined hook set), will thumb the spool (same with spinning reel), but can't really think of a time fish taking drag wasn't part of the fun.  

[Fishinthefish]

I set my drag by hand, and dependent on application. I'm may set the hook with the same strength on a weightless worm texas rigged, and a jig in some slop, but I don't want the hook to pull the worm and fish up to eye level on me.