Thumbing the spool when setting the hook?

[ThrowinPlugs]

Dumb question but it popped into my head this AM. Do you guys thumbs the spool on a hookset when fishing a baitcaster? I do. It seems no matter how I set my drag it'll always slip a tiny bit on a hard set. Id rather thumb it and bury the hook than risk a sub par hookset. I just let the drag do its thing while fighting the fish. 

[QED]

I usually palm the reel while retrieving, so thumbing the spool on hookset is not even an option.

[GreenPig]

Nope. My drag will slip but that keeps me from breaking off or ripping the hooks out of the fish.

[gunsinger]

Sometimes I do. But there have been times when I have inadvertently tripped the thumb bar when doing so. 

[Bankc]

Not usually.  But I have gone to set the hook, realized my drag was set really low, and thumbed it for a quick second set.  

[huZZah]

Sometimes but I try not to. 

[Bluebasser86]

No, the drag should be set correctly so it isn't needed.

[Bankbeater]

No.  If my drag is slipping on the hookset then either I don't have it set correctly, or I've set the hook on a snag.

[Captain Phil]

The right thing to do is set the drag properly.  However, some of us were fishing before modern drag systems.   I never use the drag when bass fishing.  I have been hammering it down since the seventies.   Reel drags can be inconsistent and I want to know what is going to happen before it does.   A bass is not going to run off 100 yards of line like a bone fish. When I set the hook, there is no question that the hook is buried.  If a bass surges, I push the button into free spool and use my thumb as a drag.  If I'm using a spinning reel, I back reel.  I don't recommend this unless you have a ton of experience.  I do use the drag when salt water fishing.

[Mike L]

Nope

 

Reasons above

 

 

 

Mike

[Catt]

Nahh! ?

 

Bull Redfish will break you of that habit!

[A-Jay]

I don't 'want' to - but I'm still guilty of doing it occasionally, even after all these years.

Popped off more fish on the hookset doing that,

than I care to admit to.

#badhabit

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[scaleface]

  Done it today .  Stopped at culvert on a gravel rd . I had the spool in free spool  and dip the lure around wood washed up against a culvert . So I have the thumb on the spool while dropping the lure in one hole then another .

[Mobasser]

17 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I don't 'want' to - but I'm still guilty of doing it occasionally, even after all these years.

Popped off more fish on the hookset doing that,

than I care to admit to.

#badhabit

Fish Hard

A-Jay

A-Jay, when I started my reel didn't have a thumbar. An ABU 5000. My older brother taught me to keep my thumb on the spool when setting the hook. I think I still do this at times, even though all my casting reels have a thumbar now. Worse case for me would be to push the thumbar, putting your reel in freespool. Bad habits from years ago. Sometimes they stay with you

[papajoe222]

Your drag slips on the hookset because it's doing its job.....preventing your line from breaking. There was a time, when I used round baitcasters, that I did this and broke off more times than I care to remember.  The rods I used back then were broom sticks and not forgiving.  You may be able to get away with it with today's longer rods, but why chance it?

[TnRiver46]

20 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

The right thing to do is set the drag properly.  However, some of us were fishing before modern drag systems.   I never use the drag when bass fishing.  I have been hammering it down since the seventies.   Reel drags can be inconsistent and I want to know what is going to happen before it does.   A bass is not going to run off 100 yards of line like a bone fish. When I set the hook, there is no question that the hook is buried.  If a bass surges, I push the button into free spool and use my thumb as a drag.  If I'm using a spinning reel, I back reel.  I don't recommend this unless you have a ton of experience.  I do use the drag when salt water fishing.

^thats the way to do it!!

[the reel ess]

Nah. And on lures that I need a really hard hookset, like jigs, I have the drag set very tight. On trebles, if you sweep the rod on a hookset that will usually get it done. I keep the drag set pretty loose on those because I use braid almost exclusively now.

[Sphynx]

21 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I don't 'want' to - but I'm still guilty of doing it occasionally, even after all these years.

Popped off more fish on the hookset doing that,

than I care to admit to.

#badhabit

Fish Hard

A-Jay

This...

 

I think if I was to concentrate on keeping my thumb out of the spool for a few weeks I could break myself of the habit, but I occasionally catch myself doing it, lost 2 jerkbaits this past Sunday because of it too.

[A-Jay]

31 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

This...

 

I think if I was to concentrate on keeping my thumb out of the spool for a few weeks I could break myself of the habit, but I occasionally catch myself doing it, lost 2 jerkbaits this past Sunday because of it too.

I do it more when fishing a Texas rigged deal than most anything else.

Especially if & when I've missed one or two or perhaps got schooled by a flatty.

That next very next hookset is often delivered with bad intention.

Add a thumb job to that and something is going to get broken.

Could be the line, could be the rod.

Cursing like a sailor often follows either . . . .

Fish Hard (minus the thumb)

A-Jay

 

[Sphynx]

Jerkbaits tend to be expensive baits both in terms of time and money, more so when you insist on swapping out o-rings and trebles and get everything balanced just so and I hate losing them, I tend to refresh my collection of foul words when a good one goes, made worse this weekend by the same fish taunting me by breaching repeatedly so I had to hear the rattles

[bulldog1935]

Always.  

 

Even a spinning reel gets index finger on the spool.  

 

Lever drag gets pushed forward to set position, and then backed off to fish-mouth setting.  

 

Back to UL spinning, this all-metal MTCW TD (touch drag) knob has a spring inside that won't let you set the drag over about 1-1/2 lb.  

But you push on the front of the drag knob with your finger tip, and it gives you more drag to hook-set or slow a run.  You can feel the spring compressing further.  

If you think about it, even the stock plastic-lump drag knob adjusts drag by elastic strain in the plastic lump. The spring gives you 100-times more elastic range in fine drag adjustment.  They include a red stiffer spring to swap in that gives you the full drag capacity of the spool.  

 

 

[fishwizzard]

All the time.  I keep my drag pretty loose and my palming grip puts my thumb right on the spool with most every combo I have. 

[JustJames]

Still do it from time to time.

[Deleted account]

Nope. On light line treble applications I don't (or barely) set the hook, and on single hook baits drag is locked down.

[GRiver]

I will use my thumb on the spool to set the hook when I’m pitching and or flipping and as I’m free spooling letting the bait sink thru the cover. Sometimes I get a bite , but I haven’t rotated the handle yet to lock the spool, I’ll use my thumb to lock the spool to set the hook.

I’ve fish hit as soon as it hits the water, so I thumb set until I get the handle turned. 
I'm not saying it the right thing to do, but it just seem like a natural reaction to me.