Spinning reel drag (and maybe casting reels too)

[Kirtley Howe]

A short story...I went fishing with a casual acquaintance a few days ago. He has some pretty expensive spinning reels (like in the $250 or higher range). He was very frustrated because the drags on his reels were sticking, and if they did work they were not smooth at all. At first I could not think why that would be, so I asked how he set them. He said he set them by pulling the line off the reel until it felt "right" to him, and after that he never touched them until he replaced the line at the end of the season. I asked how often he went fishing and he said 6 or 7 times a year. The light then dawned on me. I asked him if he remembered to back the drag almost completely off before putting the equipment back in storage between trips. His answer was "Why would I do that?". I told him the drag would bind up from sitting cranked on, and he could relieve a lot of his problems if he would turn the drag off when he was done fishing for a while. I also suggested that he take the drag apart and lightly oil the washers to smooth them out. He scoffed at me....oh well, I suspect he is going to continue to think his expensive reels are "junk", as he put it. 

I know I can't be the only one on here who loosens the drags on his/her reels when done for the day. Or am I? I was taught to do this by a very experienced professional, so I really believe it is good advice. What do you all think? Am I crazy, or is this a good practice?
 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Loosening the drag is not a bad idea but I’m not sure it’s critical. Definitely not as critical and keeping them clean and greased depending on material. Drags can get sticky just from sitting. I give them a tank every so often including at the start of a fishing day. 

[fin]

It took me a long time to learn the importance of cleaning and greasing the drag washers. The thing that always kept me from doing it was never having the 'special grease' I thought I needed. Then one day I heard you can actually use any grease, and once I saw the difference it made, it was like a light coming on. I'd still like to have some grease that's made for that purpose, but I never think about it when I'm ordering stuff.

 

I used to back off the drag, but I was always forgetting, and forgetting to reset it before fishing and losing fish because of it. I think it would take a long time for a felt washer to become so compact and hardened that it didn't function. Like years.

 

33 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I give them a tank every so often including at the start of a fishing day. 

 

Tank?

[WRB]

smooth drags, a few $$ along with their lub.

Tom

[PaulVE64]

I back off the drag and reel seat

[keagbassr]

All my drags get locked down 1st day of the season and stay locked until I'm done for the year. 

[bulldog1935]

My drag gets set with a spring balance first time I set up the reel, and never changed.  The only time it will get changed is swapping a spool on a spinning reel, and after baitcaster maintenance when the star drag gets removed.  

My drag has never let me down, from finesse to bluewater.    

When you use Cal's drag washer grease, never leave excess.  If you wet the washer surfaces including the edges then remove all of it, you've left the perfect film on the drag washer.  Also, you only use Cal's on carbon drag washers.  Felt/fiber washers and silicon carbide washers should be used dry.  

 

Cal's grease is heat resistant, and doesn't lose its viscosity or decompose with heat - up to a limit.  If you need to go higher (offshore), you can buy grades of heat resistance, e.g., from MTCW.  

 

A friend told a story about repeated bonefish break off because he had never used drag grease on his drag washers, and his carbontex drag froze up.  His tune was changed.  

[Darth-Baiter]

the drag is friction.   very similar to a car clutch.  we dont have to push the clutch in for long periods of non-op.

[desmobob]

I back off my drags when I put my gear up for the winter but I'm sure I forget on a few.  The best thing that ever happened to my reel drags was me spending a few bucks on a little tub of Cal's Drag Grease. (Mine is in Okuma brand packaging, but is Cal's.)

 

Like with most everything else mechanical, proper maintenance using the right products makes for reliable performance.

[garroyo130]

On 8/10/2023 at 6:32 PM, fin said:

It took me a long time to learn the importance of cleaning and greasing the drag washers. The thing that always kept me from doing it was never having the 'special grease' I thought I needed. Then one day I heard you can actually use any grease, and once I saw the difference it made, it was like a light coming on. I'd still like to have some grease that's made for that purpose, but I never think about it when I'm ordering stuff.

 

Although I've never personally had a bad experience using regular grease instead of drag grease, I would rather fish the drag dry than with regular grease. I've heard it can cause issues with drag smoothness and is a pain to clean up completely. 

[MN Fisher]

Carbon-fiber washers - you can leave them tightened down as they don't compress. A little Cals to smooth them out, though it will drop the top-end a bit.

Oil-felt washers - I loosen them up between trips. Yearly maintenance includes washing them out with mineral spirits, letting them completely dry, then a couple drops of a light machine oil...though I am slowly replacing all the oil-felts with carbon fiber.

[NavyToad]

I still back my drag off after every use. A holdover from the old days. No harm in it.

[fin]

2 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

I would rather fish the drag dry than with regular grease. I've heard it can cause issues with drag smoothness and is a pain to clean up completely.

 

Having never used Cal's or grease made for drag, I can't say how normal grease compares, but I'm not sure we can really know that Cal's isn't just a normal grease, we just have to take their word for it, right? Regular grease doesn't seem to stay greasy/smooth very long, or at least it seems that way to me. I might just not be putting enough on it.

 

Clean-up is pretty simple in my experience - just a little mineral spirits.

 

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

a couple drops of a light machine oil

 

Any reason you use oil instead of grease?

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, fin said:

Any reason you use oil instead of grease?

Trying to get sparse amount of grease embedded into the felt is a pain, you'd have to 'massage' the washer to get the grease evenly distributed through the washer.

With the oil, put just a couple drops on each washer in the stack, install the washers, crank down the drag, back it off...done.

[fin]

3 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

rying to get sparse amount of grease embedded into the felt is a pain, you'd have to 'massage' the washer to get the grease evenly distributed through the washer.

 

The Daiwa video I watched recommended putting the grease on your finger and thumb, not the washer, and then like you said, massaging the washer between them. Not very difficult, but okay, thanks for the reply, to each his own, I was just curious.

 

 

[redmeansdistortion]

I've been using Super Lube the last few years. It's a PTFE grease like Cal's, but unlike Cal's it's fully synthetic and doesn't contain hydrocarbons.  I use the NLGI1 grade for any non-conventional reel, similar to Cal's Purple.  The startup is markedly better with the softer grease than it is with the thicker NLGI2 (Cal's Tan).  For my winter reels, I will use NLGI0 just to keep those drags moving when the mercury is down there, though I never use it on customer reels.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:32 PM, fin said:

It took me a long time to learn the importance of cleaning and greasing the drag washers. The thing that always kept me from doing it was never having the 'special grease' I thought I needed. Then one day I heard you can actually use any grease, and once I saw the difference it made, it was like a light coming on. I'd still like to have some grease that's made for that purpose, but I never think about it when I'm ordering stuff.

 

I used to back off the drag, but I was always forgetting, and forgetting to reset it before fishing and losing fish because of it. I think it would take a long time for a felt washer to become so compact and hardened that it didn't function. Like years.

 

 

Tank?

Meant tug. Moving parts need to move occasionally to work their best 

[TnRiver46]

Drag?? We don’t need no stinkin drag!!!!

[Kirtley Howe]

Well, I was talking about "friction" drag, not "clothing" drag, so...............

[Spankey]

I never had any doubts about the drag on the NASCI reels. While bass fishing yesterday with a finesse worm set up I hooked into a 29 1/2”, 12 lb. Channel Catfish. That fish was all fight and gave the NASCI drag a workout. 
 

St. Croix 6’10” ML XFast

Shimano NASCI 2500

SunLine 6 lb. SuperNatural Mono

Gamagatsu 1/0 Light Wire worm hook

4” Berkley PowerWorm

 

I let the drag do its job, tried not to do anything stupid, let the fish get tired. I wasn’t to sure how the rod was gonna hold up when the fish got its way under the boat.