To loosen drags or not?

[waymont]

Loosen after every trip

[Bankc]

It depends on what the drag disc is made of.  If it's felt, you'll ruin it quickly if you don't store it loosened.  This is where the habit came from.  With those softer, rubbery plastic discs, they'll ruin over time if you don't loosen them, but they're pretty resilient.  With carbon fiber, they won't ruin if you never loosen the drag.  They're hard as a rock and you'll strip your bolt threads before you compress those.  

 

I switch all of my reels over to carbon fiber, if they don't come with it already, specifically for this reason.  Otherwise, I have a bad habit of missing my first fish because I forget to retighten it.  

[Hulkster]

I loosen them after each outing because I put the snap of my leader on my hook keeper. 

 

Throwback to the 90s when everyone said you had to lol

[Darth-Baiter]

if i'm being honest, you put my feet to the fire and i couldnt tell you what material my drags are made of.  

 

as i get things serviced, i assume i will upgrade.  as of now, i dont stop for any winter, i fish almost weekly, i dont have any issues.  some reels sit for weeks unused.  like i dont punch fish thru the winter. 

[Steveo-1969]

You can put me in the “loosen the drag after every trip” camp.

[MN Fisher]

Like @Bankc - if it's Oil-Felt or plastic, it gets loosened, Carbon-Fiber I just leave alone.

 

And I've been upgrading all my non-Carbon discs to Carbon.

[HawkeyeSmallie]

I know this is an old thread but I just saw a youtube video last night where a guy was suggesting loosening your drags after every outing and definitely at the end of the season.

 

I'm starting to get into some high end gear so I guess I'll start doing this.

 

Knowing how my brain works (not well most of the time) I'm sure this will backfire on me.

 

LOL

[bulldog1935]

Last thing with a reel coming off my bench, drag gets set using a spring balance.  

Proper drag set is 1/4 of weakest link - line or leader breaking strength, or rod max line rating.  

It won't get touched again until the next bench trip.  

That way, I'm always fishing with a Known.  

[Mike L]

I Always back off my drag after each outing. 

If I don’t intend to use that combo again for a while I’ll also cut the lure off before storing it away. 
It’s just my reminder to re rig the next time. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Never bother with it

[Bird]

Never knew it was a thing until this thread.

Never had and probably to late to add something else to remember 😉 

[F14A-B]

Nope, I do not. I check em before first cast unless it’s my JDM Vanford, it uses felt drag washers so I back those off..

[wvhunt]

I'd never loosed a drag in my life, but started doing it when I winterized my boat each year after reading somewhere that it was recommended.

[GReb]

I always loosen mine after taking apart older reels and the drags were glued to the main gear and deteriorating 

[woolleyfooley]

I’ve never heard of doing this. Here in Florida we don’t have an “off” season. We can fish year round. 
 

I’d be really interested to hear @Delaware Valley Tackletake on this since he repairs reels for a living. 
 

Personally I would expect modern reels not to need it, but I could be wrong. 
 

Does it make a difference if it’s casting or spinning reels?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

1 hour ago, woolleyfooley said:

I’ve never heard of doing this. Here in Florida we don’t have an “off” season. We can fish year round. 
 

I’d be really interested to hear @Delaware Valley Tackletake on this since he repairs reels for a living. 
 

Personally I would expect modern reels not to need it, but I could be wrong. 
 

Does it make a difference if it’s casting or spinning reels?

It sure won’t hurt anything, but I don’t see it as critical. If I made a top ten list of reel care tips loosening drag after every trip wouldn’t make the list. If you’re one to lock drags down, which I discourage but I know is done, and you store for long periods I’d back them off. Especially if you have a shimano with the non carbon washers. 

[LonnieP]

I set mine when they’re new and never touch them again 

[ike8120]

I only back them for the winter. Othwerwise I just leave them alone

 

[herder]

I always back them off when putting them away after a trip, it's just a habit from fishing for over 60 years.

I tighten them up when loading them up for a trip, and check again when on the water

[gim]

1 hour ago, ike8120 said:

I only back them for the winter. Othwerwise I just leave them alone

 

 

Same

 

I do however, check mine before I make my first cast each outing.  Just to confirm.  Its a habit.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Admittedly I'm a simpleton, but I'd never do this on a reel that wasn't going into some kind of deep storage........this sounds like a recipe for disaster. 

 

The last new reel I bought I spooled it up, fished it for an hour so, then had a monster eat a buzzbait and ended up dumping her because the drag never got set out of the box lol.    

 

That scene would repeat itself in short order if I started to mess with my drags off the water.   

 

For my reels at least, tightened drags is the least of their concerns 🤣

[PaulVE64]

Fervently loosen both drag and reel seat when I leave the river bank because I'm usually bushwacking from there.

[Tackleholic]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Admittedly I'm a simpleton, but I'd never do this on a reel that wasn't going into some kind of deep storage........this sounds like a recipe for disaster. 

 

The last new reel I bought I spooled it up, fished it for an hour so, then had a monster eat a buzzbait and ended up dumping her because the drag never got set out of the box lol.    

 

That scene would repeat itself in short order if I started to mess with my drags off the water.   

 

For my reels at least, tightened drags is the least of their concerns 🤣

Happened with me too.  Really sucked.

[woolleyfooley]

22 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

It sure won’t hurt anything, but I don’t see it as critical. If I made a top ten list of reel care tips loosening drag after every trip wouldn’t make the list. If you’re one to lock drags down, which I discourage but I know is done, and you store for long periods I’d back them off. Especially if you have a shimano with the non carbon washers. 

Thanks! I assume most if not all modern reels use carbon drags, right? 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

20 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Thanks! I assume most if not all modern reels use carbon drags, right? 

Some do, some don’t, some use a combination.