Drag preferences on Baitcast?

[RenzokukenFisher]

So I totally fumbled another giant this evening. This time I lost a monster on my baitcast gear. It was a combination of factors, was travelling light so used my 7' MH fast rod with a 1/2 oz spinnerbait, normally wouldve had it on my mod action. Hooked up into her and the rod just folded and she was moving quick! She darted one direction and then another towards some branches so I pulled back on the rod trying to stop her and she came unbuttoned. Reeled back in and the hook was a little bent out on the spinnerbait. I think I tried to horse her and my drag was locked down. Too much pressure. However all these swimbait guys and others say to lock it down and horse them in. Am I missing the picture it didnt seem possible to to horse that fish in. Would love to know what y'all recommend for drag settings on baitcast. Keeping in mind this lake is gnarly in cover, sticks, weeds and only about 6ft - 8ft deep so these fish dig straight into cover.

[LrgmouthShad]

Well, real sorry to hear that you lost that great fish. It's tough to know everything that went wrong. 

To answer your question, I like drag set around 5lbs for most single-hook applications. 

[RenzokukenFisher]

Yeah I was honestly just grateful to hook up with her! Havent felt a fish surge like that in like 3 years it was great. Totally knew she would be where I hooked her too which felt great having the puzzle pieces come together. But thank you 5lbs makes sense. I dont find myself using less than 12lb line on my baitcasters so that gives good wiggle room. Gonna move away from locking my drag down, works with the 4 and 5lbers but I think those really big ones especially in the summer just pull too d**n hard

 

 

Managed to get this nice 3.5 before the big one though which was nice!

[LrgmouthShad]

Nice man. 12lb is the lightest I go on a baitcaster, too. For that, I'm at around 4lbs drag, unless treble. Treble hook baits it depends on the size and thickness of the trebles. I'll go 2-4lbs usually. Most my baitcasting is with 16-20lb line. I go with 5lb drag for that.

[Catt]

Reels are set at 6-10# of drag, this never changes...ever.

 

Berkley Big Game 15# or Sufix 832 50#, only lines I use.

 

Majority of the time I'm throwing a Medium Heavy X-Fast. 

[king fisher]

I have lost and witnessed thousands of fish of all species lost from broken lines, pulled hooks, bent hooks, broken rods, and tearing the hook out of a lightly skinned hook fish.  All of these fish might have been landed if the drag was not to tight.  I have also lost and witnessedonly a handful of fish lost due to the drag set to light.  The odds of loosing a fish by horsing them is way higher than the odds of loosing a fish by being to gentle.

 

That said, there are times when bass fishing that you have to clamp down on a bass in order to pull it away from or out of cover.  This can be done on a bait caster by applying pressure on the spool with your thumb.  Once you have the bass away from cover you can let the drag do it's work.

 

I have landed very large fish on tiny hooks, with ridiculously light line by having patience and the drag set light.  I'm sure this can be accomplished with bass as well, it's only the culture of horsing them to the top and skipping back the boat that keeps people from landing many bass.

 

How many times does an angler have a snag that wont come loose so they pull hard to break the line and the hook pulls out.  The hook is not bent it simply pulled out of the snag.  The same thing happens with a bass.  Pull to hard and something is going to give.

 

I have lost giant bass because I let them get in to cover.  That is on me, but I haven't lost giant bass because I horsed them.  Every fight is different.  Sometimes you have to move forward and punch hard, sometimes you have to play defense and wear them out.  Experience is the best teacher. 

[Pat Brown]

Yeah I usually have my drag somewhere in the 6-10# range depending on the cover and application.  You just never know what's going to happen and drag is a mechanical failsafe people should learn to use rather than neglect.  👍🏻😎

 

I never lock it down - on treble hook baits with light line I might go down on the drag a hair from that even.

 

When bass surge - bad things can easily happen and once they're hooked past the barb your drag is your buddy most of the time.

[Hook2Jaw]

I set my reels to about 45 percent of the line's breaking strength to the best of my ability through a fish scale.  I can't trust myself to always tie the perfect knot, to always check the line for damage, to retie leader knots every single time I fish, etcetera.

 

Sometimes that means I'm rocking a close to maximum drag on my setups that rock 16-20# line, at which point I'm not using anything less than a 4/0 heavy wire hook.

 

It doesn't always work out, but the only time I can remember it not working out is having a fish rip free of a swimjig hook with pure power this past pre-spawn.

 

That's just how I do it.

[MediumMouthBass]

I dont have a clue how to measure the lb of drag i have, but after losing a ton of fish on a MH fast rod using a treble hooked lipless i changed it to where if i pull hard line comes off the spool.

Havent lost many hooked fish since, including some giants.

And ive brought in more bass on that rod using cranks than i have by using expensive specific moderate cranking rods.

 

I used to believe drag had to be locked down 100% no matter the bait, i lost alot of bass because of this.... Their mouths are thin, our hooks are weak given enough stress, our rods can break, and our reel gears can become meshed together. Somethings gotta give when theirs that much force, and the weakest link always will. Fighting a bass, especially bigger bass is very much give and take. Some might come in easy and straightforward but others you might pull them in 20' and they might take half that back seconds later.

 

I fish alot of open water with heavy grass vegetation, but they usually dont dive for it. Weeds and lily pads however i could understand needing that drag to be a bit more tight to avoid letting them dive into that mess of vegetation. But you just have to be ok with losing some bass every now and then.

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, MediumMouthBass said:

I dont have a clue how to measure the lb of drag i have, but after losing a ton of fish on a MH fast rod using a treble hooked lipless i changed it to where if i pull hard line comes off the spool.

I dont know how to set the drag either and just go by feel. I'm going to go check, using a scales, what my worm rod is set at right now. 

 

Am I suppose to measure with the string through the guides on a  bent rod or straight out of the reel ?

 

[RenzokukenFisher]

2 hours ago, Hook2Jaw said:

It doesn't always work out, but the only time I can remember it not working out is having a fish rip free of a swimjig hook with pure power this past pre-spawn.

That sounds like that way to do it brotha. Also wow a fish pulling off from a swim jig hook is insane thise things are no joke!

[Hook2Jaw]

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

I dont know how to set the drag either and just go by feel. I'm going to go check, using a scales, what my worm rod is set at right now. 

 

Am I suppose to measure with the string through the guides on a  bent rod or straight out of the reel ?

 

 

I do it straight out of the reel, and I'd advise against loading your rods up with 4-5# of pull.  Seems like a good way to damage some of my my medium powered sticks.  I just tie a bowline knot in the end of my line, hang it on the scale and pull until I get the desired drag setting.

 

1 hour ago, RenzokukenFisher said:

That sounds like that way to do it brotha. Also wow a fish pulling off from a swim jig hook is insane thise things are no joke!

 

Yeah, it was insane.  When everything went slack I was sure the fish had just broke 16# Sniper, but got my swimjig back with a chunk of meat on the 5/0.

[Catt]

17 hours ago, scaleface said:

Am I suppose to measure with the string through the guides on a  bent rod or straight out of the reel ?

 

 

Is your reel on the rod when fishing?

Or is it in your hand?

 

If your rod can't handle 6-10 lbs of drag, you need a new rod anyway!

 

Now I wouldn't advise doing a clean & jerk, just a steady lift.

 

Bet y'all @Glenn got a video 

[king fisher]

I set the drags on all of my big game rods before every trip with a scale.  My bass rods I don't use a scale, I simply pull the line off with my hand and adjust the drag when it feels right.

 

If a person does use a scale, the reason you want to set the drag around 1/3 of the line break strength is because a fish does not pull slow and steady.  Have someone hold a rod in the same position you would fight a fish.  Then attach a scale to the end of the line.  slowly walk off and measure the weight of the drag on the scale. Lets say it pulls off at 5 pounds.  Now slowly walk away with the scale and start jerking quickly on the line imitating the fight of a fish.  That same drag setting may read as much as 10 pounds at peak times depending on the quality of the drag.  Add to that a nick or week knot in the line and you can see why setting the drag at anything more than 50% of line strength is only asking for trouble. 

 

If you are using heavy braid than your drag may still be to tight even at 1/3 of the line breaking strength.  Most rods made for bass fishing can break at 10 pounds of pull if the angle is extreme.  If you don't believe me take your favorite rod and try to lift a 10 pound weight off of the ground with it.  Even if your line and rod do not break, anything over 10 pounds of drag, will equate to over 15 pounds of drag with a sudden pull, and 15 pounds of drag is what I set drags for when trolling for Marlin.  Fifteen pounds of actual measured drag is an incredible amount of drag.

 

Cranking drags down all the way works for many anglers, and if it works for you don't change, but do consider that a reel with a drag at 15 pounds of drag, can bend hooks, break rods, and pull hooks from the mouths of bass if you don't play the bass correctly.  Luckily for us bass anglers, bass don't usually make long runs, so simply by moving your rod and body back and forth a person can usually give enough play in the line to keep from breaking something, but this skill takes time to acquire, and a well set drag is nice to have incase a bass does go on a strong run that is to long to compensate for by moving your rod and body. 

[Pat Brown]

14 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I set the drags on all of my big game rods before every trip with a scale.  My bass rods I don't use a scale, I simply pull the line off with my hand and adjust the drag when it feels right.

 

If a person does use a scale, the reason you want to set the drag around 1/3 of the line break strength is because a fish does not pull slow and steady.  Have hold a rod in the same position you would fight a fish.  Then attach a scale to the end of the line.  slowly walk off and measure the weight of the drag on the scale. Lets say it pulls off at 5 pounds.  Now slowly walk away with the scale and start jerking quickly on the line imitating the fight of a fish.  That same drag setting may read as much as 10 pounds at peak times depending on the quality of the drag.  Add to that a nick or week knot in the line and you can see why setting the drag at anything more than 50% of line strength is only asking for trouble. 

 

If you are using heavy braid than your drag may still be to tight even at 1/3 of the line breaking strength.  Most rods made for bass fishing can break at 10 pounds of pull if the angle is extreme.  If you don't believe me take your favorite rod and try to lift a 10 pound weight off of the ground with it.  Even if your line and rod do not break, anything over 10 pounds of drag, will equate to over 15 pounds of drag with a sudden pull, and 15 pounds of drag is what I set drags for when trolling for Marlin.  Fifteen pounds of actual measured drag is an incredible amount of drag.

 

Cranking drags down all the way works for many anglers, and if it works for you don't change, but do consider that a reel with a drag at 15 pounds of drag, can bend hooks, break rods, and pull hooks from the mouths of bass if you don't play the bass correctly.  Luckily for us bass anglers, bass don't usually make long runs, so simply by moving your rod and body back and forth a person can usually give enough play in the line to keep from breaking something, but this skill takes time to acquire, and a well set drag is nice to have incase a bass does go on a strong run that is to long to compensate for by moving your rod and body. 

 

This is the juice straight from a fishing guide IMHO.

 

Pay close attention when he points out with braid you might want even LESS than 1/3 breaking strength.  😉👍🏻

 

Deep level wisdom here.

[dodgeguy]

Trailer hooks !!!! I use 50 lb braid 10 lbs drag and never lose spinnerbait fish.

[new2BC4bass]

I adhere to the pull line by hand method.  Never found it necessary to measure with a scale.  Probably drag is lighter than if set with a scale.  Obviously 4# and 12# lines don't get set with the same feel.