Setting Your Drag

[Decky]

I thort i mite give a little tip for the new or not so experienced angler on setting your drag.

Grab a scale hook you line to it strike it as you would strike a fish and adjust it till u get 1/3 of the weight of your line. ie: 15kg = 5 kg of drag

You cant go wrong with that equation.

For the more experienced angler out ther yes i know that this is a strike equation and you can tweak it up a little after the strike and initiall full speed run but as i say its more a refrence for the inexperienced.

[Dan23]

Is that for Game fishing? I can see the logic in that for open water but for targeting big fish in estuaries I lock my drag up tight. If a Jack can take even 1 foot of line you'll bust off.

[Decky]

Yes it is a setting i use for for Trolling and as i say its a guide for the inexperienced on drag settings.

It can be a complex set of equations ie; fish weight,fish strength. etc etc but at the end of the day line will break iff you get it wrong.So yes i agree iff youve got a Jack heading for the structure you have to stop it.And as your experience develops you get a feel for what you can and cant do but i was targeting the audience who wants an idea on a good place to start with there drag setting.

[Dan23]

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you just wanted to know what type of fishing you were talking about. There's not many types of fishing where you would need to lock up the drag so your guide would be a good starting point.

[Decky]

Yer no worries Dan i just thort id try and put a guide up as it is in a lot of cases a matter of feel and feel comes from experience but there is mathematics to breaking strain so i thort id try and give a starting point that any1 can use.

[kevinchen19870316]

that's a gr8 suggestion to beginners decky!

dan, actually most of the low profile reels only have 5-8lb of drag and some latest shimanos have just over 10lb of drag, so no matter how to set them, the maxi u can get is around 7-9lb of drag. since not many fish r big enough to pull 7-9lb consistantly, 7-9lb of drag is quite enough to stop most, and that's the drag we usually have when we talk about "lock up". i think usually when lure fishing in the estuary, 3-4lb of drag is quite a lot and 2lb is what most ppl use when breaming on lures.

it's another story when off shore fishing where reels with 30kg of drag is commonly used

[Dan23]

You need to buy a Revo Kev lol:laugh:

[kevinchen19870316]

i am really really happy with the drag of my calais 100a, i seldom need to turn it to anywhere near the MAX.

[shortie]

You should set is as high as you can Kev. Cause you use 200lb line you still have no risk of loosing the fish due to line breaking.hehe

[kevinchen19870316]

ha ha, i am afraid to pull the hook out of the fish mouth.

[shortie]

kevinchen19870316 wrote:

ha ha, i am afraid to pull the hook out of the fish mouth.

The hook Kev or pull the fishs lips off

[kevinchen19870316]

lol, a fish straightened a treble on my lucky craft bevy shad this arvo. then i got a cattie casting to the exact spot with a megabass x-80

[pcsolutionman]

Lock up on the STX is Extreme hey kev;) but necesary sometimes :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Lee

[kevinchen19870316]

come on lee, put some super glue as drag washer grease!

[pcsolutionman]

kevinchen19870316 wrote:

come on lee, put some super glue as drag washer grease!

dont need it ive got plenty of drag:woohoo: :woohoo: you on the other hand:blush: :blush: :blush:

Lee

[kevinchen19870316]

ha ha ha ha. i'll go get some carbontex upgrades