you've no doubt noticed that i have a heavy bias against spinners. still, they offer a number of significant advantages. nothing personal, it's just that there are too many of them and they change models every few years. cynic that i am, i've come to believe that the manufacturers want you to BUY a new one every few years as well. here in the US, the market has been flooded with cheap spinning reels. yes, pack the bearing with grease and replace the felt drag washers with grease carbon fiber and you will have a reel that may outlast you!
KNOW YOUR DRAG SETTINGS
3/23/09 - In medicine, one of the first things a student is taught is the difference between the subjective and the objective. Subjectives are things that a patient will complain of, like "Hey, doc, i ache all over, my back hurts and i'm hearing voices." Objectives are things that can be assigned hard numbers, like a heart rate, a blood pressure, a respiratory rate and a temperature. Back pain can be subject to interpretation, but the number of pills taken in the previous week to treat that back pain is an objective hard number. In deciding how best to help a patient, appreciating these differences can be very helpful.
So it is also in fishing. Subjectively, someone can say that a reel easy to crank, the drags are smooth and the spool spins like crazy. Objectively, a reel will have physical dimension, line capacity, a retrieve ratio, a maximum drag setting, and a freespool time. The battle I constantly fight is trying to get guys to actually measure and properly set their drags. What could be more simple? You spool up your reel with 300 yards of 30 pound monofilament, tie the line off to a spring scale and rear back on the rod like you're fighting a fish. A typical drag setting would be 25 to 33% of your line weight. That means you adjust the drag setting for your 30 pound reel until the scale reads 7.5 to 10 pounds.
Now imagine getting stuck at your wife’s office party. Just to tick her off, you’ve worn that fish tie that the kids got you for Christmas. Bored to death and two drinks into the evening, some total stranger comes up to you and starts to talk fishing. He’s big, tall, a little overweight, and he’s got arms like your thighs. In a loud gruff voice, he tells you about the time he was “spooled in seconds” by a giant yellowfin tuna on a San Diego 5 day trip. You have the presence of mind not to roll your eyes. Just trying to hold up your end of the conversation, you ask what kind of reel he was using and what the drag setting was. You’ve heard this answer before. “I don’t need a scale! I can set the drags by hand.”
OK, settle down. You’ve only had two drinks and you’re going to find out later that this bozo is your wife’s boss. He could be right. He could also be a total idiot. Either way, it is not worth arguing because you have no objective measures. More importantly, your glass is empty and there’s no one at the bar. Just tell him that you need to find your wife and avoid him for the rest of the evening. Know your drag settings, guys. It really is just that simple.