Another Drag Setting Question

[andrew399]

Just wondering when your setting your drag do you measure it coming straight off the reel or whith the rod loaded up?

[Anti-Carp]

When you are setting your drag you need to measure it off the rod loaded up. I would recommend provided that you have a balanced outfit that you set your drag to 1/3 of the break strain of the line e.g if you are running 6 kilo line 2 kilos of drag or 9 kilos of line 3 kilos of drag.

The way you measure this is using a spring loaded scale that you can get at the tackle shop. And you pull the line attached to the scale until line starts pulling off the reel.

The thinking behind only fishing 1/3 of the breaking strain is

1) The power of some fish on the initial strike if the drag is set to high is enough to break the line on impact if the drag is set to high.

2) By placing the drag to 1/3 of the breaking strain you are able to provide additional hurt to the fish by palming the spool if you are using a thread line reel. (don't fall into the temptation of tightening a drag mid-fight with a fish)

[xtosea]

Off the rod tip, pulled off the reel at walking pace.

You can pull slow or fast and get up to 3 different reading, if you pull too slow then it will be a low kg rating, if you pull too quick then it will be a high kg rating, must be done at walking pace to achieve optimum result.

Kamil

[andrew399]

thanks for that guys, big help!