Braid and drag settings.

[fragmeister]

Hi All,

Let me first say that I have not been able to get out for my weekly fish because of poor conditions and too much work so I am guilty of too much thinking and not enough fishing.

Probably a question that has been posed before but I am interested to know your thoughts on the following.

I think it is true to say that nowadays we tend to spool our reels with braid well above the drag capacity of our reels.

This was harder in the past because the mono diameter would not allow you to do this and still have enough line on the spool for some species and some applications. Also casting is harder with heavier line.

Nowadays of course the thin diameter of braid allows us to easily go to double or triple the drag rating of the reel.

I can see some logic in always spooling your reel with line of a breaking strain greater than the drag capacity of the reel as at least you know when you are fully locked on the drag you are less likely to have a fish bust you off... line damage and inferior knot strength not withstanding of course. This assumes that a fully locked drag is on or about the maximum drag on the reel's specifications.

Is this the logic we are all applying or is there something else?

Sometimes of course we are using a light mono or flouro leader but often its a much heavier one.

Are there other pros and cons here?

Looking forward to your insights.

Edited May 25, 2015 by fragmeister

[stevefish]

Nothing?

[fragmeister]

Nothing?

Maybe it was a stupid question?

[batfishing]

Interesting.

In Panama last week or so, all the spin outfits were loaded with braid, the decky had this habit of winding down the drag as far as he could. Think we had a bit of a war going on, every time I picked a rod up, before casting I backed off the drag to a point I was comfortable with, otherwise I could see myself going overboard, when a strike from a rampaging yellowfin took place!

As soon as I put the outfit down, and he walked past, he loaded the drag up again!

Now being connected to a 40kg plus tuna on a light spinning outfit with braid and a heavy drag, is a recipe for running out of steam real quick, and I'm not talking about the tuna!

In the same situation again, I'd back the drag off further and let the fish run.

The strain you can put on terminal tackle and hooks, well. My mate from Finland dropped 4, on the afternoon I landed 2. One was the crews fault with the gaff, the second pulled the hooks after a minute, the third pulled after around 15 minutes, and the last snapped the terminal tackle after about 20.

He was on a heavier spin outfit and heavier braid than I was, but thinking back, the drag was too heavy

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[stevefish]

It's all limited by the capability of the rod.

The rod gets to its limit and can do no more, it's either no longer performing or is about to be snapped by the angler. Yep, fish don't break rods, anglers do. Every time.

Reels are getting stronger in recent years to suit lightweight rods and fine lines. A shimano symmetre 1000, far from high end has 3 kilo drag, making it suitable for 6 or even 8 KILO line.

The lines strength is its strength, simple?? If only. 4pound braid could break anywhere between 5 and 10 pounds. Tie a knot and who knows what happens.

If the lines stronger than the rod can handle its thicker than it needs to be. If it's thicker than it needs to be it won't cast as far, or will have more resistance on the drop.

Why people put 50 pound braid on 6-10 kilo snapper rods or 10 pound on 1-2 kilo bream rods I'll never get.

Set your drag with a scale at around 1/3 - 1/2 line strength, at least till you get the feel of it, and if snapping off a snag through your rod is beyond impossible your lines too thick for optimal performance.

[fragmeister]

Thanks boys!

That's good feed back... anyone else want to chip in!

Cheers

Jim

[NaClH2OK9]

What type of fishing are you doing?

You can add drag to a reel by cupping the spool.

I mainly reef fish in 70 m and snags are a occupational hazard. On my reef outfits tend to be 40 to 50lb main with slightly under leader.

This allows me to not bin a whole spool of braid in an outing but clearly way over the drag on my reel.

In contrast I run 30lb on my Stella and have to wind back the drag as I use this for more finess fishing.

I also sometimes use 15 lb line for beach fishing but 60lb leader to give me ability to cast distance with bigger leads!!

So many scenarios!!!

[fragmeister]

What type of fishing are you doing?

You can add drag to a reel by cupping the spool.

I mainly reef fish in 70 m and snags are a occupational hazard. On my reef outfits tend to be 40 to 50lb main with slightly under leader.

This allows me to not bin a whole spool of braid in an outing but clearly way over the drag on my reel.

In contrast I run 30lb on my Stella and have to wind back the drag as I use this for more finess fishing.

I also sometimes use 15 lb line for beach fishing but 60lb leader to give me ability to cast distance with bigger leads!!

So many scenarios!!!

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense particularly the reef fishing.

I guess even with a heavier leader you can expect the line will break at the knot where the two lines join... if it breaks elsewhere that would be a spot even weaker than the knot somewhere up the main line and perhaps better it happened then than when you had a quality fish on.

In my case I generally spool with braid about double the reel's maximum drag capacity. This means if I want to stop a fish I can load the drag up and be fairly confident I wont bust off even with a weak knot or a little line damage.

I get what Ian is saying about fishing charters... not all clients are as experienced fishermen so I think they adopt the same strategy as I do ( although I suspect even heavier line) probably because they would rather the the lure pulled than have a reel spooled or loose a few dozen lures a session to bust offs.

I would say though that loading the drag up has lost me a few fish that I reckon ( as Salty says) I could have finessed to the boat on lighter setups.

Cheers and thanks for the comments.

Jim

Edited May 26, 2015 by fragmeister

[brad_tate]

I recommend testing your terminal tackle and knots to see what the real likely breaking strain is, particularly with fluorocarbon. Do it at home with spring scales. For example under test I found my twisted dropper loops broke at 6 lbs on 14 lb flouro, but at 10 lbs or so in mono.

Agree with all the comments about lighter drags, if you can afford to let the fish run. I live by my departed dad's maxim, always fish as light as possible and letting drags run allows you to do that.

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[GreyNurse]

Tastee hits the spot here. Despite rated breaking strains on both braid and mono, the actual breaking strain is often greater, (unless its tournament line). However, all this is countered by knots and terminal tackle. This is where using a digital spring scale on the rig being used is most often the more accurate way of working out how much drag to apply as you will have a better idea of the breaking strain of the rig you are using.

Personally, I like a fish to be able to run with about a third of the breaking strain set on the drag. BTW, an article I read suggested not to pull line off the spool to gauge this, if that is your thing, as it causes line, especially braid, to bury itself on the spool. Instead, turn the spool by hand while tightening the drag.

Once a fish is taking line off the spool, increase or decrease the drag by a combination of using the drag knob and your thumb. Underlying all this is having a good, smooth drag in the first place. I'm currently servicing all my drag washers as per the article on this site about drag maintenance. So far, the improvement has been very noticeable. That makes setting up the drag tension a much better proposition. It all comes down to experience.