Testing drag on spinning reels

Rivverrat · February 05, 2018, 10:47:58 PM

"whats a lever arm?"

For our discussion here regarding drag it's like bigger & smaller gears & the change in effort needed diiferent size gears bring in turning the reels handle to bring in a fish.
As line goes off the reel the spool gets smaller requiring more effort to pull line from spool. You lose the machanical leverage / advantage brought on by a bigger full spool.

I'ts easier to turn a stuck bolt with a long handle or pipe on the wrench. You have more mechanical leverage . A bigger full spool of line gives more leverage on the drag vs the same spool thats 1/2 full.

You only need to be concerned about this with fish that take a 1/4 to 1/2 of your reels capacity as long as your drag is set to a 1/3 of your lines rating... Jeff

handi2 · February 05, 2018, 11:04:55 PM

I just pull on the line by hand for a spinning reel. Just like everyone else. I see no reason to see how much drag a spinning reel will produce.

On larger offshore reels if I cant turn the spool by hand anymore that's enough for me

Tiddlerbasher · February 06, 2018, 01:50:48 AM

"The lever arm" is the point where the line leaves the spool. For example - if a spool (with line) is 1" in diameter - with say 10lb of drag set.
Now pull off enough line to reduce the diameter of the spool with line to 1/2" - you have doubled the amount of drag (20lb) force required to pull off the line. I.E. the "effective" drag has doubled. It's got nothing to do with the line roller on a spinning reel.
A simile would be:
A 1ft lever operating a given mechanism - now shorten the lever to 6" - you will need double the effort to do the same job.

Rickski · February 06, 2018, 02:58:29 AM

I set my drag fro 25% of the weakest link. If I run 100# line with a 40# leader, drag is set at 10 pounds. If 100# with a 100# leader, max drag is set at 25#. I'm a big fan of set it and don't touch it during a fight unless a lever drag. I put the rod in a holder that places it at about a 30 to 45 degree angle. Hook up my scale and take a very short walk. The first walk heats things up, and by the second or third few step walk, I feel good that is where it will be while fighting a fish, and set it there.

Tiddlerbasher · February 06, 2018, 12:31:43 PM

Presetting a drag on a spinning reel, or star drag, is fine - but remember to back it off after a rinse and before putting it away

Donnyboat · February 06, 2018, 04:19:51 PM

Good point Chris, what Chris is saying, screw you drag on before washing your spool & line, this keeps the water out of your drag, then let your reel & spool drain of water, by having your reel pointing sleightly down whyle drying, after that, release the drag pressure, if you leave the drag pressure on it will weaken the springs & pressure washers in your drag, reset your drag before you start fishing again. cheers Don.

Gobi King · February 06, 2018, 04:34:12 PM

Quote from: Donnyboat on February 06, 2018, 04:19:51 PM
Good point Chris, what Chris is saying, screw you drag on before washing your spool & line, this keeps the water out of your drag, then let your reel & spool drain of water, by having your reel pointing sleightly down whyle drying, after that, release the drag pressure, if you leave the drag pressure on it will weaken the springs & pressure washers in your drag, reset your drag before you start fishing again. cheers Don.

Wash = tighten drag befre rinse?
Store = loosen drag before storing?

Could we instead loosen > rinse > tighten to squeeze water out > loosen to store?

Tiddlerbasher · February 06, 2018, 05:05:23 PM

The perceived wisdom is to keep water out of the drag first.

Keta · February 06, 2018, 05:22:07 PM

Grease

philaroman · February 06, 2018, 05:43:31 PM

I always thought the whole "loosen drag before storing" was very important to avoid crushing & permanently compressing felt, leather, cork, etc. Is it less of an issue w/ CF?

Rivverrat · February 06, 2018, 07:00:53 PM

Quote from: philaroman on February 06, 2018, 05:43:31 PM

I always thought the whole "loosen drag before storing" was very important to avoid crushing & permanently compressing felt, leather, cork, etc. Is it less of an issue w/ CF?

Correct, also on lever drags you dont want to leave the belleville washer / spring washers or bearings compressed while stored. after fishing in the salt drag is tightened to help keep salt out of the drag stack. Which can cause delamination of the carbon washers.

Midway Tommy · February 07, 2018, 01:57:13 AM

All this drag testing discussion is quite interesting. I don't fish salt water so setting the drag is a little easier in my world. I use 3 strengths of mono line, 6#, 8# & 12# test. I always have a heavier fluoro or mono leader because I'm usually fishing for toothy critters, so I set my drag for my line test. I've got a DA degree in physics. For any of you out here that don't know what a DA is, it's Dumb ####, but hey, it has always worked for me and I never get broken off. I've been bit off by a pike or musky attacking the weight but I never get broken off.

I don't need scales and all that stuff. I really could care less what poundage my drag is set at. Like Phil, I loosen my drag every time I won't be going out again within a week. When the outfit has been stored for awhile, right before I head out, I attach the hook, or line, to a fairly stiff branch on a tree. I then walk out around 60 to 75 yards of line. I've never needed more than probably 50 yards so 60 or 75 is plenty. Then tighten the drag down part way and start stretching the mono to get rid of any memory that has accumulated. I keep tightening the brake with the pole lined out straight until I think the line is going to break. After I get all the stretching done I tight line reel up to about 25 feet from the branch. Then I loosen the drag a little and start walking backwards with the pole bent at the angle I generally use in the boat with a fish on. When I get out about 40 yards I set the drag to just below where I think it is going to break. I'd rather have a little less drag in the beginning than to press things after some line has been taken out. The whole process takes around 5 minutes. I only fish with rear fulcrum drag reels so adjustment with a fish on, if needed, is very easy. The other nice thing about rear drags is that the drag parts are inside the body & not affected by line water.

The whole drag set thing is really just to tire a fish out without breaking your line and this process accomplishes that for me.

Rivverrat · February 07, 2018, 02:37:34 AM

Quote from: Midway Tommy on February 07, 2018, 01:57:13 AM

The whole drag set thing is really just to tire a fish out without breaking your line and this process accomplishes that for me.

Right, most people can get by as you describe in your post. With that said I've seldom been amazed at how close some one can set their drag appropriatly with out using a scale. But more so how far off they are. The reason it works most of the time is because most of the time our gear including line is not tested with a fish capable of doing so. When line or drag setting does get tested it's then we often hear about the one that got away.

I fish 50 & 60 at a "starting" drag of approximately of 10 - 15 lbs. Been doing it for years & dont need scales to set drag close. But I also have my spinning reels & star drags marked for easy repeatable settings for 15 & 20 lbs. of drag. I also have them marked for amount of drag based on amount of line on spool & present drag setting. I'm after a record sized fish. I dont want much of it left to guesstaments or chance... Jeff

Gobi King · February 07, 2018, 01:31:38 PM

I never thought about presetting drag and marking it till I started reading here and dreaming about those cow tunas,

Most of my fly/drift fishing for salmon/steelhead is done with light gear so max drag is seldom sought.

I do put my drag to the lowest possible when I troll just enough so the line does not slip for bass/pike/walleye.

Good input guys, I will mark the drag on my spinners and trolling reels for muskie this year

Keta · February 07, 2018, 01:48:48 PM

I have been fishing for almost 60 years and set the drags on my "lite" gear by hand and when I was deckhand on charter boats I checked the settings the same way. I am pretty accurate up to 50# class gear but when targeting larger fish and/or using lever drag reels it is nice to know your drag is properly set and what the reel does between strike and full. I also use my scales when finishing a reel repair/service for reels over 30#.

At one time I had 25 NIB 50# and 20 15# scales, I still have and use 3 of the 50# and 2 of the 15# for setting drags. I still have a large box of the 8# and 10 175# scales I can not sell....anyone fish 400#-500# of drag an need a 175# "drag scale".