Sal, I hear you, and it’s just like I have said before.
“All this logic is great and fun to use as a guide and to think about and talk about, but nothing replaces the experience gained from practical use over time”
The main thing I’m interested in all this is to develop a pattern. I think all of us are serious enough about finding the pattern when fishing in general. The only thing that matters more beyond that is to duplicate on another spot what you did ounce you think you have found a pattern. Thats why I created the Torque Method. I have found a way to adjust my drag to the right setting or benchmark that works with my type of fishing, so it’s easier for me to predict what to expect out of my reels.
Trying to understand what fish will do is a lot like understanding what women will do…its complicated. But if you develop a pattern, then you can predict how to handle the situation better.
All this stuff doesn’t mean that it will yield the perfect results, and that’s not what I’m after. I’m after the trend and to understand and predict better what happens when fish bite. And they will not be their long most of the time, so you have to be prepared.
You have to start somewhere. I would rather not do it by trial and error not knowing anything in particular and lose 10 world trophy fish. Instead, I try to use everything I know to work towards being a better angler and being better prepared, and maybe I’ll only lose 2 trophy fish instead in the process.
Killerbug
I think your method would find use for lab testing drags, but a better connection between the torque wrench and the reels are needed. But with little effort this can be easily be made I guess.
No doubt all reels are not set up or designed the same, nor have a regular nut on the end. Some have covers; some have a nut retaining rings that is bolted on the handle, (which helps with my method). Care should be considered when using or selecting your weights. When the manufacture mills the handle shaft for the handle slot, the industry torque guidelines are lost by the modification.
With my reels it’s very easy because the nut is exposed like many others. On some of my older reels that had covers, I bought just a regular acorn reel handle nut that fit the threads, omitted the cover, and used that as my connection point, and it still looks good. I have also experienced that using a regular torque wrench is not ideal, but would work. The torque driver that looks like a hand held nut driver is the best; it’s easy to handle, small, and fits my small reel toolbox (pelican case) or tackle bag.
MM
