Drag

[sharkman]

After reading articles on reel drag.  I have a question.  How do you know the drag needed or desired to land specific species of fish.  I have seen article where people land very large sharks with 25 lb of drag. Is there a good rule of thumb for example 3lb drag when targeting 20lb fish in open water and 6lb drag for 20lb fish when fishing structures.  Thanks for all the help.

[Keta]

Drag settings should be in line with rod rating.

[akfish]

The rule of thumb is to set the drag at between 25% and 33% of the breaking strength of your line, so if you are fishing 30# line you should have no more than about 10# of drag. That said, very few people can fish stand up with more than about 30# or 35# of drag, regardless of the braking strength of your line. I set my strike drag at 28# when fishing 130# line for cow tuna and no more than about 6# when fishing 30# line for king salmon. The light drag for salmon is because they have soft mouths.

[Newell Nut]

It really depends on the type of fishing and the fish species. For reef dwellers like grouper and snapper requires max drag to turn the head up before you get whacked off on the reef. Fish caught higher in the water is another set of standards and trolling is another set of standards such as 1/3 the breaking strength. It all depends on the target and style.

[johndtuttle]

Yea, you gotta take the species and style of fishing into account. Fish weight has little bearing on the whole equation. Example, guys fishing for Bass in heavy cover can use 60lb braid and hammered down drags to land 5lb fish as they may land 10lbs of weeds at the same time lol.

The 25-30% rule has to do with knot strength as most knots severely reduce line strength. As well, over time, the knot is "sawing" on itself with stretch and relaxation and will become weaker and weaker so a fraction of the line's rated strength is recommended to minimize failures. But, you will still have them.

Most guys set their drags by hand on a guesstimate based on the fish they are catching to let 'em run a little to have fun as much as anything.

If it is remotely serious biz and done with forethought it is done with a scale to be certain where it is set. Most guys are very surprised how much more drag 15lbs really is compared to what they think they have been using.

[Bryan Young]

target fish needs to be considered, definitely.  There are fish that we fish for that have rubber lips.  That's what we call them.  These fish often kiss your bait and 90% of the time, you hook them in their lips.  We need to fish light drag or the hook will rip out of their lips. 

[sharkman]

Opps I may be a culprit of overdrag.  I currently use penn spinfisher v4500 with 25lbs of drag and 50lb braid. This is my kind of all purpose reel.  I would like to slowly convert to fishing mainly with conventional reels. Currently I just use them for shark and grouper fishing. The first set up I would like to build is for sheephead fishing in the winter.  I thought of using a penn peerless 9 with 20lb mono.  Will this be strong enough to turn the fish before it wraps up on dock pillars?

[mike1010]

I often use an Avet SX dialed in for eight pounds at the rod tip, and determine eight pounds by tying the line to a plastic gallon jug full of water, then adjusting the drag until I can barely lift the jug clear of the ground.  This is an eye opener for some of my buddies who want to argue that eight pounds is too little drag for the inshore species we usually target.  They often change their tune after experiencing the effort it takes to lift the jug.

--Mike

[cathauler65]

FYI - 1 gallon of water weighs a shade over 10lbs, not 8???

[fsrmn]

Not to disagree with anyone but a gallon of water is 8.34 lbs. That is the number we use for calculations at work. I am a licensed water treatment plant operator.

In the interest of specifics:

The weight will vary some with the temperature of the water.  To
begin, we know that by definitions,

  1 gallon = 231 in^3*(2.54 cm/in)^4/(1 cm^3/ml),
           = 3785.411784 ml,

exactly. Now it is just a matter of multiplying by the density d in
g/ml of water at the temperature you want, and then converting to
pounds by dividing by exactly 453.59237 g/lb. Thus the answer to 12
significant figures is

  1 gallon of water weighs 8.34540445202*d pounds.

[mike1010]

And not to lean too hard,  but to a first approximation,  "A pint's a pound the world 'round."   Certainly close enough for this application.

[Shark Hunter]

sharkman,
This is my buddy John hooked up to a real nice shark. He looks cool and collected in this pic, but believe me, he was squalling like a girl reeling this beast in. It took about 45 minutes.

This was on a bone stock 12/0 with 100 lb test. I estimate this reel to put out about 30 lbs of drag locked down, and he never locked it completely down. This was this September.
I am guessing this Great Hammer to weigh in at about 600 lbs. We fish for sharks from shore. I think this should put in into perspective of what a big Senator can do.

[sharkman]

Thanks everyone for shining some light on the subject. Nice catch shark hunter. The big senators are actually what started me looking at the amount of drag needed for smaller fish. I was thinking if can pull in a 600 shark with 30lbs of drag why did I need reel with 25lb drag to pull in 8 lb fish

[Alto Mare]

Not to disagree with anyone but a gallon of water is 8.34 lbs. That is the number we use for calculations at work. I am a licensed water treatment plant operator.

In the interest of specifics:

The weight will vary some with the temperature of the water.  To
begin, we know that by definitions,

  1 gallon = 231 in^3*(2.54 cm/in)^4/(1 cm^3/ml),
           = 3785.411784 ml,

exactly. Now it is just a matter of multiplying by the density d in
g/ml of water at the temperature you want, and then converting to
pounds by dividing by exactly 453.59237 g/lb. Thus the answer to 12
significant figures is

  1 gallon of water weighs 8.34540445202*d pounds.

Nice to have a licensed water treatment plant operator here, I believe its useful .

As you already know and didn't mention it, I do want to point out that saltwater is denser than fresh water and weights a little more.
there are claims that boats go faster on saltwater than fresh water. They must go like rockets on the dead sea, that water is much denser, by @ 30% more salt. I wonder if you could float there without a vest  

[MarkT]

My feet left the bottom and I started floating in the Dead Sea when I got chest deep. The water is buoyant and the air thick down there. Fortunately, the beer is cold at the worlds lowest bar!