Crappy drag after a while fighting a fish (Avet EX80w)

[triay85]

Hi guys,

This is the second season this happens to me.

I use my avet ex80w for trolling and live baiting GBFT. The reels do well but one of them after an hour o so in battle starts to have a serious decrease in drag performance and dry significantly!

Any ideas why and how I can cure/stop this???

[Bryan Young]

is you Avet fished right out of the box?  If so, your drag washers are dry, and the loss could be caused by the drag washers glazing due to the heat.  Similar to how your automotive brakes work.  Unless you are running ceramic breaks, the hotter it gets, the less friction your breaks have.

For some reason, and I don't know the reason, grease drags prevent this from occuring at drastic levels.  There will be a slight loss but less than dry drags.

[triay85]

I'm not too sure on greasing the drags since they are smooth already and I think the grease will decrease its performance even more after a prolonged fight.

This glazing if the drag washers how do I correct it? New drag washers?? O an they be treated?

[Keta]

Grease them, you will never regret it.

[triay85]

Sorry to be such a pain, but wouldn't greasing a glazed drag washer still make it ineffective??

[alantani]

this will work.  take an old rag and lean into the old glazed drag washer until you can "raise the grain" on the coarse woven carbon fiber.  worst case, lightly work the grain with a piece of fine grit sand paper.  then slather on a thick layer of cal's grease, then rub out all of that grease until the drag washer looks "dry" again.  and you're done.  it will work fine.  you will now have a teflon inpregnated carbon fiber drag. 

and welcome to the dark side......   

[triay85]

Seems like i'm gonna have to give it a try!  Hopefully this will fix the decrease of performance in drag.

Thanks all for the help and info!

[jonathan.han]

The grease will help transfer heat much like heat sink compound while delivering consistent, smooth drag pressure. In effect, the whole reel will act as a heat sink. The drags are heating up when the drags are dry and glazing the dust generated by the drag washers. It will be clear as day when you fight your first fish with greased drags.

[DaBigOno]

Do you have spectra on the reel?   If so, could it be slipping?   Just a possibility that might be worth looking into.  Just my two cents.

al

[jonathan.han]

The case of the slipping spool knot. Just wrap the spool a LOT before tying your knot. By doing so, you increase the frictional coefficient with every wrap. On over 80 class gear, I go at least 12 wraps before a uni which cinches tighter as the spool is turning in gear.

However, in your case, since you are noticing the drag issue well into a fight, I would deduce that the line is secured well enough to the spool or you wopuld be experiencing this as soon as you were hooked up or if the spool were wet.

[triay85]

Do you have spectra on the reel?   If so, could it be slipping?   Just a possibility that might be worth looking into.  Just my two cents.

al

There is no spectra splipping, 100%!

At the beginning of the fight reel is fine with the adequate drag pressure. It's after a few long runs that the pressure of the drag diminishes drastically. To fix it I need to release the lever and re-tighten the drag preset. A very risky manoeuvre.

[jonathan.han]

You don't have to back it off all the way. I would suggest getting it close to freespool as possible. What your are trying to do is alleviate the pressure on the cam when adjusting the preset. The last thing you want is a rat's nest and getting a finger caught in a loop of spectra while hooked into a sea monster.

You shouldn't see these issues once you grease the drags. It seems to simple of a fix, right? They usually are. I used to work on miniature linear accelerators and would always see the working solution as simple. It's always a simple reason and not the glorified demon you originally thought. Grease them already.