How much drag?

[FatTuna]

A friend of mine and I were having a debate the other day about how much drag pressure an angler should put on a fish. For arguments sake lets say that we are talking about mid-sized game fish that we intend to keep.

My friend's argument is that you have better chance of boating a fish with a tight drag because it shortens the time that the fish is on the line. He almost always fishes a really tight drag and just winches them in.

My argument is that a drag that is too tight is more likely to result in a pulled hook which obviously means that you will lose the fish.

How do you guys set your drags?

[wallacewt]

25%/33% of the line used
till you get hold of the leader,
its more fun
lots of my friends winch them in
i think its just a personal thing
cheers
charter boat

[Ron Jones]

If all you want to do is eat fish, go to a grocery store. I play fish because I like fishing. Nothing like watching a fish take drag, or hooking into something that outclasses the gear and landing it because you know what you are doing.
Ron

[Bryan Young]

It depends on what's around...sharks, seals, sealions, larger preditor fish....

[maxpowers]

if i am fishing at the beach or on a private boat i would love to fish a lighter drag.  However most of my heavy drag fishing occurred on head boats.  On these boats fishing a light drag will make your fellow fishermen very unhappy as your fish will likely tangle up their lines.  Another reason is on a drift kind of fishing, ie finding a school of fish and trying to keep that school interested in your baits, if you take too long to land a hooked fish, the whole boat have to wait for you to reel in your catch before it can reset the drift.

[MFB]

I am fortunate that my favourite fishing spot is has a sand bottom & no structure for fish to bust you off on. Also we mostly fish in 20m of water or less. So we have the luxury of using light drag settings. We also catch most of our snapper stray-lining with the bait runner drag set a 1.1/2 turns. However targeting kingies over foul ground is a different matter. Have had a 17kg kingie pull string off my 900H with the drag (carbontex) on full. (My Mrs landed that fish too.)

Rgds

Mark   

[OldSchool]

Around structure that will cut you off or tangle you up generally the drag is pumped up to keep them from running into it. Otherwise pull on the line and enough drag to put a 2/3 bend in the rod.

Interestingly I have read the harder you go at a shark the harder they go at you and the secret is to keep the drag off for a shorter fight. Naturally this is off the boat.

[FatTuna]

I agree that it is definitely more fun to play out a fish with a lighter drag.

I think that it is species specific as well. If you were fighting a shad with a really soft mouth you would want your drag pretty loose because they have such soft mouths. If you are fighting small tuna you would probably want your drag pretty tight to prevent other fish from eating your tuna and especially if you are in deep water. Obviously the term tight and loose in relative to the type of fishing you are doing.

That was a good point brought up about fishing on head boats. I guess that explains why Shimano designed the Long Range Special.

[johndtuttle]

It depends on what's around...sharks, seals, sealions, larger preditor fish....

Structure, other lines in the water, boat traffic etc

Bryan has it right, it really is situational.

Absent these complicating factors a rod that is mated to the fish (ie not too soft or stiff) and a drag that is mated to the line (ie not too much) and a reel with the right cranking power will boat the most fish. Move 'em to the boat at all times they will let you, but letting 'em run a bit will tire them out some more.

Winching them in gives the fish leverage to twist out the hook, Soft hands and tip that absorbs head shakes will keep that hook where it belongs. Conversely, too light a drag and the fight is unnecessarily prolonged which can lead to any kind of trouble.

Every fish, every situation needs a variety of "right" ways to succeed.

[Aiala]

Nothing like watching a fish take drag, or hooking into something that outclasses the gear and landing it because you know what you are doing.

Exactly so! (But tangling other folks' lines is a definite no-no.)

And if a sea dog or a shark gets it, well, that's part of fishing, too. I can't begrudge them.   

~A~

[Keta]

I do not like loosing a fish, I set my drag at 30% for my LD reels, by feel for my star drag reels.  Small fish aren't worth playing with and they get reeled in as fast as possible.  The size of fish I like to target take line and I've been spooled twice by really large fish, both large steelhead.  My 85# wahoo took 3/4 of a spool off of a 50 STS with 28# of drag on it's first run.

[johnachak]

Wow, that had to be fun!

[johnachak]

I think the longer fight with changing directions due to looser drag settings would wear a bigger hole than a tight drag setting winching a fish in. JMHO of course. And my experience also.