Setting the drag?

[Colin Payne]

How do I set the drag? I coarse fish in my local lake and up to now the biggest I've got is a 4 3/4lb Tench which I had to bring in fairly carefully as I tend to be on 4lb line and sometimes lesser hooklengths. Now obviously I didnt know it was a fish more than my line strength so can anybody tell me an easy way to set the drag to match my line. I use bog standard cheapy rear drag reels.

[Cranfield]

You can set your drag using a spring balance.

Tie the line to the spring balance, pull until you reach the "tension required" and ease the drag to release line at that tension.

"Tension required", can be 65-85% of your line breaking strain.

 

The easy alternative is to back wind.

[Gaffer]

Hi all, I usually set my clutch on the loose side and my forefinger on the spool as I use Braided mainline all the time.

 

If a fish makes another run whilst playing it I can allow the fish to take line easily on the clutch, I can then slow the fish and the amount of line going out using my finger against the side of the spool.

[Vagabond]

Colin Payne:

Now obviously I didnt know it was a fish more than my line strength .

A 4 lb tench can only exert a 4 lb pull on the line if you try and lift it out of the water!

 

IN the water, the fish will be exerting a pull of around a pound - as a rule of thumb, a fish in water can exert a pull of about 20% of its weight in air, but lets give the tench credit for pulling a bit harder than most fish. The one exception might be if a weeded fish hits a tight line with its tail - that sort of shock might bust a 4 lb line.

 

I would agree with Gaffer that it is best to set the clutch on the loose side and use a finger on the spool to increase braking power when needed. Ideally, set the clutch to yield when the rod reaches a quarter circle (ie at the "test curve" figure)

 

What is useful is to try and lift various weights from about four ounces upward with your tench rod - and keep a mental picture of how much your rod bends at these weights, which in turn will give you an idea of how much pressure your line is under when playing a fish. You will be amazed at how difficult it is to lift a couple of pounds with the average tench rod !

 

I once landed a carp just over twenty pounds which took a small bait intended for roach - I was using four lb line on a 14 ft roach rod at the time - but there is nothing particularly clever about landing that carp - many experienced anglers could have done the same provided the swim was snag free (which in my case it was). So obviously, at no time was that 20 lb carp exerting a pull of more than four pounds on the line. However, this does NOT mean I recommend 4 lb line for carp!

 

PS Albert Buckley caught the then record carp of 26 lb on 4X gut - a breaking strain of around 3 lb - now that WAS skilful, particularly as there were snags in the water.

 

[ 09 March 2002, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]

[Newt]

I completely agree that too loose is much better than too tight. And bear in mind that you will need to set the thing with the amount of line out that you expect to fish with.

 

Also, that the drag will effectively become tighter as you get the fish in closer.

 

Also - when you initially get the fish, both rod and line will be acting as shock absorbers. The line by virtue of the roughly 25% stretch that normal mono has.

 

However, when the fish is close, there isn't enough line length for the stetch factor to help you out much. And as you hold the rod higher, friction from rings will increase so again, an effectively tighter drag.

[Colin Payne]

Cool, thanx guys, that really helps. I'll give the loose drag theory a try. I was surprised that a fish only pulled the equivalent of 20% or so of its weight which sort meant my tench only weighed about a pound or so

Possibly the last w/e of the season for my local lake, haven't had a chance to check with the bailiff whats happening as they hadn't decided how long the break would be so I'll be trying all this tommorrow, hopefully I'll get to put your advice to good use.

[phonebush]

Situations vary.

First, I use a tight drag most of the year. I use mono and depend on the stretch. Most of the time landing the fish quickly to minimize stress is a priority and integral part of C&R.

 

Also, I am open to discussion on the physics of force applied. The role of drag is overrated IMO. I always thought tension by the angler's rod curve and length was added to the mass of the fish.

 

Tell me why others think force is not added to mass in determining breaking strength? Bounce, current, species, rod, temp, etc etc. I never depend on drag as particually important as the first line toward successfully landing a fish.

 

Ohh boy, get ready Phone!

 

Phone

[Vagabond]

phonebush:

 

 

I always thought tension by the angler's rod curve and length was added to the mass of the fish.

 

I never depend on drag as particually important as the first line toward successfully landing a fish.

 

Phone

Phone - Imagine a tug of war team of eight men pulling on a rope. The strain on the rope is the same, whether the other end is held by eight men pulling in the opposite direction during a real tug o' war or tied to a tree on practice night.

 

In technical terms - one of Newton's laws " for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" So if you have bent a rod to its test-curve of two pounds, the fish feels a pull of two pounds, you feel a pull of two pounds, and the strain on the line is two pounds (NOT four)

 

Certainly the drag is not meant to be the main means of landing a fish - rather it is a safety mechanism if the fish makes a sudden lunge. Line stretch is another safety mechanism (in some styles of fishing in Britain they use elastic as part of their line on a long pole - no reel)

 

The real problem (no pun intended) was a lot of bad advice given when the fixed spool was first marketed here. One manufacturer said "All that is required is to set the clutch, keep the rod up and keep winding" which is just about the worst piece of fishing advice I have ever heard.

 

I agree that if you intend C & R it is better to give the fish a bit of stick to land it quickly - but of course it is no good pulling so hard as to risk a break.

 

Many anglers overestimate how hard a fish pulls - don't forget the fish has most of the rod length as leverage against you.

 

I had a dramatic illustration of leverage recently when catching snoek from a commercial boat in S Africa.

Time to land a seven-pound snoek on a hand-line - 10 seconds. Time to land a seven-pound snoek when I had a go with a nine-foot rod - 10 minutes.

[phonebush]

Vagabond,

You say, "Phone - Imagine a tug of war team of eight men pulling on a rope. The strain on the rope is the same, whether the other end is held by eight men pulling in the opposite direction during a real tug o' war or tied to a tree on practice night.

 

In technical terms - one of Newton's laws " for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" So if you have bent a rod to its test-curve of two pounds, the fish feels a pull of two pounds, you feel a pull of two pounds, and the strain on the line is two pounds (NOT four)"

 

On all else we agree. Old fishermen usually do ultimately agree.

 

In your tug of war the tree cannot represent the fish. One is static and one is dynamic.

 

If in the tug of war you had four on one team and four on the other and wanted to bias the victory you would set the drag (resistance) in favor of your "winning" team. The fact that the rope (line) is only slightly stronger than the victor is irrelevant to those bias forces.

 

The use of drag is intended (IMO) to add an element of challange to landing the fish while angling. So the amount of drag is more relevant to the skill of the angler rather than anything else. Since I am not usually a very good, I use a lot of drag and a whippy rod (like flyfishing). Bias in my favor. When I was a youngster I used 300 lb nylon on 3 oz perch and no drag.

 

The strain on the rope with 16 men is not the same as 8 men and a tree. Spent energy is different. It will not be quite double as there will be a winner in all probability in angling it most likely will be the fisherman:).

[ayjay]

Not sure about all that technical stuff but I go the other route for setting a clutch,tie the hook end of your line to an immovable object and tighten the clutch up(while attached to the rod of course) until it only just gives line.

 

Experiment a bit and you will find out the capabilities of your tackle and be prepared to perhaps make the fish work a bit harder than you might otherwise have done.

 

One thing you might like to try is to tie your line to a spring balance and see how many pounds you can pull. Using a rod suited to 4lb. line I would be surprised if you can pull more than 2lb on the spring balance as long as you keep the rod handle at no more/less than 90 degrees to the tip.