front or rear drag?

[dogfish]

Hello

This is my first post.

I have a couple of shimano stradic 4000 FG reels bought in America.They have front drag and single handles.The same reel in the UK has a double handle.The 6010GT baitrunners have a double handle but the 6010 standard reel has a single.Is this just a fashion thing over here?

I think good front drags are more sensitive and I Own several of both types.The old 300 drags were awful.Is this were the reputation about jerky front drags came from?

[Peter Sharpe]

I grew up with front drag reels. I hated them, and the rear drags were a revelation. I really couldn't care less if a front drag is technically superior to a rear drag: the rear drags on my Shimanos are so good that anything better would be an irrelevance. I often adjust the clutch while playing a fish according to the way it is fighting, and the rear drag makes this so much easier. As for playing a fish by backwinding - not on the Trent you don't. I have done this twice, although by accident, and the pain was excrutiating. I used to do it years ago with my Mitchell 300s, but that was with pit fish. Try it with river carp and you will get a very rude awakening.

 

[ 23. July 2003, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: Peter Sharpe ]

[poledark]

Probably right about the old mitchel drags Peter, ANY rear drag is better than they were.

 

Certainly Shimano drags are smooth, at least on the models I have. It is a fact that it takes more energy to start a clutch slipping than to keep it slipping and so I set the clutch at a safe level, albeit a little soft when running, and add delicate finger pressure to the spool rim.

There have been other occasions like when using a medium feeder rod and shimano 4000GT and taking carp to 25lb "off the top" in 28ft of water, that I have had to use finger and thumb to slow the fish down.

Very satisfying way of playing a fish, cuts out a lot of the "mechanical" side of it.

 

When it comes to the time to net your fish then forefinger on the spool gives you freedom to wield the net and apply extra pressure as needed, but if the fish bolts then a simple lift of the finger stops a breakage.

 

Just one of my many and varied skills

 

Den

[Steve Burke]

I was brought up on Intrepids which didn't really have a clutch - just a tightening knob! I therefore had no option but to learn to backwind, and having got used to it find this the most natural way of playing a fish - for me.

 

I still backwind most of the time as, like Peter McCue, I find it gives me better and more instant control - although I do these days also set the clutch as a back up. However I can't recall the clutch ever giving line when backwinding as I've always already released tension manually.

 

Like Peter, I too use the back of the flyer to control fast running fish, if necessary even letting go of the handle. Thankfully the flyers of most skirted spool reels are at last designed so that this can be done.

 

It's interesting that the vast majority of match anglers backwind, whilst those after bigger fish are split between backwinding and using the clutch, at least in the UK. The preference seems to depend on the breaking strain of the line. Very light line is rarely used in the States, so that may be the reason why backwinders are very much in the minority there.

 

Balanced handles are particularly useful when backwinding - again possibly why they haven't caught on in the US. If you've ledgering with the anti-reverse off, an unbalanced handle can have a tendency to turn when the rod is in the rest causing your bite indicator to drop.

 

As to the original question, front or rear drag, I can see there are pros and cons of each. My own preference, for the sort of fishing I do, is for a rear drag as I find it easier to adjust when playing a fish on the clutch. Of course that's what the rear drag was invented for.

 

In other words it's a matter of individual preference. There's therefore no "right" answer - and we all ought to take this into account when composing replies.

[Dick Dastardly]

Great thread guys!Ive really missed stuff like this.As many times in the past Steve has summed up my virws!Just for the record though-

Despite being on of the greatest reels ever built the Mitchell had a pants drag system and this is why backwinding was adopted by both match and specialist anglers.Additional pressure can be applied to the rota cup(even on skirted spool reels)For general fishing still my prefered method.As for Carp running to fast to backwind I must have allways caught the unfit ones! Must admit the modern rear drags on the likes of the smaller Shimmano reels are super,these I use for Mullet and fast running species abroad.For Cats I do use a drag (front one purely as the only suitably strong reels I have have this)This is because IMO it is the best way to safely keep the maximum pressure on a big cat all the time.Pete also as usual is quite correct in what he says about Multipliers.Both the star and lever drag varieties are very smooth. I suppose if we are honest the most sensitive and adjustable drag is that unique one used on a centerpin ie the fore finger!

[Dick Dastardly]

Great thread guys!Ive really missed stuff like this.As many times in the past Steve has summed up my virws!Just for the record though-

Despite being on of the greatest reels ever built the Mitchell had a pants drag system and this is why backwinding was adopted by both match and specialist anglers.Additional pressure can be applied to the rota cup(even on skirted spool reels)For general fishing still my prefered method.As for Carp running to fast to backwind I must have allways caught the unfit ones! Must admit the modern rear drags on the likes of the smaller Shimmano reels are super,these I use for Mullet and fast running species abroad.For Cats I do use a drag (front one purely as the only suitably strong reels I have have this)This is because IMO it is the best way to safely keep the maximum pressure on a big cat all the time.Pete also as usual is quite correct in what he says about Multipliers.Both the star and lever drag varieties are very smooth. I suppose if we are honest the most sensitive and adjustable drag is that unique one used on a centerpin ie the fore finger!

[dogfish]

As an afterthought

There has been some debate on 'balance' on this thread in relation to reel handles.Recently I found a rattle and wobble on a Daiwa match reel and could not pin it down until I dismantled the bail arm mechanism in the rotor cup. I found that there were counterbalancing weights built into the bail system and one had come loose.

These were there to prevent wobble in the rotor cup.This makes sense to me as This would affect the reel balance far more than the reel handle.

Am I wrong?

[Peter Waller]

Yes Newt, the illustrations are spot on.

[Newt]

Thanks Peter. The whole "balance" thing is new to me even though I have reels of all the pictured designs.

 

How about the level wind reel with a single hand grip but the opposing piece on the handle - would that be balanced, unbalanced (is that the term), or ?????

[Peter Waller]

Newt, would think it is regarded as 'balanced'.