Drag settings for various bass techniques

[BassProAddict]

This here might either be dumb as a door knob or an eye opener (to me, at least).

How important are drag settings? Don't you just want to hook the fish and reel in as fast as you can?

To those who know better than I do, what are or should be the drag settings on the various techniques? Can we reflect it in terms of percentages where 0% is no drag and 100% as full drag.

Crankbaits

Jerkbaits

Carolina Rigs

Texas Rigs

Drop shot rigs

Deep cranking/trolling

[Nick Kuhn]

I keep my drag pretty tight, smaller fish generally can't take it out, but the bigger fish certainly will make a few good runs that'll take line.

Trolling would be the exception, I keep it a little lighter as the fish almost always hook themselves. During the fight I may tighten it some if need be, but I really don't do much trolling for any species.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I think much of it is going to depend on what lb test line you are using, and the cover you are fishing. For me my crankbait rods and any rod with a lure that has a treble hook gets a pretty light drag. Dropshot too, but more for the fact that the line is lighter. Jig rods and the such get pretty tight drag.

[BassProAddict]

Care to expound DD? I mean why those particular drag settings other than test poundage?

[Wayne Ek]

I keep a pretty light drag setting for drop-shotting, jerkbaits and cranking. On any single large hook presentation, flipping, rigging or such I crank the drag down to 0. My thinking and yes DD at times I do think... On small hook or treble hook presentations you often times only have the fish skin hooked on the front portion of the mouth so there is always a chance that the hooks will tear out of the skin if there is no drag. On single hook presentation with larger hooks you usually get great penatration into cartilage or even thru the mouth completely. And since most single hook presentations are associated with some form of cover or structure you need the 0 give to move the fish out of the heavy cover or away from docks, logs...

[Deitz Dittrich]

BPA- I could not have said it ay better than my good friend Agape. Smaller hooks do tent to rip out easier, especially trebles in my opinion, so thus, the lighter the drag, the better the chance there is that the hook will not rip out. More often than not, when fishing cranks and such, you are in an open water situation, and thus really no hurry to boat the fish, same with dropshot, so playing the fish out seems to work best for me.

However, in many other applications, the larger hook will hold the fish better, and thus you can crank the drag down and it also helps keep the fish away from other nasty stuff in which they can get the upper hand on you.

on a side note.. good to see you posting again Agape..

[bemidjibasser]

DD & Agape- Are you saying that a light wire drop shot hook is as easy to tear out as a treble on a trap or crank? In my experience, a small light wire hook will penetrate and hold as well or often times better than a heavy wire hook that you need to slam into a fish.

[Cecil]

It will penetrate and hold, but I think they are saying it can be more apt to come out if you dont watch the drag. Hook could straighten easily too. And odds are you are using lighter line on that rig.

[bemidjibasser]

Agreed.

[NTW]

I think that DD was saying that he uses a lighter drag because of the # test line associated with D-shotting.

Because drop shotting is more typical in deeper rock structure, there is also less chance of being tied up in weeds or various other cover when playing the fish.

[NTW]

oops, I was too slow...

[Deitz Dittrich]

BB- as the others have stated, its more a LB line issue for the most part, however, I have found with dropshot that often times I get the hook to go through and through. IE back out again inside the mouth.. So the light drag is as much for not ripping that out as well. I tend to play drop shot fish pretty light to begin with as I dont do well when they jump. Fighting them slower I think they tend to bull dog more and dive rather than jump. Thats just my opinion though.

[mainbutter]

My drag gets set according to my hook, and nothing else. The bigger the hook, the tighter the drag. This assists with solid hooksets with bigger hooks, or when using smaller hooks helps the hook stay buried on headshakes and whatnot.

[bemidjibasser]

I don't like to rely on my drag at all really. I would much rather back reel when using spinning gear and often times free spool and use my thumb with baitcasters especially with big fish. I have landed several muskies up to 53" on bass gear, both spinning and casting. Just another option to throw in the mix.

[Cecil]

I thumb bar a lot on baitcast reels

[RK]

I don't like to rely on my drag at all really. I would much rather back reel when using spinning gear and often times free spool and use my thumb with baitcasters especially with big fish. I have landed several muskies up to 53" on bass gear, both spinning and casting. Just another option to throw in the mix.

Same here Bemidji - I backreel with spinning gear. Always have. No slipping on the hookset, and much more control than a drag during a fight I think. I do set drags on baitcasting gear, but I still freespool as often as not. Done it so much with muskies with the dragged locked down that it's a habit more than a conscious choice.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[bemidjibasser]

I have stuck a 40" and 41" musky on my last two "bass" outings. Needless to say I didn't rely on the drag with the 15 pound flouro line on my reel. The thumb got the call on both of them...

[Deitz Dittrich]

I too free spool and back reel quite a bit, Especially near the boat.

[TonkaBass]

Call me crazy, but I only use my drag on open face, I just thumb a baitcaster...

[Lonedrake]

I lock the drag down for all of my reels. I back reel on the spinning gear....and have yet to catch a bass big enough that I have to worry about hitting the free spool on the flipping sticks

[Muddog]

You can't skip a Bass across the water on a light drag!

Lets face it, Bass don't get so big that they may break 12lb test line on there own. You need the heavy line and drag to drag weeds wrapped fish and such to the boat.

I set the drag to just give a little on the hook set...

I also stay away from Eurasian Watermilfoil like a school kid from H1N1. I just see no reason to fish the stuff.

[oleballcoach]

Hi guys I am new to this site, and am a little confused with the fishing lingo. I have been fishing my whole life, but not too seriously until this year. With that being said I was able to gather most of your points. My question about not using the drag too much is that at times when I don't have my drag set tight enough I make no progress on reeling the line in. I then usually tighten the drag. Is this the proper way to do it? Also thumbing the baitcasters I understand, but it 30lb braided line too much for a Texas rig? I usually just set the drag where I can pull some line out with my hand, but not too easily. Again is this the proper way? I mean I have had success catching fish, but I want to be better. Thanks for the help

[Deitz Dittrich]

ole- great to have you with us here on FishingMinnesota. To answer your questions is not all that easy. What works great for one person may or may not work well for another. We can only give opinions. Reading the above posts its easy to tell we all do things a little differently. I suggest you try different ways and see what works best for you and your fishing style. As for how to set your drag, its kind of a guess and by golly. I have known some who use a scale to set their drag, but I think thats a bit overkill.

in my opinion on a spinning rod, 30 lb braid is not too heavy for texas rig if you are fishing thick cover. It may be a tad much for open water and or really clear water. But if you do not have a lot of different rods to deligate to texas rigs, it should be fine.

[oleballcoach]

Thanks for the answer. I will just keep trying new things. Makes it fun.

[Choco Taco]

Just going to chime in here a little on a pretty clever way to set a drag. Several years ago I lost a nice bass because my line snapped (was using light gear and only 4lb test). The boys over at Bassresource gave me this great tip on setting your drag and I have never lost a fish since due to drag issues. When I used my spinning reels to fish for musky, pike, or steelhead, the drag has worked perfectly. Steelhead fishing gave me the most comfort that my drag was set appropriately. Steelies go on some long runs after hook-up but you still need the right amount of pressure to fight and bring them in.

So, what's the tip? I set my drag to 30%-40% (some people say 50% is the max recommendation) of the test line by using a bag of groceries. What? Yes a bag of groceries. One clever angler gave me this advice. So, here are the steps I follow when setting my drag.

1. If you have 10 lb test, set your drag by filling a plastic grocery bag with 3-4 lbs of groceries (30-40% of line strength). For example, three 15 fl oz can of soups/tomato sauce is a little over 3 lbs of weight.

2. With a rod and reel rigged up with any hook (I usually use a 2/0 hook), put the handle of the bag of groceries on the hook (let out enough line so the rod tip is around 9 o'clock and the bag is on the floor).

3. Slowly lift the rod tip up, if line is coming out easily, your drag is set too light. Tigthen drag.

4. Keep tightening drag until you can lift the bag of groceries off the ground (make sure a little line gives - if you set too tight, you'll pull the bag easily but won't know if you set too high or not. A little drag slippage gives me comfort that at 3lbs of pressure, the drag will work).

5. Keep fine tuning drag until you are comfortable that the drag will give a little when you lift the bags off the ground.

Hope this helps.