Drag

[MJBo]

When trolling how tightly do you all set your drag? I've been told to set it loosely until the fish is hooked and then tighten up, but when I've done this I feel my hookup percentage dropped quite a bit.

[cableguy031]

If I were you, I wouldn't adjust my drag at all but that's me.

[buzzin for bass]

I set my drag extremely loose. Just imagine the force of a 50" muskie hitting your bait when you're trolling at 4+ miles per hour. With that kind of force something will give, i.e. your line snapping, the rod snapping, the rod holder snapping, you get the idea. With the drag properly set the speed of the lure should do a pretty good job setting the hook, then you can tighten the drag down to haul the pig in. I set my drag by feel, stiff enough that the weight of the water against the lure at trolling speed doesn't pull out line but soft enough that when the lure is in the water at trolling speed I can fairly easily pull out line by hand.

[MJBo]

Yeah, I think it makes sense. It just wasn't my experience. I think I lost a couple of the initial strike, plus I KNOW I lost one on a quick headshake before I could tighten her up.

[AWH]

You'll actually lose more fish with a tight drag because there will be no give and you'll rip the hooks right out of the fish. And like was already stated, there's lots that can go wrong as far as equipment failure as well with a tight drag.

When I'm trolling, I set my drag so that it slips when I give the rod a good hard pull. By a good hard pull, I don't mean as hard as I can. If I do this, the drag better slip a lot, not just a little.

Just like casting, you're going to miss fish when you're trolling. But your odds will be much better with a loose drag.

Aaron

[Random guy]

I will set the drag just tight enough so that the drag will run out if I give the rod a good jerk. I feel that you are already moving the lure at a good clip plus the force of the strike drives the hooks deep enough to hold a fish. How I go about this is I get a strike and drag is clicking out to beat the band. I grab the rod out of the holder thumb the heck out of the spool and set the hook. Once this is done I jump on the rear deck of the boat and kill the kicker motor with my foot ( I made a specail switch for this) and adjust drag as I go. Kind of a circus but it seems to work.

I have lost alot of fish with a tight drag while trolling, and if you hook into the rocks you can kiss the lure good by and it can really raise heck with your rod. I believe with a loose drag you keep just about the right amount of tension to "hold" a fish while the boat is still moving. If I could hold the rod in my hand and kill the boat movement instantly I would probally run a tighter drag.