Dhufish drag settings - to give or not to give
Hi Guys,
I did a google search using my question, including "Fishwrecked" in the search to see if my question was not addressed elsewhere. I was not satisfied it was covered, hence my question:
For those that catch Bigger Dhufish (10kg+) I would love to know 2 things
1) How tight is your drag?
2) If you give the fish some line- does it get you stuck on bottom (reefed) based on your experience.
For me, I only catch small ones on 30lb braid with 60lb mono with bait. A 5kg Drag would be my max and I have never had one reef me. Ive had them dive back close to bottom but Ive always been able to get them up.
When I look for bigger fish in future will I have trouble with my Twincraft 2-3pe with 5kg drag? Or do you go 10kg plus drag to make sure they cannot get back down once you start the retrieval?
Thanks In advance guys.. I'm sure fellow newbies can learn from this as going just light enough maximises the fun :)
ash
RobertMc
Posts: 326
Date Joined: 19/01/09
i wouldnt be able to put a
i wouldnt be able to put a set number on how much drag i use, but do it by feel, enough so that if it wants to run it can, but you can also get line back, you dont want to tighten it right up and you break your leader or pull hooks, once you get him off the bottom the battle is mostly won, just take it easy and it will be boatside in no time, i always use my hand to apply a little more pressure if needed.
GGs
Posts: 330
Date Joined: 06/09/14
Using a PE3 setup with 5kg of
Using a PE3 setup with 5kg of drag is more than enough to stop 9/10 big dhus. Ive never used over PE3 for demersals (jigging) and as above usually check drag by feel.
Up north i will often set my jigging reels to 5kg of drag to give me enough stopping power to keep fish away from the reef and its a suprising amount of drag pressure.
Ive always tested drag by filling a bucket with a certian amount of water (ie 5 litres = 5kg) and then try lift the bucket off the ground with only a small amount of line coming off the reel.
Hope that helps a bit.
D_d_001
Posts: 1522
Date Joined: 09/03/13
yep use my PE 1-3 rod and up
yep use my PE 1-3 rod and up to about 5ish Kg drag. this has stopped pretty well everything perth based.
It's always a good idea to correlate sounder/bottom structure with how hard you go.
Metro ...quite often good dhu ground is pretty flat but hard ground with not a great deal of structure. (north a different story if you get into the reds and coral trout)
As above you will certainly get the bigger ones with that drag (just a bit more time)
cudbfishn
Posts: 1311
Date Joined: 06/04/09
Im using 4kg of drag on my
Im using 4kg of drag on my pe3 setup and have stopped many big dhus. im running 3kg on my pe2 setup. I personally dont think dhuies actually brick you. all the ones ive hooked seem to pull line but dont go back into cover. I know sambos do and i blame sambos when i do get bricked ;) But weve landed some big fish last few trips. I also use the bucket of water method
Also have landed a few dhuis and once on board the hooks have fallen out. and we have thought that if we had have gone harder we probably woulda pulled the hooks. I know whitey uses a very light drag probably 3kg and hes a master.
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Agree with above
The only point i will add is that i have been bricked a few times with Dhues in rough ground. I know it to be Dhuies because i usually free spool for a bit when i feel the reef and i have managed to get them out of the holes and to the boat. Not every time of course but it has happened.
I tend to go pretty hard and fast on hookup with short rapid lifts and have been having more success. I'm thinking this is just turning the fishes head enough to stop them heading to the cave they were intending to brick you in and forcing them to try and find other cover. In that time you should be able to get a few meters of line on them and then pretty well the fish is yours. After i get 5m or more on them i really slow down the retrieve so they get to the boat in good condition and can be released if you want to. Also like Cudbfishn there has been some that are just lip hooked and may be lost when they do the usual second run for the bottom.
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
The guys that set their drag
The guys that set their drag using the bucket of water, is it a case od set and forget, or do you adjust once youve hooked up?
Fish! HARD!
GGs
Posts: 330
Date Joined: 06/09/14
I almost always adjust once
I almost always adjust once ive hooked up.
I use the bucket of water more for measuring drag pressure for when my overhead drag is on sunset (lever drag). That way i know that sunset has 5kg of drag, 'strike' has roughly 3kg of drag and can adjust from there by simply moving the lever.
I do it this way because my rod is rated to 5kg drag so i know that i wont overload it when locked up.
cudbfishn
Posts: 1311
Date Joined: 06/04/09
You get a good feel for how
You get a good feel for how much drag 4kg actually is. I usually don't play with my drag after that but if I need a bit more i palm the spool.
STORMBOY
Posts: 20
Date Joined: 21/09/14
Thankyou
Thankyou so much for your replies Gentlemen.
Your contributions have helped me and I am certain a few others were wondering about this and were thrilled to read the comments!
I have learnt that I can relax a bit and still use no more than 3-5kg drag without being paranoid that if I am in locations where bigger fish are then I can feel confident in my current setup. I can allow the fish to take some line at first but naturally will apply some good pressure to the fish to get a few meters on him or her.
Personally I love looser drag settings and I even back the drag further when the fish is closer to the boat to allow for lunges, head shakes etc with the shock absorbing being less the closer you are to the fish.
I love the comments about the bucket to adjust your drag (very smart) if you are backing off and then have to reset. I will apply this immediately to my fishing.
Wishing you all wonderful things the next time you hit the water J
D_d_001
Posts: 1522
Date Joined: 09/03/13
I've used the bucket method
I've used the bucket method for many years (20 plus) each time I check I grab the line with my hand and pull a bit of line. after a while you get to know your outfit pretty well and don't really need the bucket and can go from just the pull.
Also I think you nailed it with backing the drag off when nearing the boat.
I do this with every fish and after a while it becomes unconscious. have seen many fish lost to deckies and others not backing off that little bit when near boating.
Good call
:)
Edit: FWIW when hooking big pelagics big tuna etc that are taking a BIG run. some also want to do the opposite and tighten the drag. This should (almost) never be done.
As you loose line off the spool the drag will increase by itself. Eg with a full spool you might have 5Kg with a near MT spool it may be nearly double that.
So if you are fishing deep with a lot less line remember your drag will be more than tested at surface. (more so with eggbeaters and narrow spool overheads. )
one of the reasons big tiagras etc have wide body so the reel has a more uniform drag.