How much drag do you use?

To all the sambo jiggers out there, how much drag do you set your reel to when jigging for sambos?  Do you actually measure your drag settings or go by feel alone? 

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damo6230's picture

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drag depends

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:08

usually 1/3 setting for drag on the reel.

measure if you can otherwise feel but i've been fishing for years.......

drag does depend on depth and habitat...sambos tend to survive better if you bring them in quicker and release them fresher.

but usually turn the drag up cause they hit hardLaughing

chrisp's picture

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1/3 breaking strain of line..

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:23

as damo says..

 

I usually measure mine before i leave around 8-10kg to start with Pe4 (64lb) and adjust a little if need be when the action starts.

 Also knowing the rod is well balanced to the line and reel helps.I can tell if my drag pressure is correct from how the rod is loaded.

Also remember if you set your drag at say 10kg for (60lb) by the time you have dropped 110mtres+drift and the sambos first run you have increased your drag pressure due to the reduced spool size.

Bones76's picture

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Alan You giving the sambo

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:23

Alan

 

You giving the sambo jigging a crack? Pulling out the Torsa? 

 

Jigging for sambo's I use Pe5 and or PE6. Drag setting is purely by feel for me, with adjustment as required (with handling / thumbing of the spool) if and when required.  

 

If you are looking to get out for a jig email me and I can give you more info if required... 

 

Cheers

Paul 

Alan James's picture

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Hi Paul

Fri, 2010-01-01 14:28

In light of some of the posts in another thread about reels failures I was interested in what drags you sambo jiggers were using.  I think the Stella 20000sw is capable of 20+kgs and there was a mention of 30kg by another manufacturer.  Even at 1/3rd drag when using 80lb line and we are talking some 12kgs of drag here.  In my experience not to many people can comfortably manage 12kgs of drag for any sustained period. 

I think maybe people over estimate the drags they have set.  How many have actually measured the drag.  For anyone that hasn't already done it try this.  Put 5 litres of water in your laundry bucket.  Tie your line to it and lift the bucket off the ground by lifting the rod as you would fishing and adjust the drag on the reel until the weight of the bucket just slowly pulls line off the reel and settles on the ground.  That's close to what 5kg of drag feels like.

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kaneo's picture

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set the stella so u can just

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:26

set the stella so u can just pull some line of by hand

HuggyB's picture

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by feel

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:32

I get some pliers and twist the drag knob as hard as I can til it wont move. Then I generally palm the reel for more drag.

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Maverick's picture

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Bingo

Sun, 2010-01-03 13:29

As hard as you can and then some and palm the spool if they start taking string, go hard or go home.

 

If using a Torsa dont forget to crank the spool tensioner up to assist in max drag .

 

I don't jig with a spinner they just are not tuff enough.

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kaneo's picture

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is that on the accrucrap

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:34

is that on the accrucrap huggyb

HuggyB's picture

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nah

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:38

stella.

 

I love my accurate, one of the best overheads I have ever owned.

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kaneo's picture

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i got my money back on the

Fri, 2010-01-01 11:37

i got my money back on the 665w it broke down every trip even with the new drive system instaled.yanky crap

hlokk's picture

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I usually go about a third

Fri, 2010-01-01 12:11

I usually go about a third and for jigging set it with scales (especially with light gear). With my overheads, I have them matched to the line so play around with them a bit as required (on star drag reels I can crank to the max and be about 40%). On the stella, i've been 'feeling it' based on the rod and how much the fish is running. The rod and reel can stand some decent pressure, so crank it when needed.

For light jigging, particularly demersals, setting it right can be quite important if you dont want to loose too many jigs. You dont have time to play around with it if they're 3m from the coral.

honsu chin's picture

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One question guys.....Are

Fri, 2010-01-01 15:08

One question guys.....Are you measuring the drag straight off the reel or through a loaded rod???

8-10kg straight from the reel will end with alot more at the rod tip. Most 37kg/80lb/PE8 rods are rated to 10-12kg drag. May I suggest you set your drag straight off the reel at 1/4, you can always crank up more drag but hard to back off drag while the fish is buckling away.

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HuggyB's picture

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afternoon sir

Fri, 2010-01-01 15:45

care for a serving of toughen up?

 

Lock the drag and get into girly man.........although with your limp noodle arms that is a recipe for disaster.

 

 

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chrisp's picture

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Ha Ha..

Fri, 2010-01-01 16:31

I have witnessed your efforts and Your in no position to comment on setting the drag too hard honsu..Smile

Oh, and i always set my drag by striking the rod.

Simon C's picture

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agreed chrisp

Fri, 2010-01-01 17:51

Honsu - I saw you and munro nearly fly out of the boat with your drag settings on your new SW. If you can break the braid with your drag setting - get stronger braid when jigging sambos I reckon. Half the fun is holding it.

honsu chin's picture

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that was the correct

Sat, 2010-01-02 18:50

that was the correct procedure to increase the drag for somebody else!! lol

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me!

Sat, 2010-01-02 18:15

Jigging and deepwater braid drag settings for me are done by hand, I prefer the option to increase the drag during the fight if required and land the fish!

 

Dale's picture

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Yeah I tend to set it by

Sat, 2010-01-02 20:43

Yeah I tend to set it by hand as well.

Cheers
Dale

1 more shift to go,, woooo hoooooooooo

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I ran 10kg of drag the other

Sun, 2010-01-03 15:24

I ran 10kg of drag the other day on my Stella running 85lb ( measured with line through the rod and attached to scales ) and was surprised how heavy it felt when ~30kg sambo was making its short burst runs. I certainly backed it off when it was time for the missus to have a crack. I didnt want my rig to be ripped out of her hands. 

But i do wonder as chrisp said. How much would the pressure increase after you have lost a fair bit of line off the spool? Maybe a few extra kgs? 

Alan James's picture

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Impact of spool size

Sun, 2010-01-03 15:57

As Chrisp said the impact of the reduction of spool diameter due to lose of line is significant.  Figures quoted from another site say that with the spool 2/3rds full the drag has doubled and at 1/3rd full drag has trebled. 

If these figures are correct this would indicate that if you started with say 10kg with a full spool when the spool is half full you are looking at around 25kg of drag.

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hlokk's picture

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Not quite that dramatic. It

Tue, 2010-01-05 23:01

Not quite that dramatic. It mostly depends what the diameter of the spool is. Some reels have quite deep spool, others shallow. If you know the diameter of your line, spool height and width there's enough info there to tell you what percentage is there say every 50 or 100m.

I worked it out for a Luna once. At 5kg initial, by 300m out it was around 8.5kg.

The studio oceanmark blue heavens (120 at least) have marks on the spool to give you an idea of how much the drag increased.

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What? Don't you own an L50?

Wed, 2010-01-06 03:14

What? Don't you own an L50? Embarassed

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hlokk's picture

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The 50's have markings but I

Wed, 2010-01-06 09:53

The 50's have markings but I forget what spacing.

Ectopic's picture

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Impact of line capacity

Sun, 2010-01-03 22:57

My high school physics is a bit rusty but it would make sense for it to be all about torque. i.e.

Lets say you have a full spool of line then you remove line such that the distance from where the line peels off the spool to the centre of the spool (radius) is halved, it would make sense that you then need double the force (to create the same amount of torque) to turn the spool compared to when it was full i.e double the drag.

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HuggyB's picture

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Deadset

Wed, 2010-01-06 10:31

all your boffins and drag nerds with your weight scales and crap, its only jigging.  

 

Just wrench the drag up by hand and then strip some line off. If it's too soft, tighten the drag. Too tight, back it off a touch. Its not f**king rocket science.

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damo6230's picture

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Huggy.......

Wed, 2010-01-06 21:32

where's the love?

Yell

HuggyB's picture

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Lots of love

Sun, 2010-01-10 15:49

I think that peoples attention is somewhat misguided if they are farting around with drag settings using weight scales to jig for fish. There are plenty of others things to worry about than faff around with "1/3 the line rating".

 

For big game trolling, yes. For jigging, no.

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hlokk's picture

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When your jigging really

Sun, 2010-01-10 17:06

When your jigging really light line you cant afford to stuff around with playing with drag settings. You need to be set right from the take incase the fish decides to take it on the first jig and bury you straight away. Otherwise goodbye (too many) expensive jigs. I guess you could go heavier, but I like fishing light (and as long as your drag is set properly and accurately, can still land some reasonable fish and have fun doing it).

For sambo jigging though, I know how my rods go under load and what the braid and knots can do, so I mostly do that by feel. 

honsu chin's picture

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there you go....set your

Sun, 2010-01-10 17:33

there you go....set your drag by feel. Normally start off light and work your way a little at a time.

With experience you'll be able to set the drag to the outfit's limits.

Just get out and fish.

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Roger Knife's picture

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fair point huggy, man up.....

Wed, 2010-01-06 21:41

fair point huggy, man up.....

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honsu chin's picture

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yeh.....according to some

Wed, 2010-01-06 21:57

yeh.....according to some people my drag setting are either, "geez small fish, oh need more drag" or "F%&K!! DID U JUST LOCKED IT UP!??!"

Man up....and fish...

From experience you'll be able to judge your drag setting better.

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