Baitcaster drag

[hermit]

Hey all, been away for a few years, nice to be back fishing again.

I have a question about baitcasters. I got my first one, primarily for jigging, but used it as my third trolling rod this week. I hooked a beauty salmon and wanted to ease off the drag, but it wouldn't do it. I spun the wheel to no effect, and finally lost the fish on a big jump just behind the boat. I'm sure the heavy drag led to this. After the fish was gone, I had no problem adjusting it.

The reel is a BPS Extreme, about two weeks old. It seemed to be a decent reel. What's with the drag? Is that normal? It sure would be nice to be able to adjust it while under load! Thanks.

A

[Pete Collin]

Is this Alec? I wonder how you have been! Good to see you are still fishing. It was your very detailed jigging tutorial that got me started, and I have reaped some nice benefits.

Baitcasters, it seems, are quirky. I have owned 2 reels, by different makers, that had the annoying problem where the anti-reverse would not always engage, causing snarls and lost fish. One of the 2 was a fairly high quality reel. I had to quit using either one because it was too much bother. In your case, I suppose if you troll with it, you could start off on a light drag setting and increase it as needed.

Take Care,

Pete

www.pcforestry.com

[hermit]

Hey Pete, yeah it's me. I got hit with two chronic health conditions which led to serious physical issues with nerves and joints. You name it I injured it- back, knees, achilles tendons, shoulders, wrist etc. Spent the last three years battling back.

Anyway, not being able to adjust the drag with a fish on is unacceptable for an $80 reel. It's the first baitcaster I've owned so I'm hoping to get a sense of what's normal before I go back to BPS. Has anyone else had this problem? Have a great holiday everyone!

A

[zackblain]

Hey Pete, yeah it's me. I got hit with two chronic health conditions which led to serious physical issues with nerves and joints. You name it I injured it- back, knees, achilles tendons, shoulders, wrist etc. Spent the last three years battling back.

Anyway, not being able to adjust the drag with a fish on is unacceptable for an $80 reel. It's the first baitcaster I've owned so I'm hoping to get a sense of what's normal before I go back to BPS. Has anyone else had this problem? Have a great holiday everyone!

A

Salmon and big trout might be a bit much for a lo profile baitcaster designed for bass casting, my only thought

[ Post made via Android ]

[ERABBIT]

hermit welcome back , sorry I can't help you on that reel....................give me a PM if ya want to do some trolling some time............

[Tigerhunter]

I have had issues with bait casters and drag. They are a lot harder to adjust on the fly than spinning reels are.

I fish for tiger musky, I was having the issue where my drag was too low on the hits and I was missing fish more often than hooking them. I kept tightening my drag until I lost two good ones in a row because they took a dive at the boat and the hooks pulled through their jaws. A few more adjustments and I finally had a good setup.

Also the drag on a bait caster is not as obvious on a spinning reel, if you go the wrong way with a musky or in your case a salmon, it could go bad real quick.

As far as adjusting drag while a fish is on, I would think any reel could do it. I have bait casters from $50-300 and they all adjust on the fly. In your yard tie or loop your line around a tree. Next either walk straight back pointing the rod at the tree or perpendicular would probably be better. Start with the drag loose so it pulls out easily, careful not to tangle yourself up here. As you pull and move away from the tree, tighten the drag and vise versa. This should be similar enough to having a fish hooked to see if it is adjustable.

I have been using bait casters for about 5 years now and love them, as mentioned above I am still getting everything dialed in as far as drag but have a pretty good handle on them now.....just takes a lot of practice.

[steelydan]

get an abu garcia ambassedeur

[Pete Collin]

Steelydan,

The Ambassadeur is my favorite jigging reel too. Reliable, and a million cheap used ones out there to choose from.

[143447]

get an abu garcia ambassedeur

Hi Alec, good to hear from you.

Got an old garcia, still works perfect!!

chris

[Jonboy Walton]

Here is the way I do the drag...if you have some light weighlifting weights lay around (or anything you can put on a decent scale to get the weight of), run the line through the rods first eye then to the weight. Pick up the rod and all off the ground and back the drag off until the weight starts to fall (kinda the way you set the drag when changing lures on a baitcaster). That should give you an idea of a 2lb drag or whatever the weight you tied on. It should at least give you a starting point. For what its worth I am a fan of Shimano Curado BSF reels...but everyone has a favorite.

[hermit]

Ed I'll do that sometime, thanks. Good to be back guys.

I had a few minutes to play with it yesterday. Took tigerhunter's suggestion and tied off to the biggest oak I could find, figure that's about what the salmon felt like. j/k it was a good fish but not huge. I found the drag did eventually loosen up under tension, but if I then relaxed it would loosen even more.

So that's not exactly ideal but better than I thought. Might take it back anyway. I've heard good things about the Curado but can't swing that at the moment. Might check out the Abu Garcia.

My mistake, I had it set for jigging and didn't check it when putting it out. I use Daiwa Sealines for my other trolling reels, I'm not really set up yet for three but I like the new rule.

A