| |
Be honest and
try to remember when you really gave a lot of thought about the
drag on your reels. Did you
set and test it before that last outing? When was the last time
you cleaned the reel and ALSO cleaned the
drag system? I'm not throwing stones here, because I am just a guilty
as the next guy. The point is that the
drag is normally an overlooked item.
There are three
distinct times when a properly set drag is of major importance.
First, when we hook an
unexpectedly large and powerful fish, such as a trophy bass, he
often makes a strong initial run. The second
instance is when we get snagged, lose our 'cool', and start yanking
and jerking to get it loose. Broken rods
and lost lures often result from these episodes. The third, and
most important, time to have an accurate drag
setting is when we bring the fish next to the boat, particularly
if we do it before he is fully exhausted. More
lines are broken and trophy fish lost by final surges next to the
boat than any other way.
The drag system
of a reel is intended to allow the angler to preset a consciously-determined
limit to the
amount of pressure which may be exerted on his line. It is an automatic,
mechanical back-up to the angler's
own abilities in playing a fish and provides a safeguard against
unexpected pressures on the line. Proper
drag settings are related to the strength of the line being used,
but involve a number of other factors which
we will discuss as we go herein.
All modern reel
drag systems operate on the principle of friction between two or
more surfaces. (For you
physics buffs, the 'coefficient of friction', the degree of 'slipperiness'
between two materials, is the prime
design driver for drag materials selection, as we will discuss later
on.) Construction usually involves the use
of a series of adjacent washers, to which varying degrees of pressure
can be applied by some mechanical
adjustment. In some spinning and spin-cast reels, the rear and/or
front surface of the spool may be one of
the friction surfaces. The same applies to fly reels. Others, noted
by having a drag adjustment at the rear,
operate by applying constriction on the main drive shaft. The drag
in bait-casting reels normally involves the
drag washers being positioned on the shaft of the main drive gear,
rather than in direct relation to the spool.
Some newer reels have a basic drag setting, plus a special lever
which allows it to be increased or
decreased a pre-set amount immediately, while actually playing the
fish.
Early drags
devices ranged from metal-on-metal, plastic-on metal, plastic-on-plastic,
to various
combinations, including the use of leather disks. The goal was to
find a combination of materials that would
always retain a constant degree of friction. Metals were originally
a problem in that they would rust or the
heat created by the friction would wear and pit their surfaces.
Plastics were worse. The heat caused fast
wear-out and the ground-off residue caused the drag to bind excessively.
For a while, leather was used,
primarily because it was tough, long-lasting and had some natural
lubrication. However, leather dried out and
became misshapen and, eventually got brittle. This was especially
true if gotten wet.
While one might
ask why we didn't just regularly lubricate the components of the
older drag systems, the
answer is that the degree of friction and, therefore, the drag setting
fluctuated greatly as the lubrication
gradually dissipated, making it all but impossible to maintain any
type of constant setting.
Recent innovations
in metals with impregnated lubrication, such as those used for 'oil-less'
bearings, and
TEFLON (registered trademark of E.I. duPont de Nemours and Co.),
a tough, synthetic material with a low
coefficient of friction, have modernized drag systems immeasurably.
Their constant coefficient of friction,
coupled with the toughness and ability to quickly dissipate the
heat generated, now give us drag systems
which are predictable, long-lasting and dependable.
The problems
most anglers experience with today's reel drags result from not
realizing that they do require
some maintenance and care, and not knowing how to adjust them properly.
Simple dirt
and contamination by other foreign materials cause most drag malfunctions.
(In my particular
case, it always happens when I've managed to get a good fish on
the end of my string!) Whenever grit
manages to work its way in-between the washers, the balance of surface
friction is disturbed. This causes
binding and results in the drag not slipping at the proper setting.
Even if the reel does not look dirty, there
will always be microscopic metal shaving that result from the normal
wear of the internal reel components,
especially the gears. Suffice to say, regular reel cleaning, to
include the drag system, is necessary.
I do not recommend
taking the drag components, themselves, apart for cleaning, as reassembly
is often
difficult. Simply expose the washer assemblies and immerse them
liberally in a cleaning solvent, taking care
to assure that the chosen solvent will not damage any plastic components.
Otherwise, warm, soapy water
will do fine. If you do disassemble, you may clean and lubricate
the washers. BUT, completely wipe the
washers dry before reassembly. Excess lubrication will upset the
built-in balance of intended friction.
One thing to
never do is store the reel with the drag setting tight. (You will
note all new reels are found to
have the drags backed off fully.) Loosen it to the maximum. Otherwise,
TEFLON, or other man-made
materials, may misshapen and cause the drag to be erratic when next
used. Also, any foreign materials
present may dry and bind the washers together. Loosen the drag fully
and exercise it before each fishing
trip. Gradually tighten and exercise it until you reach the intended
setting.
Setting the
drag is fairly simple, IF we recognize a couple of points. First,
understand that if a drag were set,
for example, to allow a continuous pull of eight pounds to take
line steadily off the spool, it would take an
initial force of around 12 pounds to overcome the initial inertia,
or static resistance between the friction
surfaces. (There we go with the physics lesson again.) Pushing a
stalled car is an extreme example. It takes
a good bit of effort to first get it moving, but not nearly as much
to keep it rolling. What all this means is that
the initial force to get the drag system slipping must not be too
much for the line to handle or we'll break off
for sure.
Another factor
is the amount of shock that may be applied to the line at any point
in time and the physical
properties of the line and of the rod to handle it. For example,
most monofilament lines on the market today
have a considerable built-in stretch factor, averaging around 20%.
This, along with a fast tip or soft rod, will
cushion the initial shock to the line by a surging bass (or me trying
to rip my favorite Bagley plug out of a
persimmon tree). If you happen to favor one of the new 'low-stretch'
lines, such as Berkley's Fireline, you will
not get as much cushioning effect. Consequently, the drag setting
must be accommodating.
Based on the
last two paragraphs, above, I hope I've made the point for the drag
setting to be a rather
selective process. Initially setting the drag IS NOT done by seeing
how close to the actual breaking breaking
strength of the line we can get, and then backing it down a bit.
A sudden surge from a fish will 'shock' line
and a drag set in that manner and -poof- all gone. With experience,
the angler will get to the point that he
can estimate a proper setting for a given weight of line and type
of rod through exercising the drag by hand.
The best guide
for drag settings I have found in 40 years of the fishing game is
the 'one-fourth rule'. Take a
dead weight, one-fourth the size that your line tests at, tie it
on and try to dead lift it off the floor with the rod.
(For example, a three pound barbell weight for 12 pound test line.)
Now, you probably expect me to say
something simple, like set the drag so that it slips when the weight
is finally lifted from the floor. You can do
that, IF you are using too heavy a rod. That's right, TOO heavy
a rod. Actually, you are in for a big surprise
when you try this method. If you are using the correct rod for the
line employed, you should not be able to lift
that weight without extreme difficulty and overtaxing the rod. (If
you don't believe this, try it.) Where you set
the drag to slip is when you can just perceive any degree of movement
in the weight, or when the rod seems
overly strained, whichever comes first.
In summing up,
keep the following high points of drag setting in mind:
-Buy good quality
equipment.
-Store it properly
and service it regularly.
-Understand
that drag setting is not solely just below, or even near, the test
of
the line. There are other factors to consider.
-Remember that
your line and the drag that helps control it are your final links
to
that trophy fish.
|
