Falling Hook, Line and Sinker for Everything You Read

Consider the example I found online this morning.

A fella explained that he routinely kept his drag locked down for frog fishing but had been seeing comments from fellow forum brothers and sisters, advising to the contrary. Although surprised by what they said, he decided to give it a try.

"This fall, I backed my drag down a little while jig fishing," he said. "On the first hit I got, I set the hook and d**n near unspooled my reel...lol. How do I know how much to back it off, or do I wait for the strike to make that decision?" 

Nobody likes losing a nice fish because of an improperly set drag on their reel, regardless of the reason involved. It doesn't matter if you just forgot to set it, or if maybe the drag control accidentally got bumped or kicked while lying on the boat's deck.

When you're faced with either one of these scenarios, you have no choice but to set the drag on the fly.

Under ideal conditions, though, drag is set as you prepare your gear for a fishing day.

Just know there is more than one way to accomplish this task. I've used a couple methods over the years, starting way back when I used to tie the end of my line to a straight-back wooden chair and adjust the drag on each reel until it barely would slip while raising the rod tip upward. For a long spell now, I simply adjust the drag until I can pull some line off the rod tip with a steady, hard pull by hand.

And then, of course, as mentioned earlier, you have those who simply lock the drag down until there's no slippage whatsoever.

The most accurate way to set your drag, though, is to use a spring or digital scale to measure the amount of drag slippage. Most agree that your drag should be set at 25 percent of the breaking strength (pound test) of the line you're using. You can check the breaking strength by tying the line to the scale hook, holding your rod at a 45-degree angle, and pulling down on the scale. Read the scale the moment the drag starts to slip, and then adjust the drag mechanism until the drag slips at the same weight setting of the line on your reel.

Touring pros, on the other hand, realize each fishing situation requires different tactics for fighting and landing bass, so they rely heavily on ways to control the amount of line they surrender to a hooked fish. Some veteran anglers never trust the drag systems of their baitcast reels and depend on their thumbs to release line to surging bass. Others set their reel drags according to the lures and type of cover they are fishing.

Here's how to set the reel-drag systems for the following popular bass-fishing tactics:

Pitching and flipping reel drag. Since you're using heavy line, you want to winch bass from heavy cover. Lock the drag star on a baitcaster as tight as you can turn it.

Finesse-fishing reel drag. Set your drag according to the situation you encounter. For fishing open water with light line, keep the drag fairly loose, so it allows about one foot of line to slip out if/when the fish makes a run.

Topwater-fishing reel drag. Set the drag so line will strip off about 5 to 8 inches from the reel when a 3- or 4-pound bass loads up on the lure. This will prevent you from pulling the hooks out of the fish when you jerk your rod after the strike.