What good is a drag on a reel if you tighten it down. The object of the drag to to enable the fish to pull against the power of the pole but slip before the line reaches it's breaking point. I've fished with too many people that tighten down their drag and try to horse a fish in and end up breaking it off. Then they complain of always loosing the big ones. The purpose of the drag is to stop the breaking off. No matter what the fishing condition is, my drag is always set where I can pull line off the reel fairly easy. I've posted this before but here it goes again. Run the line through the guides and out the tip, tie a loop in the line and attach it to something solid like a fence post. With the rod horizontal and pointing to where it's tied ( the post ) walk backwards adjusting the drag to where it slips easily and way lower than the braking point of the line. Once you back off say 20 feet, lift the pole up 45 degrees and while holding it that way walk backwards again. You will notice how much more resistant the line is to pull from the reel. If you raise the pole vertical and continue walking you will see it's even harder to get the line to pull off the reel. The difference is the friction of the line on the rod eyes. Now by setting you drag with the pole nearly vertical to be near but below the breaking point of the line, you can basically set you drag on the fly so to speak by controlling the angle of your rod. Once the hook is set, you need to keep a bend in the rod or pole to keep the fish from spitting the hook. If the fish is big enough to pull drag, let him. If it is a very large fish smoking your drag, don't pick up your pole but rather point the tip at the fish. That will allow him to pull drag but not break the line.Once he tires himself out then lift your pole and reel him in, no need to horse him in. If you need a little more drag just lift your pole angle higher and you have more drag. All if this is especially true if you use light lines like 4 or 6 pound test. To those that use the stronger braids you will probably rip off his lips before you break your line. And speaking of braids which I have come to love, when first using them I broke 2 rods on hook set by having my drag set a little too tight. So with braid I like a softer tip section and a little less drag. This is just what I do, take it for what it's worth, 2 cents before inflation.
"gene"