Braid or Mono

Hat55, didn't notice Ranger (Mark) had made it so simple. That's pretty much how I do it now. Experience with your equipment is a great teacher. dj

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Originally Posted by rdjj71m

Hat55, very good question. I am not an expert and look forward to comments for others. Here is what I have read.
Drag the amount of force at which the reel give up line to keep the line or pole from snapping (the weakest link in the system). The unwritten rule for drag is simple. Whatever the strength of the line your using, divide it by 4 and thats how much pound of force it should take to get the drag working. This is correct for line "only" Connect the line to an accurate scale, back up 5-6 ft. with the rod tip at a 45 degree angle the drag should slip at the above calculated force. Example: 12# braid divided by 4 equals .. 3 lbs. But as you know not many crappie rod are designed to swing a 3 lb. crappie in the boat. I have not seen too many crappie rods designed to even swing a crappie larger than 3/4 - 1 lb. in the boat and UL maybe only 1/2 lb. ( then as Todd said, if up get the line around the tip and don't notice ) you have "0" drag. You would be surprised how much force is at the rod handle on a 10ft. rod with a 1.0 lb. drag. Hope the Big Guns get on here and line us out. dj

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Thanks Great answer

Mum is the word. Lol. Hat who would of thought a new boat would have a defective extinguisher. Lol. The response certainly made me laugh. For me it's just a feel kinda thing. I never excelled at Math especially the AB = C thing. Lol so for me it's just a eye, hand, feel and maybe some but limited experience when setting a drag for braid. When I jerk and it slips I tighten it up a little.......ain't this fun and what good friends we have found from fishing.......Ranger

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Originally Posted by Ranger09

Mum is the word. Lol. Hat who would of thought a new boat would have a defective extinguisher. Lol. The response certainly made me laugh. For me it's just a feel kinda thing. I never excelled at Math especially the AB = C thing. Lol so for me it's just a eye, hand, feel and maybe some but limited experience when setting a drag for braid. When I jerk and it slips I tighten it up a little.......ain't this fun and what good friends we have found from fishing.......Ranger

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Amen brother.

I use braid and just crank my drag all the way down. It gets a little dicey if you snag something never broke a rod yet

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Originally Posted by clfarms1

I use braid and just crank my drag all the way down. It gets a little dicey if you snag something never broke a rod yet

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What rods do you use ?

A couple of pinnacles and bnm jig poles. I have bent them pretty hard but no breaking I am looking to get some trolling rods

Well I, ll probly get run outa town too.....we been using braid since it came out. I only use mono when minnow fishin, which we dont do much. Agree with ya odie I never broke a rod using braid. There, s still such a thing called drag....set to the type or action rod and your all set. Oh by the way I might just be qualified to make such a post...lol!

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Originally Posted by Hat55

Just exactly what is proper drag set when fishing braid? Does the rod dictate that? We dummies need all help we can get. Thanks

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With braid drag settings all your after is taking the shock load off the rod itself......tie off to something solid load up the rod as you normally do on hookset, you want it slip enough to not straighten hooks but tight enough to let your rod do most of the work.....play around with it before you go out and you will be dialed in.

Well dang, broke my first rod ever last weekend. Don't think it had to do with braid or the drag. Probably it was more the wind blowin a metal do shut while my rod was still in it! I think that what caused it to break! And it was one of my high dollar $19 rods from wally world! Big sigh......................