Drag on....drag off?

[WhalerPonce]

Quick question....When soaking bait off of the beach......rods in PVC rod holders...do you keep the drag on your conventional reels engaged? or off with the clicker on?

I like drag off/clicker on the best so long as the surf is calm and current not fast. If the current is moving much at all it tends to take out line against the little drag of my clicker. I feel if the shark hits my line and doesn't get immediate tension he is more apt to hold onto the bait/swallow. This also could prevent a rod/reel from heading due east faster than I can run.

However, this isn't always practical in a rougher surf.

What do you all generally do?

[bolo]

Depends on the type of reel you have. I fish with lever drag reels. When I set my bait out I have the clicker on and a click up on the lever drag from free spool. This way its not too loose and enough tension preventing the line from backlashing from a fast hit like a blacktip. If the current is strong and pulling drag I move the lever a few clicks more. Make sure the shark can pull the line with ripping you rig off the sand spike. Another trick I use if I get seaweed on the line and starts to pull drag I wrap the mono over the reel on the opposite side of the handle. Once the fish is on I pull the line off the reel and set the lever to strike and set the hook. I usually fish my drag almost to lock.

Other members will chime in and give their opinion. Good luck.

[WhalerPonce]

Yeah....not an issue at all with a lever drag reel. I'll throw my TLD 15 out with live bait on while I'm sharkin just to mix things up a bit...I do the same as you with the drag.

I know a lot of people here use big penn X/0 and senators.

I just talked to the Reel man down at the fishin' shack and asked about replacing the spring that engages and maintains tension on the clicker w/ a stronger one. He said go for it...find the same size spring with a little more tension and see what happens. Even by replacing the spring with a new one (same size and specs) should help out....seeing as a lot of these penn reels I/we use are old. He also gave me a good idea...

I cant find a picture of one....but they make a type of outrigger clip that is spring loaded. You pinch the thing open and clamp your line between 2 small rubber-ish pads. It's basically like pinching your line together w/ your fingers. Its about 3 inches long and can easily attach to the harness attachment on the reels. Drag off....clicker on....(in theory) line holds until shark hits.

I wish I could find a pic of this little thing....See what I'm saying though??

[PhishingPhanatic]

I cant find a picture of one....but they make a type of outrigger clip that is spring loaded. You pinch the thing open and clamp your line between 2 small rubber-ish pads. It's basically like pinching your line together w/ your fingers. Its about 3 inches long and can easily attach to the harness attachment on the reels. Drag off....clicker on....(in theory) line holds until shark hits.

I wish I could find a pic of this little thing....See what I'm saying though??

That's a really good idea, let us know if you find out the exact clip you're talking about. Thanks.

[taaeder]

Like this?

http://www.offshoretackle.com/release.htm

[WhalerPonce]

Like this?

http://www.offshoretackle.com/release.htm

Exactly that.

Have one on me.

I'll let you all know how it works next time I can get out there.

[TarponKing]

Sounds like your talking about a downrigger clip....clip with two rubber pads to hold line ........usually they hold it too tight so we used to put a rubberband in the clip while trolling and the fish w ould strike and snap the band.

[frentals]

whatever you don't leave it in freespool clicker almost lost a reell doing that, light gear with clicker

[WhalerPonce]

Say again? You almost lost a reel leaving it in free-spool with clicker? So long as I am keeping an eye on my rods I don't see how that could happen. I feel if the drag is engaged there would be a greater threat of losing a combo. Fish hits hard and runs immediately....sand spike fails and there goes the rig. ?

[PhishingPhanatic]

I'm always cautious about freespool with clicker too, if a blacktip or other fast hit happens the reel might backlash and then get pulled over.

[frentals]

I'm always cautious about freespool with clicker too, if a blacktip or other fast hit happens the reel might backlash and then get pulled over.

case and point there ,whether it be blacktips or boats in my case, leaving it in light drag is very safe, but when a backlashed reeled can't feed any more line it goes flying over into the water i've seen it many times on piers.

[TarponKing]

just watch for the shark hit and take clicker off right away and thumb it...gives you a better chance at getting a hook set..

[WhalerPonce]

I'm always cautious about freespool with clicker too, if a blacktip or other fast hit happens the reel might backlash and then get pulled over.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. It's a give/take situation either way (In general....most things are)

Again, lever drag set partially is ideal IMO....

I can't wait until this strong wind/big surf dies down so I can try my downrigger clip experiment.

[WhalerPonce]

just watch for the shark hit and take clicker off right away and thumb it...gives you a better chance at getting a hook set..

So are you saying you keep the drag off/clicker on until you get a hit....take off clicker and thumb the reel until you are ready for a hook set?

[sharkmn42]

We fish or at least try to fish total freespool with no click mainly, there are exceptions for the clicker like nature calls ect, but we will leave a little slack in the line and tell our teammate to watch the rod, well bascily the line...every thing happens on the line rember that, it moves we move and most of our sharks never feel a clicker. we have scaled down to just 2 rods in our spread for many reasons in the rescent years i wont get into, but our hook-ups speak for them selfs and we hate missing bites. were fishing just like anyone else with a pole in our hand just ours is a lot bigger than most peoples..sittin there waiting watching and looking for anything that may swim by and being able to react calmly to that situation or making that "One "bite of the day count...youll never see us talking on a cellphone either, were totaly Focused and in that Zone for those handfull of hours were fishing... our fishing style isnt for most people but there is a reason for it, but the bottom line our clickers hardly ever go off cause there hardly ever on....just be very attentitive.......mike




No bells whistles, clips or clickers for us...just that pit in the stomache that comes when when the line peels thru our fingers telling us....Oh Yeah!

[bolo]

I never had an issue using the clicker with my shark rig. I actually have the clicker on and the lever drag click up pass free spool. Enough tension but loose enough to pull off the reel. I have had blacktip, lemon, and bull hit my rig. I never had a backlash or rig fly over the rail. I always have a rod guide resting behind the edge where the rod it is resting on. This keeps the rod from flying over. One time at Juno pier I forgot to put my reel on free spool with cliker on and a big snook hit my bait. My girl points to my rod and it was bend over. BigBoy James was there and we thought it was going over. The rod guide kept the rod from going over. If you feel that your rod might go over from a hard hit tie a rope over your rod to the rail and you will be fine. Lighter set up and more prone to fly over the pier compare to a heavy set up.

[TarponKing]

thanks mike you put my thought in nice detail