Musky Reel Drag
Musky reels and Drag. How to set your drag for musky fishing.
Musky reels and drag, particularly how strong your drag needs to be is a question often asked by anglers. While there are endless schools of thought on this matter, I tend to take an all or nothing approach to the matter of musky reel drag. When setting a musky reel up for casting I will set the drag to the tightest setting. While this allows for very little line to be pulled when tested at the rod tip and allows for maximum force when setting the hook.
Please note that I said I was testing the drag from the musky rods tip. Most anglers tend to check their drag by pulling line from the front of the reel which is an unrealistic example of the reels drag. One should keep in mind that muskies pull not only line but flex the rod during the initial strike and subsequent fight.
By setting the drag at its tightest setting while casting I am reliant on the flex and buffering effect of the rod to control fish during the initial strike. Immediately after hooking a musky, I will quickly turn the reels drag back a quarter or half turn. This allows the drag to do its job letting a musky pull line in a smooth manner when needed. This gives me maximum power on the hook set but requires immediate attention to be paid to backing off the reels drag after a strike and hook up. While some anglers will attempt to find a balance between a drag that pulls but doesn’t slip on a hook set, I must attest that have seen this work out far better for the muskies than it has for fishermen.
When it comes to musky reel drag one must also be thinking about your musky reel drag and its effect during figure eight hook ups. If you have a tight drag as mentioned earlier, you need to train yourself to click your musky reel into free spool as you being your figure eight. This will allow you to use thumb pressure to easily hook and handle musky that bite in figure eight.
Using thumb pressure in the figure eight with your reel in free spool is a critical factor when you need to hook trophy class muskies. Not only will this prevent the possibility of break offs or hook-bend outs, but you can also immediately allow large muskies to run under thumb pressure.
Musky reel drag is somewhat generally misunderstood so let’s clarify what is taking place with your musky reels drag. As a musky pulls against your rod and subsequently your reel the fish is met with and opposing force in the form of your reels drag. The amount of drag applied to a fish is measured in pounds. Drag pounds are literally the amount of dead weight the fish would have to move to pull line away from the reels spool. For example, ten pounds of drag applied to a fish is the equivalent of a musky pull a ten pound dead weight.
While muskies are undoubtedly a strong fish the amount of drag needed to land a musky is very little. Setting your reel for maximum hook setting impact and then backing things off after a strike will allow you have a simple and effective plan of attack when it comes to setting your musky reels drag.
Good Luck on the Water,
Steven Paul
Tennessee Musky Guide, Melton Hill Musky Guide, Musky reel drag, How to set musky drag. What drag for musky reel.
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