Drag setting for surf fishing
Summer vacation is 2 months off...just started getting excited now that the weather has improved up here and ive been able to fish a few times.
While many of you are likely finding alternatives to the pier lately, I had a surf fishing question for you regarding proper drag setting technique. This is mainly in regards to larger setups for bull reds and sharks.
My typical strategy is to tighten my drag while cast to avoid the line slipping and slicing my fingers, then I loosen it almost all the way for spiking the rod in a PVC rod holder. Then I typically go cast lures while baits soak. Once a fish takes the bait I will tighten the drag to fighting level and set the hook. I have been doing it this way for years because I've had instances where a fish pulled my rods out of the spike because the drag was still engaged and I was too far away to react. Fortunately, no gear has been lost.
All that said, my assumption is that having the drag set off/very low when spiking it may be missing some hook sets as the fish feels slight pressure and spits the hook rather than the tension of a tight line/drag setting the hook as the fish picks up the bait and swims off.
So what's your preference? Leave the drag engaged for better hookups but risk the rod getting pulled in? Loosen drag so your rod is spared from the big fish, but maybe miss some hook sets? Somewhere inbetween?
