The PCS Blogosphere
There are four different lubricants that I use in fishing reels. A one-size-fits-all approach will work in some situations, but not this one. This continues to be a work in progress. As of this writing, April 2009, here are the four lubes that I’ve settled on:
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… what would it be like? Hmm, now that would be interesting. I would want a set of three reels. The first would be my 30-pound-class reel, holding 300 yards of 50-pound spectra and a 50-yard topshot of 30-pound-test mono or fluoro, capable of delivering an easy 15 pounds of drag. The second would be a 40-pound-class reel, holding 300 yards of 65-pound spectra and a 50-yard topshot of 40-pound test mono or fluoro, capable of delivering an easy 20 pounds of drag. The third would be a 50-pound-class reel, holding 300 yards of 80-pound spectra and a 50-yard topshot of 50-pound mono or fluoro, delivering 25 pound of drag. Yes, these would be very small reels!
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It’s common on Internet boards to see a guy say that he as a reel and wants to match it up to a rod. It’s difficult because rods will typically give you a line weight rating. Just like with reels, I would rather see them list a drag range. I believe that using a drag range is the most reliable way to establish a proper rating for a rod. Experienced fishermen all have a “feel” for what is well balance, but have probably not thought it through in an OBJECTIVE manner. Yeah, there’s that word again! Here’s the procedure that I go through.
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If you’ve been reading these blogs, then it means you have to be as obsessed with fishing as I am. You remember the fish you’ve caught. You also remember the fish you’ve lost. Fine-tuning our art is often just a matter of eliminating those weak links in the chain that result in lost fish. That means taking a hard critical look at everything, from the handle grip to point of the hook. So let’s do just that, but this time let’s start with a different point of view.
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There are several different drag systems that are commonly used in reels today. Their smoothness, this lack of “start up,” can sometimes be the difference between landing a fish or not. I service an average of about a thousand reels a year, and I think I’ve pretty much seen every drag material that’s ever been used. Remember, I would define a “smooth drag” as having less than 10 percent “start up.” If you have a weight that is equivalent to your drag setting and hang that weight on the reel, a smooth drag would allow that weight to drop one foot every five seconds. A “reliable drag” would then be a smooth drag that would never become sticky as the reel ages. Simple enough, so let’s see what’s out there.
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A school of 50- to 80-pound Guadalupe yellowfin tuna were working the chum line off the stern of the Spirit. Several of us were already hooked up. Then it was Wesley’s turn. A yellowfin picked up his bait, and line started peeling off his reel. After an agonizingly long three-count, he threw the reel into gear. His rod loaded up in an instant. Then came that sickening sound from his reel, “zzztttttttt, zzztttttttt, zzzzzzztttttttttttt, powwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!” Tail between his legs, he walked back to his tackle box, tied on another hook, pinned on another bait, and flipped it out into the chum line from an empty corner on the stern. His bait was inhaled as soon as it hit the water. Three more seconds, and he threw is reel into gear. I heard the same “zzztttttttt, zzztttttttt, zzzzzzztttttttttttt, powwwwwwwwww!!!” this time followed by “son of a #@*% !!!” He almost chucked that rod and reel into the water. By the time he picked another rig, the bite had died.
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The short answer is one foot every five seconds. This is the objective standard that I use to define a smooth drag system for a reel. Let’s say that I have star drag reel loaded with straight 20-pound mono and I want to set the drag to 25 percent, or five pounds. What I’ll do is put the reel on the rod, run the line through the guides, tie the line off to a five-pound downrigger weight and then button down the star.
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In medicine, one of the first things a student is taught is the difference between the subjective and the objective. Subjectives are things that a patient will complain of, like "Hey, Doc, I ache all over, my back hurts and “I'm hearing voices." Objectives are things that can be assigned hard numbers, like a heart rate, a blood pressure, a respiratory rate, and a temperature. Back pain can be subject to interpretation, but the number of pills taken in the previous week to treat that back pain is an objective hard number. In deciding how best to help a patient, appreciating these differences can be very helpful.
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Questions about general reel maintenance are the most common questions I get. After all, you’ve just spent $50 to $500 on a brand new reel and you’d like to keep it looking like new. You’d also like to keep it WORKING like new. Think of the dozens of reels in your lifetime. They’ve all died and gone to reel heaven. Now you’re buying a new reel to replace an old one and you want THIS one to be different. That’s the way it works, isn’t it.
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It’s common on Internet boards to see a guy say that he as a reel and wants to match it up to a rod. It’s difficult because rods will typically give you a line weight rating. Just like with reels, I would rather see them list a drag range. I believe that using a drag range is the most reliable way to establish a proper rating for a rod. Experienced fishermen all have a “feel” for what is well balance, but have probably not thought it through in an OBJECTIVE manner. Yeah, there’s that word again! Here’s the procedure that I go through.
Read More...
