Newbie to Swording question

[catching]

Went out Saturday night went 0 for 4 but fought one for twenty minutes. Using Penn Int'l 50's. Can any of you advise if I can set the drag past the strike button or leave it set at it. All on the boat were new to swordies, and we did not know how to get more comtol on the fish. It was like realling in a bucket that pulled back every once and a while. Is this how they fight it? Only gave us one good run, or it was so big it did not know it was hooked.

[Nightfighter]

Originally Posted by catching

Using Penn Int'l 50's. Can any of you advise if I can set the drag past the strike button or leave it set at it.

15-22 lbs.
There are 2 schools of thought.
1. Fight them gently with 15 lbs. of drag because you don't want to pull the hook, due to the soft mouth.
2. Put the heat on them right away 22 lbs, better to loose the fish in 10 min. instead of loosing it after hours of fighting them

Your choice, what ever works for you.

[catching]

Originally Posted by Nightfighter

15-22 lbs.
There are 2 schools of thought.
1. Fight them gently with 15 lbs. of drag because you don't want to pull the hook, due to the soft mouth.
2. Put the heat on them right away 22 lbs, better to loose the fish in 10 min. instead of loosing it after hours of fighting them

Your choice, what ever works for you.

Thanks for the heads up will try that next time out.

[Flatsfish B]

Just light NF said!

Another thing is every fish fights different. If it fought the way you said either it was not a HUGE fish, or it was a big fish and would take a 400 yard run after seeing the boat. I have caught small fish around 55'' that have kicked ass and you would swear its a big guy, and i have caught bigger fish that came right to the boat. Good luck!

[catching]

thanks for the input going to give it another try Thursday night hopefully with more success.

tightlines