Why tackle heavier than 50# when fishing light drag?

[credditt]

Let me preface this by saying I've only been swording four or five times and haven't landed one yet... I'm going to be shopping for some new rods, and I'm still trying to learn.

I've been told by several people (and read a few places) not to run over about 15 pounds of drag when fighting a sword to avoid the hook pulling from their soft mouth. If you can't run heavy drag, then why fish higher than 50 pound line? I know several people that use 80 to 130 pound class, but with drag no higher than 15 pounds. What's the point considering that 50 pound class can fish 15# drag? In theory, the 130# would offer no benefit over 50# since the light drag is the limiting factor.

Thanks for any input.

[JupiterSailfish]

What I would do is fish light drag until you catch a couple fish, I would then switch over to heavy drag. I fish 20-25lbs on my reels with 80lb Momoi Hi-Vis. With the heavier drag you will pull hooks, which is why I said wait till you get a couple. I like it because if the fish isn't hooked right then the hook will pull out way early in the fight and not an hour or two into it. Also you can bring in smaller fish fast and release them and get back to fishing.

Good Luck

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by credditt

Let me preface this by saying I've only been swording four or five times and haven't landed one yet... I'm going to be shopping for some new rods, and I'm still trying to learn.

I've been told by several people (and read a few places) not to run over about 15 pounds of drag when fighting a sword to avoid the hook pulling from their soft mouth. If you can't run heavy drag, then why fish higher than 50 pound line? I know several people that use 80 to 130 pound class, but with drag no higher than 15 pounds. What's the point considering that 50 pound class can fish 15# drag? In theory, the 130# would offer no benefit over 50# since the light drag is the limiting factor.

Thanks for any input.

I was wondering the same thing why not use lighter line , I have been fishing only two times with Capt`n Shane ..and managed to get my sword on the first trip ... He has 50W tiager`s with 200yds of 80 lb mono top shot ... I wasnt on his trip last friday ... but one of the swords they hooked went all around the boat ... line got caught on the engine which they managed to get off and also on the bow anchor ... both times they could have lost the fish ... after he told me how crazy the sword was that night .. now I understand why they use heavier lines ...

[LIGHTS OUT]

In theory, there is no need but you have to keep in mind that there are some instances where alot more drag in necessary. The 80 and 130# class is usually braid with a mono topshot. The braid allows you to LOAD the spool.
The braids have a much thinner diameter which translates into more line on the spool. However, it is not a necessity and many people do use straight mono of 80, 60,50, and even 30#.

[reefling]

also when fishing bigger line and reels if you hook a big one and you have em on for a hour or more hes hooked you know that. so you can give alot more drag than on the hookup......


so basicaly you will end up using heavy drag.
on the 300 lber i caught i had the tiagra up to full drag and boated em after 2 hours

hope this helps

reefling

[Nick C]

hahahaha Light drag!!!
I fish 20lbs at strike off the rod(measured on the Boga) and my buddies crack on me for fishing light drag!
You are gonna pull hooks fish light drag and heavy drag. Difference is, with heavy, it'll be right off the bat. Rarely have I lost fish after 15 minutes with heavy drag... with light drag that hook will pull 2 hours into it and that's the heart breaker!
When these things are hooked, they are hooked IMO!!!
Plus, you don't want to spend 45 minutes fighting a pup!!

Pretty much what Jupitersailfish said. I don't fish anything less than 60lb...

[Flatsfish B]

LEt me say I DO NOT fish light drags, I fish minimum 130 jerry brown and 22 lbs at stike on 50's and 26 lbs on my 80's.

But when you fish smaller reels like 50's, and you fish light drag, that is when you really need the line capacity. When you preset a drag to 15lbs, your max drag is only around 28 i beleive which is nothing. IMO, if you wanna fish light drag mark your reel with tape, and set your preset higher and just don't push it to strike. This way if you have to go up you can.

I am very confident that on my 80's, I will never be spooled. I hope to hell I am proven wrong, but 38lbs on a full spool, 72lbs if you steel half of my 1300 yards, and towards the bottom thats almost 90lbs of drag!! That is also why I fish 200lb JB on my 80's!
Remember on a 50w, when 3/4 of the spool is gone your drag has doubled. So if you push past 20lbs and are getting dumped, you better hope your connections are 100%!

Do what works for you! But there is always a bigger fish swimming around, do you wanna be out gunned?

[Broadbill-Pro]

In a fishery with a minimum size restriction, it is important to make every attempt to reduce the time that a fish is stressed in order to release it with any chance of survival. Fishing with undersized tackle is as irresponsible as hunting an elephant with a 22cal rifle. Can you kill it, certainly the answer is yes with given time. We need to ask ourselves if killing everything that bites our hooks is the intention?

Then there are numerous reason why a 50w is not sufficient for a large fish, but the other guys have already posted that.

Responsible fishing means making every attempt to harvest the largest of the intended species while having consideration for bycatch. Breaking a fish off with 300 yards of 50# dragging behind it is a death sentence for that fish.

[Bait Washer]

We are all looking for the big girls and you will want all the muscle
your tackle will give when you find her.

[swordfish123]

it can also be important to note that with all the Sh*t attached to your line, weights, balloons, lights etc, you want a nice heavy line that doesnt have a chance of kinking or breaking when you tie on a nice heavy rubberband knot etc. Lighter lines will have a tendency to kink up and create a week point in the line.

[catching]

20 pounds on my 50W straight Mono, and 30 pounds on the 80W straight Mono, you will pull hooks but the pups come in quick and it is nice to know when a fish is pealing out line you have a nice one on. Do what you want but I was getting sick of fighting little fish for 45 minutes to an hour.

[bullfighter]

When I first started, I fished TLD and Tiagra 50s stand-up. I had a lot of fun and caught a lot of fish. I had about 900 yards (2700 feet) of spectra on the reels. I fish a center counsel, and my theory was that I fish no deeper than 2000 feet, so as long as I had a good boat handler, I could never get spooled because even if the fish went straight to the bottom, I could get right on top of him, and have plenty of line. I fished this way for about five years and caught a lot of fish, never getting spooled.

Then I fished larger tackle a couple of nights with some friends. Larger tackle makes everything easier. You do not have to clear your lines for a fish, you do not have to chase (most) fish, and you can get smaller fish in real quick. I fish 30lbs of drag on my big reels. If a fish takes line at 30lbs, you know he is decent, if he takes no drag, you relase the little guy very quickly.

Any hooks that you pull because of the heavy drag you more than make up for because of your increased efficiency. Often the bite turns on out there qucikly, and the bite goes off for about an hour or so. I want to have as many biats in the water during this time as possible. I don't want to waste time clearing lines or chasing a small fish. Also, if you ever fish solo (one of my favorite things on the right night) big tackle is a must.

One of the best things about large bent butt tackle is the ease of checking baits. At the end of the night, I am tired and I would get lazy and not want to check that far ballon on my TLD 50. With the big bent butts, you have much more leverage and this makes it easier to check those baits at the end of the night. Again, this aids in you effiicency as you are not dragging a slashed bait or tangled line because you are too tired to check your baits.

50s are adequate to catch 90% of the fish out there. I agree that when you are starting out, it is fine to fish lighter tackle, get strapped in, and feel the power of these fish. This is a lot of fun. My first sword I ever caught was on a TLD 50, stand up. It took me about 45 minutes, and the fish was only 80lbs. It was January 6, 2001. It was cold outside, but by the end of the fight I was dripping in sweat. I was addicted from then on. But once you do that for a while, go with the big guns and your efficeincy will dramatically increase. Now I will catch (and release) an 80lbs fish in under 20 minutes. This is not as fun as getting him on a stand-up 50, but I will be spending much more time fishing for that big boy.

[Gaitor]

Excellent post Bull ... kinda puts everything into perspective.
Thanks

[DIRTYFOOT2]

These fish have pulling power like no other. Catch a few and you'll have a real respect for the raw power these fish have. On a few of our longer fights we've had fish head straight down to 300' or so right under the boat. Without bumping up the drag you'll play hell getting em moving back up toward the boat. The fish I'm speaking of are no bigger than 150lbs. I'm lookin forward to my first 200lber, and will be glad that 80W is in my hands when he comes my way

[-shimano-]

well light drag is just to make sure u dont pull hooks and u never kno what youll hook out there where u might need a 130 or an 80 .... and with these reels u can put some reel heat on a big fish if u need to and if it hasnt happened to you yet it will

[Tuna Devil]

I fish 4 lbs at strike and 8lbs. at full.

Just kidding. Everyone has given great advise. Most important is letting the little ones swim. If you drag them around d!#king around with light drag for an hour they will not live. They are the future. For that reason alone it is better to fish with more drag option. Remember it is 28 lbs. at strike, only if you push it to strike.