How much drag?

[Graham Scott]

Here's a question for you.
I am only a bit of a novice at this GT fishing thing, but have now caught 8 or 9 in the past 6 months. I was using 50lb braid and doing OK, now stepped up to 70lb braid. To date I haven't lost any fish once firmly hooked and have had only 1 gear failure with a shop fitted split ring opening. I fish Shoalwater bay area and GT size has varied from 104cm to 135cm.
I checked my drag yesterday as it appears everyone uses lock up knock down smash'em drag.
My running drag is between 5 and 6 kg and my "leading" drag is 6 to 7 kg. I'm embarrased to say what rod and reel I use...so I won't.

I read all the stories of 12 kg drag, 20kg drag..PE12.
Am I a complete pussy???
My defence is that it works and I have always tended to lead/ guide fish rather than bash em.

Who are big softies like me and who are the macho's (possibly compensating for other inadequacies)

[Travis Heaps]

I fish drag set at where once I take a hand wrap or two I can just pull line at a steady but hard rate.  We fish the same country Graham and I can think of at least two fish that I wouldn't have landed without my drag near locked and the boat reversing out - they both bolted straight back in close where they were hooked.  That said we do have some deep water close to the majority of our better GT spots and once the fish are out there then you don't need the super heavy drag to stop them.

Another point is that a lot of people fish heavy drag because the gear can handle it and so you get the fish in the boat quicker.  The quicker the landing, the quicker the release. 

[Graham Scott]

So Travis,
Do I put you in the pussy club or with the macho men?

You are right about fighting them for too long, I grew in ANSA fishing 1kg line class for all sorts of things including drowned tuna and dead salmon. Most of the GT's are taking me 10 or 15 mins and seem to swim away strongly...Any idea if this is OK?

I reckon,
 pussies....1 (me)
 Machos...1

[Scott Maybury]

Not that I am super experienced or anything, but I kick off with drag around the 10kg mark (which I find is able to be pulled off the reel by hand, though it requires a fair bit of effort)....as soon as I am hooked up and there is a solid connection I tighten it if the fish is running and the territory warrants it...once the fish is towed to deeper water (if possible) I tend to loosen it back up a bit (for my back's sake)

So...does that make me a macho pussy?

There are probably a lot of times you can catch fish up to quite a decent size on lighter gear than a lot of people use, but I just can't bear the idea of losing a really nice fish because I wasn't prepared with 100lb+ braid and a tight drag at the read...

Unlike you Graham I lost 1 fish in Shoalwater and 1 in New Caledonia which both hit ferociously and stripped enough line in the first 20-30 seconds to earn their freedom by way of cutting me off on a rock/bommie...I guess it is a bit of a compromise though, if you start your drag out at 15kg I understand you can get some problems when the fish strikes as the load on the line spikes before the drag can kick in smoothly, leading to potential bust offs as well

[Jon Li]

I use the factor 1/4 of the line breaking strain so when I use PE8 = 100 lbs. , my initial drag set would be 100/4 = 25 lbs or 11+ kg .

Jon .

[Sam Conacher]

with-out being rude.

I am exactly the same as yourself Graham in that i to my-self am a total newbie to GT Popping.


I went to New Cal earlier on this year in April and as soon as we started our very first day Popping i did not waste any time at all and i got right into it and so did the other's and i was converted as soon as i caught my first ever fish Popping and I am truly hoping to return to New Cal some time next year for only my second ever GT Popping trip and hopefully the second time will be ten time's better then the first meaning better quality weather, condition's,  e.t.c.

I am not speaking from experience,  I was not fishing lock up and i can not fish lock up however i will say that I do and i will allway's fish with ONLY the amount of drag i can handle,  i was fishing with a drag which i could handle and i got the fish in as quick and as fast as i could.   due to the fact that i wanted to release the fish as healthy as possible un-less it was being kept for dinner and i truly know that LPB like the GT'S and other fish i guess to be released as quick and as healthy as possible and right from my first trip to my last trip there i will allway's have that attitude in mind.

[Andy Rowe]

The quicker the landing, the quicker the release. 

Preservation of fishery category

[Jay Burgess]

I usually start off with around 12kg... I'd go more but I've pinged line from too much shock load on the strike a couple of times. After I've set the hooks if the fish looks like it wants to run I give it some more. I've measured my drag with a bouze after a few fights and it's gone to the full scale which is 15kg... so yeah, 15kg+ of drag.

When I was at Bugatti you could get away with heaps less but at home we're often fishing some ridiculously brutal ground and if you let it run you're done for.

[Scott Williams]

I'm very much a novice at chasing GTs, but have just recently purchased a "mid range" outfit for the task, and loaded it with 80 pound braid. After messing around with it and a set of scales, I reckon I will be fishing it with around 8kg of drag, until I get dusted a couple of times anyway.
I'm sure it depends on the country you are fishing as well as the vessel you are in, for me standing on a wet aluminium thwart seat up the front of a tinny with 12kg plus of drag spells the perfect recipe for an unexpected dip...

[Graham Scott]

Ok,

Looks like the current score is;
  pussies... a polite 3
  MACHO......4 big ones

I guess the real answer is whatever is appropriate.

[Angus Hulme]

very interesting topic. I'd be interested to know what sort of drag setting you guys would run if you were shore-based? The areas we fish tend to feature some pretty ugly rocks with lots of scattered outcrops and bommies. We have been blown away on 50 pound gear more times than I'd like to remember, so I'm assuming this would call for the heaviest drag one can manage without getting hauled into the drink? I now have the gear to fish drag of 15kg+, so I think it gives me the best chance I've had yet.

Interestingly, I have heard a train of thought that suggests the less pressure one applies to a GT, the less it feels the need to rub you off. Is there truth in this theory? See, I would have thought if this was the case, then everyone would be fishing for GT's with 6kg flick sticks?

Cheers
Angus

[Peter Morris]

Angus...I dont believe in the super agressive approach and trying to run really heavy drag settings when landbased....Apart from the fact that realistically you cant hold onto more than about 10kg anyway.
Even if you do go heavy drag you end up with a very green GT at the base of the rocks....Not good..!!
With landbased you have to sum up the situation a bit.....
Where we fish its most a sandy bottom so you are better off letting them spend some energy and let them run a little.....Obviously in really reefy country this isnt possible.
The more drag you have....the harder the fish fights I reckon.

Pete

[Angus Hulme]

Even if you do go heavy drag you end up with a very green GT at the base of the rocks....Not good..!!

yeah good call Pete, that wasn't something I'd thought of....which of course shows how far away I still am from landing one from the the rocks. 

With landbased you have to sum up the situation a bit.....

That's it. I think I need to be prepared to move around a bit to keep the line clear of obstructions. Problem is, most bommies are right in front of the platforms we fish (like 10m out) , and when a fish is hooked, it tends to dive down behind the bommie, even when you are gaining line. So frustrating.

[Peter Morris]

Angus...If you hook one and he is headed for a bommie..
Drop your rod quickly..open the bail arm and free spool....This works with many fish.
We have to do it constantly with the longtails off the rocks.
The fish feel the tension come off and normally..?...turn for you.

Its quite easy to free spool on the longtails (as you know) but not quite as easy with a GT.

Pete

[Gus Connor]

Hey fello Angus,

I like you am just starting out and it took a while to land my first GT from the rocks.  I am living in west Sumbawa (indo) so there are some pretty spectacular dropoffs on the sout coast to fish.

In terms of landing fish I am about 50/50 at the in the 20kg bracket and only one over 30kg (again estimate).  There are some nasty big buggers out there though I have seen diving (and assume have hooked up to a few but never came close to getting a look at from the surface).

A local lad shot one with a hand made spear gun the other day over 50kg's so they are out there. (I know we dont like to see dead fish but you have to chalk him up to the excessively marcho catagory considering he himself is about 50kg's ringing wet!)

Sorry a little off topic but back onto drag setting I set my drag to the likly hood of a freek wave coming and knocking me off the rocks so basically independant of the fishing conditions, the higher the liklyhood the lower the drag setting.  Because of this I have experienced a few different settings (5-15kgs) on differrent sized fish and concluded that in my limited experience it almost does not matter in terms of liklyhood of landing the fish.  Some land quite easily, some absolelty no chance. 

It is definately the case that the lighter drag setting at the start tends to keep them on the surface rather than diving for cover (and doom for me!) but once you have turned the fish keep winding smoothly and they sort of come around in an ark, if you can keep it on the surface <5m, then there is a pretty high prob of landing.  Again they are quite epic swells around here so once you get it to the rocks it is not too long till you can ease it up.  On a side note though I have lost three fish when the popper hits the rock and the fish shakes his head when waiting for a wave but this is better for the fish then wrapping the 200lb mono around the hand and skulldragging the poor thing up (as tempting as it is!)

Hope someone found this entertaining/informative even if it did go off topic a little

Thight lines