This topic of how much drag is one that often makes me laugh as it is one that is not well understood by many anglers. Over the past few years, I've read a number of examples from the macho men in the sport claiming they fish 18kg or even 20kgs on strike. I read an article in Modern Fishing last year where one fishing magazine identity claimed he tightened the drag on his Stella as tight as he could for the GTs at Shoalwater.
If you fish 18 to 20kg on strike and you are fishing PE8-10, then you can't be a very experienced GT angler because if you were, you'd have suffered multiple snap-offs on strike. In particular, the sideways strike from a GT will often result in a snap-off at the spool. That said, I will make an exception for a small number of anglers who are fishing extremely heavy hollow braid (150lb upwards) who really go hard on a fish. These guys are also physically capable of doing it (for the most part
) and fishing heavy drag (but I doubt 20kg) but they really are in the minority.
Also, it has been acknowledged by Nick Bowles, the very respected guide in Oman, that going super heavy just doesn't work on huge fish and only results in gear failure. Over the years, I've started to suspect that 130lb is close to the limit as fishing line weights beyond this starts to see significant gear failure. Some of these guys have broken UHLs and Wild Violences.
Are there guys out there that can fish 20kg of drag? Well, I reckon Gordon Low can do it easily but I sincerely doubt many others are in his weight and strength class.
The majority of the top anglers in the sport are fishing drags on strike of about 12kgs, give or take one or two kgs. In this category are guys like Kenji Konishi, Damon Olsen and I'd throw Richard Foong into this group as well. They then turn it up as the fight progresses or simply palm the spool as they need to apply more drag. Damon is one of those who could hold onto 18kg of drag but he doesn't do it for obvious reasons.
I'm sure there are quite a few guys who could hold onto heavy drag for a short fight but can they hold on as a fight gets beyond the ten minutes mark? A really huge fish will easily strip 100m or more against 20kg of drag and by the time 100m is out, the drag will be at a terrifying level.
The other thing I've noted over time is that going hard on a fish sometimes ilicits the same response from the fish. You may be able to muscle a 20kg fish but try that on a 50kg fish and see what happens.
So, don't feel inadequate if you fish 8-10kg of drag. The objective is to land the fish, not get busted off on strike.
my two cents worth
