kayaks and lever drags??

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by taggermike

I've only ever used star drag reels for kayak fishing but am thinking of putting a lever drag in the arsenal. How many of you are using LDs, what are you using them for, and what reels are you using?

I'm thinking of using an LD mostly for slow trolling live baits and maybe for heavy bottom fishing.

I use them for dropper loop, halibut fishing and flyline. The advantage is that you can set up the reel so with the clicker on and a just a touch of drag the line holds on the drift but just a little more pressure like the slightest bite causes line to pull off, but at the same time at strike you have the exact drag setting you want for setting the hook.

A typical scenario. I'm drifting fishing Iron with one rod and dropper loop fishing a squid or mack with eight ounces on the other. The dropper loop rod is bouncing along the bottom with a light drag occasionally clicking a few inches off the reel as it bounces. Suddenly I get a little zip on that rod.
I throw that rod in freespool stick my Iron rod in my other holder, pick up the dropper rod, push the drag to strike reel down to the fish set the hook and I'm on.

You can do the same thing with a star drag but in order to get the right setting for the drift you have to turn the drag down light. That means in the same scenario when you tighten the drag up to set the hook you have to guess where your strike setting is. I've probably caught more fish using star drags but I have also lost fish where coming out of freespool I'd either turned the drag too high, or it was still too loose to set the hook.

Lever drags take all the guess work out. I like to preset my drag settings with lever drags using the rod and freeweights before I ever go out the door. That way I know exactly what the drag will be at strike, and how much the gear can take if push past strike to put more pressure on the fish after I've hooked them.