line vs drag

[rynosaurus]

hi guys
still understanding what all this fishing is all about and wondering how some of you guys do it. what line class would you put on compared to the drag - is there a ratio?

i have a stradic c14 with a 2500 spool and a 3000 spool and taking this to vanuatu for a flick around reefs as well as the creek/rivers and wondering what size power pro braid you would put on -this reel has 7 kg or 15lb drag on it so it reckons

line length is also critcal to a degree - i was thinking 15lb power pro which will give me about 120m on the 2500 spool and 180 on the 3000 or are my calculations wrong

anywyas any tips would be great
cheers
ryan

[Work_Bench]

Because your fishing near reefs you need to stop the fish the dead before you get reefed , so 15lb braid would be a nice fit to the reels max drag ,or you could go to 20lb and use you hand on the spool for the extra pressure. When I fish PNG I have 2 seperate spools for my Saltiga 3500's one light 7kg , one heavy 20kg , it's just a waste of tackle hunting fish around bombies on light gear.

[Micadogs]

Drag should be set to around 1/4 to 1/3 of the breaking strain of the line. If you are using 15lb line, then drag should be set at around 4 - 5lb (2-2.5kg). This would be suitable for that reel. Whilst it says it has a maximum of 7kg of drag, this is really a very high setting. I fish with 6kg of drag offshore and it is nearly enough to pull you out of the boat. You will find that the reel will flex and bend at this sort of drag and wont cope at all.

Therefore you dont want to use a drag / line class ratio here (7kg is advertising gimmicks) otherwise you would be putting on 28kg (60lb) line onto that reel.

Your thoughts about line capacity are the right way to go. You want at least 3 times the depth that you are fishing. So 150 metres is plenty for anything up to 50 metres of water which is deep.


If you are fishing in around creeks and rivers then 2 kilo's of drag is usually enough to pull good fish away. If you are fishing heavy reef which is relatively shallow, which you may be, I would be looking to step up the line, this is so you can stop and turn a fish in reef.

For the 2500 spool, look at 15lb braid and use this for your everyday fishing with drag set to around 2kg. For the holiday to reefs, I would look at a using maybe a 30lb fireline (100 yards) on the 3000 sized spool. The firleine actual breaking strain is higher than stated. I would set drag to around 4kg on this spool. That should be enough to turn / hold a decent fish.

If using braid, always use a mono leader in heavy reef, mono has a way better abrasion resistance than braid. Braid will allow you to get more line of the reel.

Regards Adam