Catfish Noob

I did go out and I got a big thick rod that said it was for catfishing. So I hope this one doesn't snap, I am certainly not going to repeat my mistake by putting a 25 pound weight on the end. I will do the test differently next time so that there is hardly any pressure on my rod. However, I think it is safe to say that my reel is at least 25 pounds of drag and not that 13 pound drag that the manufacturer or people of amazon are saying.

Well, I wasn't thinking about the rod at all because I saw you tube videos of the ugly stick holding up a lot more weight than 25 pounds. However, since my broke, all those videos are fake. So I really don't think it is my fault entirely since I was relying on faulty information.

So I am guessing you don't catfish then.

Ya, I learned my lesson today, which is that the ugly stick isn't that strong...

Okay so I gave the ugly stick gx2 too much credit. Those you tube video's claiming how strong the ugly stick is must be fake. Anyways, it started to lift the 25 pound weight up without any line coming out and all of the sudden my ugly stick snapped in 2 places and the 40 pound braided line that I had lying around broke too. I know I had tied the knots right. So I need to get a new rod...R.I.P ugly stick. I think the 13 pound drag is a lie...

The reason I am so concerned about drag is because of the spot I will be fishing. The spot I am fishing is literally a whirlpool where the current seems to be going every direction. I know that if I fell in, I wouldn't survive as it would pull a human under. So if I do hook onto a fish, that fish would have to be huge to survive in those conditions. Plus it is right by rocks and a huge beam structure for a bridge. I don't want the fish getting near there and I already pretty close. So I need to control the fish without the fish pulling too much line out, and I realize that puts more pressure on the line and that is the reason I have heavy fishing line. So I need a very strong drag. Your guy's theory of maybe the 13 lb max drag could be wrong, makes since. I am going to go and grab some left over heavy line and attach it to a 25 pound weight and see if the drag pulls out. Will let you guys know what happens.

I am new to this forum and just got back into fishing this summer after taking a few years off. I am trying to get into catfishing and I finally think I may have found a spot for catfishing since I don't have a boat. I am fishing with 65 and 100 pound braided line with sunfish as bait. I learned that you need heavy drag like 20-30 pounds for catfishing. My reel is the Avenger AV 40b spinning reel and I looked up the max drag on this specific reel and it said it was 13 pounds. My other reel is rated at around 30 pounds. I cranked the drag all the way up on my 40b reel and I could not pull it out, so I am having a hard time believing that it is 13 pounds at this point. I then tried the reel that was around 30 pounds max drag and it was tough but I could pull it. So I thought maybe the 40b has a "lock drag" on it. So I looked it up and found a forum on here that was talking about "lock drag", however, they said that max drag and "lock drag" are the same thing. I know for a fact it is not 13 pounds and I know my source said my specific model is 13 pounds max drag. So I am really confused as how the max drag/lock drag is only 13 pounds when I couldn't pull it but I could pull 30 pounds of drag on my other reel? Can someone explain to me all this confusion?