Years ago, when drag washers were made of leather, we had to loosen the drag after a days fishing. I still do this religiously after every fishing trip. But I am wondering, what with all the high tech drag washer materials today, is this really necessary?

Hootie

No, it is not necessary, but I loosen mine anyhow!

No, it is not necessary, but I loosen mine anyhow!

Same here, with my spinning.

My 1 b/c reel is a lever drag, not star, I just put the reel in free spool.

I do not, but I do "exercise" the drags before fishing. For winter storage, I loosen them.

Depending on the reel for extended storage backing off the drag may be benificial but between trips not really. The spring washers are probably more of a concern than most drag washers.

When I remember to, I back off the drag when storing them for the winter, which means rarely. In season, never. As some of my reels are 20+ years old, they don't seem to have suffered from not doing it.

Question for DVT regarding easing off on the drag. As I mentioned above I have a lever drag b/c reel and when not in use I store in free spool. Never thought about it but I guess I'm not backing the drag down at all, it's just disengaged...........true? Setting the drag on a lever drag reel is a bit different of an operation than a star. Avet instructs setting the drag in free spool, then moving it to "strike" if not where you want it go back to free spool and re adjust, I may start doing that each and every outing, which is 1-2 times a week. I had it initial set at BPS and never changed the setting.

The reel is going on 3 years and I've always done this practice, glad to say it performs like new.

Sir Snook, There are probably variations in design but for the most part I believe relieving the cam pressure on a lever drag like on a Shimano Torsa has a similar effect to backing off a star. The main difference is that the lever drag has much more power and the ability to turn on-off more easily.

Setting a lever drag is a bit more involved, but once used to it, like anything it becomes second nature. In actually operation a lever drag is pretty easy to use, now that I'm used to it I prefer it over the star.

I baby my tackle so I back the drag off all my reels when they are not in use. Just what I do...

Mike D