I feel I’m too (up)tight.  Mine drag is too tight (I think).
 

yesterday I backed off to safely strip line to re-tie a lost lure.  I tightened it down but looser than usual. Then it happened, one bass saw me, saw my kayak, saw me fumbling with net;  he got renewed vigor......bzzzzzzztz.  It stripped line. I feathered the spool with my thumb -  almost instinctively.   But hot darn! If that wasn’t kinda exciting. 
 

im not fighting a marlin.  But I can’t imagine some cushioning is a good thing.   You adjusting mid fight? You run tight, or loose?  My buddy goes tight with heavier line and he just winches them in. 

No one drag setting is good for all situations. If I don't feel like a longish fight, I will set my drag to about 50% of the breaking strength of my line or leader (whichever is weaker) with a fishing scale. That is assuming that 50% of line breaking strength won't require me to lock my drag down tight, which I refuse to do.

 

If I am okay with a longer fight, which I generally am because I would rather have one good fight for the day than have 10 fish in the boat, I just pull on it by hand to set it where it feels okay. If I hook into one and its just pulling line without any resistance I will change it mid fight without a seconds hesitation.

One thing I never want to do is break the line setting the hook so I keep mine loose enough to slip on a hard hook set but tight enough to bury the hook.  I can always add more drag with digit pressure.

Treble hooks, I set a light drag. Things with heavy hooks I crank it down to 11, everything else I set fairly tight, mostly guided by he pressure that would straighten the hook I'm fishing. 

I set my drag based on single hook versus treble hook & weight of line used. Also I adjust for how heavy the cover is I'll be fishing. Light line with treble hooks in open water I set the drag lose enough to barely slip on a hard hookset. I also like reels that have individual detent on drag settings so you can adjust one interval at a time. For single hook baits with heavy mono or braid in heavy cover I tighten the drag so I can just barely pull line off the spool. Everything else gets set in between light drag to heavy drag. I will also loosen the drag a little when I get a big fish close to the boat in case it  goes ballistic at boat side. 

Technique matters a lot.  If I am drop shotting I rely on my drag to protect my line so I set it about half of breaking strength with my trigger tester at home.  If I am punching or swim baiting with the jig hook I lock it up and bring the hate.  I use non the fly adjustments for my cranking setup 

FC, Copolymer/mono 1/3 the line strength. Straight braid Med/3 power 3 lbs, MH/4 power 4 lbs, H/5-6 power 5 - 6 lbs.

If more force is needed I use my calibrated thumb.

Tom

 

 

A properly calibrated, experienced thumb is the best drag and almost always better in all situations. 
There is no guesswork involved. 
 

That being said, pulling a 6 lb bass out of a 2ft thick mat of hydrilla using both, again if set correctly, can be the best way. 

 

 

Mike

I occasionally set the drag with a scale because it's fun and to see

how close I am with "feel". The exact number is 2 lbs, but +/- a little

is fine. I will pull a little line when I rig up, but then I'm one and done.

I would never consider adjusting my drag with a fish on. 

I'm very scientific and particular.  I tighten it all the way and then back about a quarter turn. 

I always set with spring scale to 1/4 of weakest link - line, tippet, or rod max line rating.  

Heck, I have the spring scale.  Not using it would be like having a beaver hat in the closet and out on a cold rainy day.  

If I need more on the water (say with a determined hook set), will thumb the spool (same with spinning reel), but can't really think of a time fish taking drag wasn't part of the fun.  

I set my drag by hand, and dependent on application. I'm may set the hook with the same strength on a weightless worm texas rigged, and a jig in some slop, but I don't want the hook to pull the worm and fish up to eye level on me.