I normally don't use anything over 12 pound mono, so I don't have my drag set very strong, but should I loosen it anyway when I'm done fishing?

nope.  the first hookset after you do that you'll have forgotten to retighten it.

 

Loosen it at the end of the seaon when you put the rods away.

I’m the opposite 

I loosen mine every time. 
It probably doesn’t matter but I’ve been doing it so long it became second nature. 

But I retie every time too
 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I loosen mine (or try to remember to) after every trip. I've forgotten to set them again before a bite the next trip many times, but I'm getting better. And anyone who fishes with me gets warned the minute they step on the boat that they need to check the drag if they use one of my rods. 

 

I've got a couple Shimano casting reels that have definitely lost some drag strength over the years. 

Just back off the drag to prevent the washers and disk taking a set. Reset the drag when you plan to use it, always check mine it’s a habit.

Tom

If you're running felt, leather, or Teflon/graphite washers, the drag is best backed off for long term storage purposes since those materials compress.  With carbon fiber, you can set it and forget it.

I loosen mine after every trip when I get home and unload.

Habit, from the days of felt and leather, 90% of all my reels are now carbon fiber with a light coat of Cal's on em.

I test my drag when putting the rods on the kayak, but when retying or fixing what ever I messed up on the kayak I loosen it to pull line off the reel, of course then I have forgotten to retighten the drag and go to set the hook,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I asked @Delaware Valley Tackle about this very thing several months ago in a similar thread and he said it generally isn’t necessary. Given he repairs reels for a living, I believe him. 😁

Right or wrong, I've made it a habit to loosen drag after a day of fishing and tighten as soon as I remove the reel cover the next time I go out.  Just like I've made it a habit to keep a reel cover on any time the rod isn't being used.  Picked that habit up after getting a nice boat rash on a mint Chronarch 101A.  

Greetings All,

I parallel @WRB-2.0, Tom's perspective. My recreational ultra lite angling configuration does not allow for much error tolerance. As such I frequently check most of the elements, line, knot, and drag. Because the UL configuration supports more fish catching activity prefer the UL approach. It is helpful to be prepared when that fish lottery triggers success. So to simply avoid disappointment, I check those elements. I want to make sure they are in proper condition. Also because of the UL configuration, my reel drag quality is important and is rarely cinched down tight. Tight is not helpful for my style of angling. Smooth, consistent, predictable are helpful drag qualities.

 

Also the conditions change too. We are in our monsoon pattern where it can be blistering hot, then as a storm forms it cools off within a fraction of an hour. That dramatic temperature shift can be a factor. If you manage to get your reel wet, that is another influence on drag performance too. There are times where I'll tie into a catfish or large bass and the drag gets stressed from a good deal of slip. So I'll simply check from time to time. It is not a big deal for me to simply verify with a confirmation tug on the line periodically for verification. 

 

At the end of the fishing day I'll loosen things up before I stow the gear for return travel. Not a hassle or challenge to me. I arrived at my angling approach through personal experience. Your mileage may vary. 

 

Growing up in the old neighborhood, many of us would fish the river for big catfish, channel cats, and flatheads. They usually were averaging well into the double digit pounds. Many of my neighbors and friends simply locked down the reel drag. In extreme cases using a pair of pliers for full effect! 

 

That locked drag approach was not helpful to me in keeping dear grandpa happy eating fish. As number one and only grandson, it was important to keep the old guy jolly so his Buddha belly would remain prominent. Through experience, I tried different approaches for drag setting. When it came to drag settings on the different types of fishing reels behaved in different ways. The spin cast reels were the most challenging. You could set the drag for a nice comfortable level of slip, but you could not take in line. In order to take up line you'd have to increase the drag setting uncomfortably high and hope for no crazy surges. The other option was to simply wait till you could simply lessen line tension and reel in quickly. Just not a good situation. The bait cast and spinning reels had better drag behavior. 

 

This is how I've come to what and how I use reel drag today. These days I catch way more fish and I think of my grandfather and how he would admire each of them, for lunch or dinner. Just $ 0.02 put in for consideration.

Be well, Cheers!

Thanks all for sharing.

 

I do check my drag periodically. Often times, before I use the reel the first time. I fish nearly daily, and while I'm not opposed to loosening the drag when the reels are not in use, it'll take some getting used to. Habits aren't hard to establish though when it means increasing gear longevity.

Not me.  I carry 20 setups in the boat.  It would drive me crazy to mess with the drags.  Yesterday I used 7 and was just glad to sock them and put them in the rod locker with the sun beating down and the temp in the 90s.

I do not loosen my drag.  I check my drag regularly with a scale.  If I'm setting the drag to 4 pounds and it won't hold 4 pounds then I know my drag is bad.  This has happened a few times with very old (20+ years) reels but very rarely.  It certainly hasn't happened enough to justify loosening my drag after each trip.  It's possible it would be a bigger problem if I always fished with my drag locked down like many people do.

I never loosen my drag. I know I will forget and set the hook and have my drag slip. lol 

16 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

If you're running felt, leather, or Teflon/graphite washers, the drag is best backed off for long term storage purposes since those materials compress.  With carbon fiber, you can set it and forget it.

It's not the drag washers that are the issue but the curved metal washers that transfer the drag star tightening into pressure on the drag surfaces.  Over time those washers will take to their compressed shape if left compressed and this will result in a lack of drag pressure.  I've had it happen to me twice and replacing the curved washers fixed the problem.  

 

43 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

It's not the drag washers that are the issue but the curved metal washers that transfer the drag star tightening into pressure on the drag surfaces.  Over time those washers will take to their compressed shape if left compressed and this will result in a lack of drag pressure.  I've had it happen to me twice and replacing the curved washers fixed the problem.  

 

Interesting.  I haven't seen a reel with collapsed Belleville washers yet.  I have seen a lot of leather and felt smashed paper thin though or even nearly disintegrated.  I'll keep my eye out.

Right, wrong or indifferent I store all of my reels with the drags loosened all the way. True enough, one does have to remember to tighten them, but that’s no big deal at all.

When I'm finished fishing and putting everything in the basement, then the drag gets loosened.  I tighten down the drag when taking out of the basement.  After a while it becomes habit.

I fish quite often.  I try not to touch anything.  I’ll retire leaders and baits us, but not always. 

Loosen, tighten, whatever? I am constantly checking my drag while fishing. Force of habit I guess. Don’t know why, I just do. That said, I don’t loosen my drag. Popped off a spinner bait once because I forgot to loosen the drag after a respool. Went to set the hook and almost fell over backwards…

I loosen them at the end of every trip. The cumulative time they sit during the season between trips is far longer than the cumulative time of the entire offseason so I like to back them off when not in use. Yes I have to adjust the drag every outing, but I'd be doing that anyways to adjust to what lure I'm using. 

Have never loosened a drag but a fanatic when it comes to checking them.

Maybe it's something I should consider when I do a winter tear down.

@Delaware Valley Tackle iirc, it’s my understanding that there’s no need to loosen drags on modern reels. Am I remembering correctly?

On 7/19/2025 at 7:50 AM, Bigbox99 said:

It's not the drag washers that are the issue but the curved metal washers that transfer the drag star tightening into pressure on the drag surfaces.  Over time those washers will take to their compressed shape if left compressed and this will result in a lack of drag pressure.  I've had it happen to me twice and replacing the curved washers fixed the problem.  

The first thing I did when I picked up my first few bait casters was to tear them down for a look inside. The Belleville washers were an obvious-to-me reason to back off my drag, but the main drag washer was too. They're always concave with respect to the drag disc(s) and main gear on what I've encountered, therefore, just like the Bellville washers, they're subject to fatigue and ultimately deformation under pressure.

 

I'm not going to try to prove this is a fact or measurable, but I trust my instincts after decades of R&D, so I back off my drags. Just made sense to me without ever having heard the suggestion made beforehand. If I was able to learn to tie my shoes after untying them the night before, I can remember to re-tighten my drag.

Quick question - main drag washer. Bulge up or down? Meaning bulge toward frame or toward handle? Did a teardown of a bank beater reel the other day and wasn’t paying attention…