Hey, quick question for you all. Was on vacation this week and spent a considerable amount of time fishing a relatively small, heavily weeded lake in the Finger Lakes area. Caught tons of bass and had a wonderful time. 
 

With that said, the most consistent bite I found was topwater over the heaviest weeds and slop in the lake. Many time, I’d hook into a fish, and feel the reel handle spinning uselessly (drag slipping) while trying to horse the fish out of the weeds. I could thumb the spool and just pull, but couldn’t actually reel the fish when they were in the thick stuff. 
 

I use a Tatula SV for my frogging since I like to skip them under docks and such. I tighten the drag by “feel” so it’s tight without feeling like it’s too tight. Max drag is 11lb, but I’m probably 1/2 to 2/3 of that. 
 

Here’s my question, which of these is true:

1. This is exactly what’s supposed to happen. Thumbing the reel is normal when fighting fish in heavy cover. 
2. I need a reel with a stronger drag because thumbing shouldn’t be necessary. 
3. I need to tighten the drag on my reel more. 
 

Or maybe something else? 
 

I caught a bunch of fish, but there were 2 times when fish got off the line when I got stalled on my retrieve and they got buried in weeds. Just thinking through options on how to prevent this. 
 

Thanks all. 
 

Ps. Caught my PB this week. 23.5” and just over 8lb. On topwater no less. And my wife happened to be with me when it happened. Blessed. 
 

Congratulations. Nice fish. 
 

I'm locking my drag down, but that’s just me. 

I lock my drag down when fishing frogs.  

Which Finger Lake?

 

No. 3 for the win…

 

17 minutes ago, Kirtley Howe said:

Which Finger Lake?

Not one of the finger lakes, just a smaller lake in that area 👍🏻

 

And sounds like I just need to crank that drag down and let er rip. 
 

How do I know if I’m over-tightening the drag? Can I damage it by going to tight? 

I don't know about tightening down the drag that much. I personally never do it. The tightest I ever go is as much as I can tighten the star drag wheel with my fingers. And I seldom even do that...to me there is no point in having a drag if you tighten it down so it does not work.  I will crank the drag down with my fingers to pull out a fish buried in the weeds. If I need more power I will just manually pull in the line hand over hand until the fish is either free from the weeds or I can grab it weeds and all.

I keep my drag set on the tighter side on all my heavy cover setups but not locked.
I always thumb every reel regardless of what I throw as I want the control instead of relying on the reel setup. 
 

 

 

Mike
 

 

I think I've been under-tightening my drag, but I won't go crazy with it. Thanks all. 

26 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

Can I damage it by going to tight? 

Yes you can, but the fix is easy.  Sometimes I get reels in the shop with the drag so tight that the driveshaft is warped a tiny bit.  The area right above the ant-reverse sleeve can develop a slight lip.  This can make it difficult to remove the anti-reverse sleeve, drive gear, and drag stack.  With a fine file, you can remove the malformed material and have it back straight again.

I set my drag based on the line and rod I'm using.  If I'm fishing in heavy weeds with 60# braid and a heavy action rod,  then my line and rod can handle locking down the drag so that's what I do.