# Trolling HB's - Full Drag or Free Spool?



## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

I have missed a couple of hookups recently and wondering if its due to my drag setting under troll. With a livie on I set the drag just over free spool with the clicker on. This allows the fish to take the bait and run before swallowing, without feeling the pressure from the line. When the bait has been swallowed, crank the lever and set the hook.
What I am not sure about is what to set the drag when towing a HB minnow. I have run with the freespool setting of the livie rig on the last two trips and dropped a couple of nice longtails. Prior to SWR I always set my drag to my measured setting when trolling HBs. This is mostly due to my habit of setting the star drag to a specified kg limit before launching and not changing it all trip even during a fight. I cant recall dropping a fish on a HB with the drag set like this.
Do pelagics hit a lure any differently to a live bait? Perhaps the injured fish action of the lure triggers a different reaction from the fish as opposed to it taking a livie? Does the fish immediately sense something is wrong when it gets its first mouth full of plastic and drop the lure? Will the higher drag setting allow a better hookup in this situation? Next trip I intend going back to the measured drag setting for a strike to see if hookup rate improves. I was wondering if anyone has been through this and what they learnt.


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## Astro (Nov 27, 2006)

Hey Paulo

mate i have never measured the drag i set the reel at for trolling HBs for pelagics but can say i have it fairly firm so that the hooks set on the strike. however i have lost some fish, not many, because of this and the soft mouths that pelagics can have.

i generally troll holding the rod so i can react immediately when i get a bite, mostly the fish i have lost has been when the rod is in a holder when the bite has occurred

i am practicing the dying fish technique atm for the barra and can get a very realistic action out of unweighted 4" shads....will be trying out today and hope it works for the lure shy buggers in teemburra


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

I set my drag to very close to the max....Whatever I do, I cannot lock it up totally, so there has been times when the thumb has pressed onto the spool.
Most times when I get a hit, I get the fish to the yak.....Its what I do next, that needs modification......eg. think, and use gaff, or grab fish. Try hard not to do my famous "Lift and release"

cheers all Andybear


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

I go full drag, but the hooks get caught on my stockings


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

Peril said:


> I go full drag, but the hooks get caught on my stockings


LMFAO

Paul mate id go with full fighting drag when trolling a HB. I always have and never had a problem

Lee


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

paul
fish like marlin,sailfish etc often use their bills to stun their prey then eat it,so the freespool and drop back technique
works a lot better.Fish like tunas,mackeral are more aggressive and need to eat to sustain their metabolisms so they will
aim to hit/eat the prey first time if they can.a mack will often disable the prey by hitting the tail then finishing it off if they cant swallow first time
If the drag is set higher at a "strike" setting then you shouldnt have too many problems
apart from hooks pulling,tail wrapping etc.Its not so much a problem with braid but with mono you had to actually had to back
the drag off a bit after the first big run because of water pressure then adjust to suit as the fight wore on.
check your hooks are sharp mate,i touch mine up before every trip,its amazing how many tuna/macks you land with the
trebles/singles on the outside of their mouths.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Thanks for all the responses. Strike drag on lures it is. It pretty much confirmed what I was thinking and highlighted other things I hadnt been paying attention to. Im off to but a hook sharpening stone. A quick check showed just how blunt some of them were. Including the one that missed the tuna on Thursday last.


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

With HB's I sit it just above the point where the freespool clicker stops at my fastest troll speed on my chosen lure. A big hit in strike position can tear out a rod holder in the blink of an eye.

Something like a Halco 190 2M+ creates a fair bit of drag while pulling it along to start with. I reckon sharp hooks are the go.


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

spooled1 said:


> With HB's I sit it just above the point where the freespool clicker stops at my fastest troll speed on my chosen lure. A big hit in strike position can tear out a rod holder in the blink of an eye.
> 
> Something like a Halco 190 2M+ creates a fair bit of drag while pulling it along to start with. I reckon sharp hooks are the go.


This was my method for years on the stinker, as Dan said one big hit and you're gooooooone.

Regards

Al


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Yep, good points on the amount of drag and losing a rod holder. I generally only start with about 2.5-3kg at strike and crank the lever past strike once I get a feel for the size of the fish. I reckon I only had about a half kg the other day when the fish hit.


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## Fishpod (Oct 11, 2006)

Good question Paul. On all of the hookups the other day, I only felt the initial strike. There was no "bump, bump, run". I think yakfly makes a good point about some species hitting to stun first while others just try to wolf the whole lure down. I had my drag on about half maximum and tightened during the first big run.

Sharp hooks are definately important.

I have sharpened the trebles on that rapala I was using after having a few more quiet weeps to myself over loosing that tuna that took me out towards NZ the other day.  ( I think I better get a nice bright shirt as well)


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

I agree on getting a rod holder ripped out - I've had it happen twice !!!!!! Not pretty especially when you could sink with the water washing in !!!! I would have it about half way to fighting drag... so hard enough to set the hooks - but not to hard to disable the rod holder - or your ability to extract the rod out of the holder under pressure. I would say that in my experience - lures (HBs) tend to get agressively smacked good and hard.. so they are either on or off the hooks... I tend not to get short takes or the lure played with..

Woppie


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