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| real engaged or disengaged????
i heard if the real isnt engaged that something will give and probably break but ive also heard that if you have a quality drag that you are fine with the real disengaged........what is the best route?????
just wondering
brian |
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| I always figure 8 with the free spool and thumb on the line. that is how I was taught, but the theory is untested, because I have never caught one on a figure 8. But my friend who did show me that technique, has caught them that way and i witnessed a couple. So it works! Clint |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | I keep the reel engaged. My drag can do the job it is intended to do. I'm not one of those who cranks the drag so tight there is no give. I like it tight enough that I can still pull line out by hand, but not easily. All you have to do is see someone's thumb slip on the spool when setting the hook with reel disengaged to think twice about that technique. What a bird's nest...and a lost fish. I can always disengage the reel after hookup if need be when it is under a more controlled condition. Of course I learned muskie fishing with a Shakespeare WonderReel....no drag on it. Circa 1950. |
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Posts: 324
Location: Bloomington, Illinois | Caught my first figure 8 fish a few weeks ago...I leave the reel engagged...I did free spool w/thumb after I set the hook...Worked great...
matt |
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Posts: 572
| Every time I read about setting the hook with the reel disengaged, I think about bird's nest and loosing a fish. If it's not done properly, I think one is just asking for problems. As to disengaging reel after hookup, it's similar to having a reel set too tight while trolling. Disengaging really should be loosing the drag just a little. Let the rod and reel drag do the work. |
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Location: The Yahara Chain | I am like Bob, I keep it engaged. I fish with my drag a lot looser than I used to. The quality of the drag systems are much better than they used to be. I haven't free spooled a musky the last two years. I used to do it all the time, no need to IMO. Let the drag do its job. |
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Posts: 19
Location: St. Louis, MO | Don't free spool - Let the drag work. Think about this - you get a fish on a figure 8 and you realize it's a tanker! Your drag won't be any good if you free spool, the fish runs, your thumb slips and now you have the mother of all birdnest in your reel - POP - that was 80 # power pro along with your rod breaking! |
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Posts: 2024
| Am I the only one that still free-spools? I've never given it much thought, but today with time to kill here are some of my thoughts on the topic (free-spooling).
Pro: Ability to immediatley allow a fish to take line if it hits and runs.
Con: Possibly a less powerful hookset as some effort is put into holding the thumb on the spool instead of all power transferred to hookset.
Pro: Eliminating reliance on "complex machines." As they (some) say, the more complex a thing is the more problems may occur.
Con: "Slippage" associated with alternating levels of hard to soft pressure placed on the spool when letting a fish run.
It's possible that back when I started and had "sub-par" reels with "ultra sub-par" drags I got spooked and didn't trust my drags. Now, with better equipment I'll put the newer technology to good use.
Given these responses and several others on different boards I think I'll have to experiment this year with using my drag instead of free-spooling. I predict it'll be tough trying to break my old habit (immediately going into the 8 is an automatic hit-the-thumb-bar move), but we'll give it a go. |
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| thanks all.......i like some have never caught one on the figure 8 and when it does happen i just wanna be ready
-b- |
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| Keep the reel engaged, have your drag set tight, and let the drag do its job  |
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Posts: 101
| Well, I've only had 3 fish on the 8, and only one of them made it into the boat for pics. The reel was engaged on the last one. Just caught it this morning! Drag worked just as it should. If you initiate the fight, and control the fish, your drag will take care of the rest. IMO the biggest things are having no-stretch line and a long rod to keep the hook(s) pinned.
Nothing beats pulling a fish into the 8 and thinking it's a weed until you make that first turn and the weed suddenly comes to life!
~Dawg |
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| i agree......seeing that log swimming after a bait 10 feet from you is something else  |
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| I will say that it should be in the REEL ENGAGED mode and I offer a bit more with this story.
Many years ago, Mike Baranowski, who owned a resort in Nestor Falls on Lake of the Woods, taught me a lot about a drag on a Muskie baitcasting reel. Mike knew a LOT about Muskies and catching BIG FISH! Mike was quite adept at putting people on HUGE MUSKIES after WWII. Apparently, at that time, there were many more fish in the 50 pound class, 40 pound, etc. in LOTW.
It was before I had ever caught a legal muskie and he was teaching me a bit about what he thought I was doing wrong. Though this applies to the HOOK SET typically a bit further out, it also applies to a HOOK SET at the boat, on the 8!
He told me to CRANK that drag to be AS TIGHT as I could get it. I did so. He then told me to let him hold the bait (COMPLETE WITH HOOKS) in his hand and for me to take up slack and SET THE HOOKS as hard as I could. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITH YOUR SPOUSE, BUDDY, or any significant OTHER... believe my story... it actually happened!) I did so. We were standing about 8 feet away from each other. Mike remained totally UNSCATHED, barely moving as I set those hooks.
You know what? Even with the DRAG CRANKED to the MAX, a belly (what seemed to be about 6 feet of slack) developed in the line between us and thankfully, Mike felt no ILL EFFECTS!
Mike told me that in fishing muskies, I should ALWAYS leave the drag cranked to the MAX and ALSO ALWAYS have my thumb in place over the reel spool (though it seems difficult at first, you can do this, because I have been doing it for many years since that time), to be able to slap it down to apply EVEN MORE PRESSURE to the fish in the HOOK SET! Once you have the fish hooked, apply less pressure with the thumb and let the reel do its thing with the DRAG as it should.
After that lesson from Mike, my first legal ended up at 48 inches and 29 pounds. My second legal, though I wanted to release her, ended up at 49 3/4 and 32 pounds. She had inhaled the bait and on hook set; my hooks sliced the one set of gills and she bled all over.
I have caught and released quite a number since that time (DRAG CRANKED MAX and THUMB ON SPOOL in hookset) and believe that about five of those may have been at boat side and typically HOOKED in a DEEP (plunged) figure 8! I hope this discussion helps you and others with your hooksets!
Don Swanson - Green Bay |
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Posts: 315
| great story.....and now me and my brother are headed to the emergency room so he can have a bucktail removed from his left hand
-b- |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I leave the reel engaged until the fish hits and I get a hookset, then disengage and use my thumb. Force of habit. I don't even think about it anymore, actually. |
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Posts: 122
Location: Kenosha, Wi. | I feel the same way and use the same method as rpieske. I did a figure 8 once with the reel disengaged and what a mess, never again. Once was enough for me. I've never had a problem with the reel engaged. |
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