Fishing 832 Braid

Went to pool 11 with a buddy this weekend, water had just turned milky brown and ice chunks were flowing. After trying numerous areas with different plastics jigged,dragged, and held just off bottom…fish were not cooperating.

Decided to try pitching blades on a sand flat with light current, figuring the flash and vibration should help trigger something.

So we are about half way down the flat, boat in about 8 foot of water pitching up to the shallows. I get about half way back and a fishes smashes it on the fall. Start reeling in, the fish powers straight toward the boat, goes under the boat, bends the rod into a big arc and the hooks pull out. No time to loosen the drag.

I usely use mono and have the drag tight enough so it does not slip on the hookset and loosen as necessary if a bigger fish or fish taking deep runs. Rarely ever lose a fish.

Do those of you who pitch with braid run your drags considerably looser with braid? With no stretch I would assume the hook would set fairly easily.

Just wondering what most of you do? This was my first time pitching blades and I do not use braid for most applications. Would appreciate some input on this. Thank you.

What power and action rod were you using?

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What power and action rod were you using?

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Medium action with fast tip. St. Croix 7′, forget the series.

I do just what it sounds like you did. Took a few fish to train myself to loosen the drag if the fish feels heavy. With quality hooks, once you stick em you can back down on the drag with very few lost fish. If I hook into something huge and it takes off like a bat out of hell, I quickly reach up with my reeling hand and flick the backreel on and throw my hand up so the reel handle hits my hand as he’s pulling out line. Its hard to describe, but it works and it is a lot faster than loosening the drag. Once the fish slows down on the initial run, I’ll turn the backreel back off and and loosen the drag for the fight. I don’t have to worry about that too often, I don’t catch big walleye. I do have a bad habit of snagging into 15-20# carp though.

There is no right or wrong way to do it, just try them all and see what works best for you.

I know guys that crank their drag as tight as it will go, and I know guys that sound like a bumble bee every time they set the hook because their drag is so loose. Find what works for you!

I obviously have no idea what happened in your situation, but I’ve snagged a lot of carp, etc. on blades and it happens a lot like you’re describing. I run my drag the same as you, but I don’t worry if it slips just a bit on the set.

I run my drag pretty light, I have a tendency to get excited and ‘musky hook set’ everything if I don’t keep myself in check (don’t musky fish, just a fitting way to describe it), helps me rip it right out of their mouth less when I get too excited, then I can tighten and/or hit the reverse to back reel as needed. Thats with 832 running jigs or crankbaits (no open water experience yet with blades) and has worked pretty well, especially when I drive to hook home on those ‘boulder fish’.

I run drag tight but switch to back reel. I don’t use drag ever.

I run 7′ avid with 832… Set to about medium..just enough by hand pull …and work from there…most of the time I only turn up a bit if bigger fish otherwise its set…

Once you know the avg. Size fish you can kinda preset your drag..at least I’m running like that

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I run drag tight but switch to back reel. I don’t use drag ever.

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Not to get off the OP’s subject, but what is the advantage to back reeling rather than drag? I have never been any good at back reeling and I guess I don’t see the need to if you have a good drag system. Maybe I am just under educated

on big fish if they surge at the boat w light line your drag won’t let enough line out fast enough and you’ll pop line especally if you run your drag tight enough not to slip on hook sets.

Stan