Drag settings on spinning reels

[greybeard]

Have you guys looked at the Shimano on-line catalog? It states that the max drag that you can get on a thunnis reel is 17lb. The really high priced ones go up quite a bit, but don't exceed 50lb. So, this sez to me that you can crank the drag down all the way on the shimano reels and never exceed your rod's breaking strength. This goes against every thing I have been doing for the past 40 years or so. I winder what the max drag settings are on other reels, or is shimano the only ones that won't lock up? Or will they lock up? I have been wanting a thunnis quite badly anyhow.

[Skate_Magnet]

For most of the fishing I do, I'd say 17 lb drag is fine. I usually use 15 to 17 lb mono with shock leader or 30 lb fireline.
Assuming that I use 30 lb fireline...
When I tie a knot... I would prabably get 80 to 90 % retention of line rating...
So that would make my line breaking range at near 24lb to 27lb...
Considering possible abrasions and other factors 17 lb drag seems to be fine.
I'd rather drag go and let some line out then line breaking and possibly loosing the fish of your life time.
Then again this may differ from what type of fish you go for. :D

[reelfixer]

I set my drags with a scale at 1/3 my line strenght. Since I fish 12/14 lb mono, i set them at 4 to 4.5 lbs. No problems, no lost fish and no line breaks.

[greybeard]

I guess I was a little unclear along with my bad spelling. I use 30 lb power pro with a cheepie daiwa eliminator rod and a roddy baitrunner reel. My second rod is a 7' ugly stick with a browning reel on it. I had a 12' ugly stick with a monster wpinning reel on it. I gave it to my son, he can handle it. I wanted to put the thunnus reel on my 8' daiwa rod and the roddy on my ugly stick. With 30 lb test power pro even with the drag cranked down it doen't look like you could break the rod with the thunnus reel. I should be able to get better distance with the thunnus reel also. I used to fish in key west when I was stationed there in the navy. Solid fiberglass rods were the ticket then (25 years ago) because hollow rods would break with heavy drags and big fish. The daiwa rod has held up with some pretty good sized fish but I normally keep the drag settings quite low. Will it hold up with full drag on? Shimano says 17 lb but how about other reels?

[Digger]

7lbs of drag is probably more than you think. 17 will break aline of very heavy line since you have to add in the friction of the rod; which is way more than you would think it is..

[derekxec]

if you want to add more power to your drag pull the line with your finger to the rod and that will give you a couple extra lbs....you know what i mean by that?

[greybeard]

I understand how to set a drag and use the rod to fight the fish. I had never seen a reel company list the maximum drag setting for the reel. I had always thought that you could crank them down to the point where you had no drag. Evidently you can't with a shimano. Whether other reels can be cranked down to the no drag point is what I was wondering about.