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OK! What do you mean by drag?

"The drag system on any reel is a misunderstood but very important part of your ability to catch the biggest of fish.It works in such a way to tire out the fish and helps keep your line from breaking," comments Jack Erskine.

When the drag comes into play, it allows the fish to continue applying force but at a pressure less than the breaking strain of the line. When the force reaches a certain level (usually a specific percentage of the lines breaking strength) a properly set Drag Mechanism turns the spool and allows the line to slip from the reel under tension. In essence this means that a fish can run instead of engaging in a tug of war.

The fish must work for the line it takes off the reel, however, which tires the fish and helps the angler subdue it. The most precise way to measure drag tension is by using a reliable Scale and attaching it to the line the objective is to adjust the drag so that the line will not slip until the appropriate amount of tension is applied. Understanding how to use and set the drag is one of the most important aspects of Sportfishing. Most experienced anglers chose to set their drag at 25% to 30% of the breaking strain of their line. The preferred method is to check the setting with a line passing through the rod guides so any additional friction can be taken into account.

There are many different drag arrangements on different kinds or brands of reels . Our "Carbontex" Carbon Fibre Drag Systems along with our Lapped & Ground Metal Drag Washers will guarantee you to have the Best Drag System in the business.

PS Jack strongly advises to treat all Carbon Fibre Friction Washers with our Cal's Reel & Drag Grease and is th only Grease we recommend to use with our Carbontex Washers, it vastly improves the performance without loss of top end drag value.

Important Note!

We have had a few concerns recently from customers that after fitting the Carbon Tex Carbon Fibre Drag Friction Washers they are not getting the results that had expected!

Which can be very annoying, for all concerned..but it's better to check before you leap to conclusions. We were greatly concerned and yes, we do investigate such reports.

In 99.9% of all the cases we have checked out the problem and have discovered that it has nothing to do with the drag system at all & here's how to check your reel before & after replacement and rectify the real problem.

No.1 We strongly advise that you crank the new drag system tension up quite high on the reel -nearing the max available.

No.2 Now, wearing a glove to insure that you don't cut yourself put a marker pen dot on the side of the edge of your spool & down onto the braided line so both parts are covered by the same small spot you have marked.

No.3 . Secure you reel on rod or some mounting structure & pull line off against the drag all the while observing the dot, if the 1 dot now appears to be 2 dots one on line & one on spool flange they have separated after a few pull offs

You now have the major offender right under your nose,!!!!!!

The simple fact is that the whole load of braided line is turning completely on your spool arbor & the spool is remaining locked by the vastly improved higher drag potential provided by the new Carbontex Drag. This also has gone past where slippage has not accrued before.

This also tells you this line load has definitely not been anchored properly to prevent same problem. Generally caused by whoever filled the reel spool originally.

The braid must be wound on to the spool when filling with very firm tension ----, not only to prevent the above problem ---but also to stop the line burying into itself & snapping again to lose winding.

If have or you suspect you have this problem then run all the line from your reel on to salvage spool. Now you can re-wind the line on properly with the tension needed but to anchor the line to prevent further occurrence of the turning pro Eml.

There are several solutions you can use…

Some anglers prefer to use nlnon backing under the line (small amount )

for secure anchorage. Others prefer to run several wraps of plastic elect tape on the arbor

For the line to bite in to & bury.& stop any twisting. My favorite method used since the introduction of braid & has never failed---- is to wrap a couple turns of elect tape to the arbor then I take the line through the level guide wind & do 2 complete laps

of the line on the arbor--- -pull the line back out though the line guide & give myself plenty of tag end-- I then tie a 10 turn uni- knot --pull up snugly & them pull both line sections down so the knot is solidly locked to arbor ----then cut the tag end off---but leave it approx 1/2"to 3/4" 'long. Now bend this tag end down so it lays parallel to the arbor/knot & tape!!!!!! Now wind the line on over the complete lot on to the arbor as firm as you can….problem solved.

If In Doubt?

It is a good idea to take you reel to your localised specialist tackle shop when refilling as they have line winding machines that properly tensioned and be controlled & then recommend that they attach to arbor as I do.

We also wish to remind you even greater performance from the "Carbontex " can be used with the addition of the Cals Drag Grease" & mating with our precision lapped & ground flat & parallel metal drag washer kits.