The less line on the spool, the greater the drag. On fly rods you can
start with a spool of line 4 " in diameter and you set your drag. As the
is taken by the fish, the effective diameter of the reel decreases, and on a
fly line it can decrease to as little as one inch, depending on the arbor
size. Yet the amount of work to turn the reel remains the same, and must be
done over a shorter distance. Ergo, the drag has to increase.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you still wasting your time with spam?...
There is a solution!"

Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
The most powerful anti-spam software available.
http://mail.spaminspector.com


"John" wrote in message
om...
daytripper wrote in message
. ..
On 1 Nov 2004 09:24:02 -0800, (John) wrote:

"Marcel" wrote in message
...
I read somewhere that certain experienced anglers set to 'free spool'
when there is a hard run from the fish. This mystifies me because
doesn't doing this only lose your precious line?

I would never free spool the reel when hooked up on a big fish. First
off, if you back lash the reel, the fish is gone. Second, the more
line on the spool, without over filling the spool, the more of a
mechanical advantage you have.
[snipped]

If you are using the term to describe leverage, the less full the spool
the
higher the "mechanical advantage"...

I used the wrong term here. The more line on the spool the larger the
diameter of the spool and line. Each crank of the reel will bring in
more line on a full spool, as compared to an empty one. As you pump
the rod, and reel in on the down stroke, you will gain line much
faster with a spool that has more line on it.