Back off your drag, Jack!

[nastygunz]

http://www.thehulltruth.com/sportfishing-charters-forum/325723-do-you-loosen-drag-your-reels-when-storing.html

[FinsnFur]

Never heard of such a thing in my life. And never had a jerky drag either.
But with that said, I dont keep my reels much longer then 6, 7, 8 years without upgrading.
I did notice that all the boys who talked about washing their reels and backing up the drag were in ocean states. No oceans here and none in Ohio where the other guys lived that never heard of it. 

[Dave]

Never heard of such a thing in my life. And never had a jerky drag either.
But with that said, I dont keep my reels much longer then 6, 7, 8 years without upgrading.
I did notice that all the boys who talked about washing their reels and backing up the drag were in ocean states. No oceans here and none in Ohio where the other guys lived that never heard of it. 

Yeah I think they were referring to tuna reels.  Not sure if smaller conventional reels have lever drags (not too familiar with conventionals), but the big tuna reels do.
I always wash down rods and reels after fishing saltwater and back off the drags.  And just back off the drags with freshwater.

[Okanagan]

Ditto to Dave:  wash rods and reels with fresh water immediately after use in salt water, and back off drags on all reels, salt and fresh of any size.  I read this bit about backing off drags many years ago, and Mike at Mike's reel repair advised me years ago to do that.   Mike and I were talking about salmon sized reels, however.  (He also told me how to loosen a newly replaced drag on a Daiwa Sealine that was a bit tight:  "Go over to the river and hook a big Chinook and let him burn in the drag with a big run.")   

I've never had troubler with a drag whether I remember to back it off for the winter or not. 

On a tangent:  I ruined a brand new medium sized spinning reel with one trip to fish salmon from my kayak in salt water, even though I rinsed it in fresh water after fishing.  Salt water ate up its gears and internals.  It still works, barely, but makes an awful grinding noise when turned.  Since then, when I buy any reel I MIGHT use in salt water I make sure that it is designed for salt water.   My current favorite steelhead reel is a medium sized Cabela's Salt Striker and I use it interchangeably in salt water or fresh. 

[nastygunz]

 I never heard of backing off a drag either until I saw it  recommended in my new Zebco bullet reel manual. Now I do it, I don't figure it hurts anything and it might help.  Saltwater is brutal on reels, I found that out the hard way after leaving one of mine out in the garage after a striper fishing trip for the summer and then went to use it and it looked like somebody dipped it in acid