when should the most amount of drag be applied

Balls to wall from the beginning.

once you start losing line lock er down

I beleive a medium pressure throughout the whole fight will tire out a fish more than letting him strip from the beginning on loose drag or hammering from the beginning and really pissing him off

When you hook a big fish, there is nothing you can do to stop the initial run. Once you get its head turned, then do everything possible to keep it from turning back to the deep again. Locked drag with thumbs on the spool and someone holding you in place if that's what it takes. As long as you are applying enough pressure to keep his head facing the shoreline, you are good to go.

There's certainly room for a difference in opnion here. Here's mine based on a few years of experience. Let me start by saying that sharks don't have hands. They don't reach up next to your reel and pull the line off of it. They pull it from the tip of the rod, yet many people set their drag by pulling it off of the reel with their hand. Drag should be set with a scale with the line coming off the tip of your rod. I used to do this every year in our club. Found the biggest guy with a 16/0 harnessed and belleted him up and told him to set his drag as he normally would. Then I would hook up a fish scale ( this was so long ago that we used a spring scale in those days) and have someone stand next to me to read it. That stopped people from saying I was making it up because they didn't believe how little drag was being applied. I would pull on the line and it would be typically set somewhere around 16-18 pounds. At that point I would say put some some drag on it and measure again. Maybe 20-22 pounds at that point. I would then say, " You're a big guy, lock down on that thing!" We might get to 26 pounds and again I would ask for more drag. At about 28-30 pounds it was all the guys could do to stop me from dragging them across the floor. Unless you are in a chair or have someone holding you, you won't be able to stay still at much over 30 pounds off the tip of the rod. I know you don't believe me, try it.

I typically set my drag at the strike stop position around 14-15 Pounds. That's all that I am concerned about because I seldom move it unless it is to back it off. I think that is enough to set the hook and keep from tearing it out on the initial run. I want the shark to take as much line as possible without stripping me on the first run. I don't want him to be green when I get him close to the boat or bridge, which is where I usually fish. It might be different for you if you are beach fishing.

Now here's the biggy that most people do not know. As the spool diameter decreases, the drag automatically increases. That means that as you begin to loose a lot of line it may at some point be necessary to back off on your drag.

I know there aren't many of you that believe what I'm saying but try it and let me know what you find out.

I once landed a Goliath grouper on 30 pound test line with 10 pounds of drag after about an hour and a half fight. Steady pressure and don't you pull when the fish is pulling. That's the biggest secret. Let the rod and reel do the work when the shark is pulling, you rest when that is going on.

All of this does not answer the question. It's sort of like asking, " How long should I wait before I set the hook?" It varies from one shark to the next when you should apply the maxium drag. If I would have to say anything it would be after the initial run.

There's certainly room for a difference in opnion here. Here's mine based on a few years of experience. Let me start by saying that sharks don't have hands. They don't reach up next to your reel and pull the line off of it. They pull it from the tip of the rod, yet many people set their drag by pulling it off of the reel with their hand. Drag should be set with a scale with the line coming off the tip of your rod. I used to do this every year in our club. Found the biggest guy with a 16/0 harnessed and belleted him up and told him to set his drag as he normally would. Then I would hook up a fish scale ( this was so long ago that we used a spring scale in those days) and have someone stand next to me to read it. That stopped people from saying I was making it up because they didn't believe how little drag was being applied. I would pull on the line and it would be typically set somewhere around 16-18 pounds. At that point I would say put some some drag on it and measure again. Maybe 20-22 pounds at that point. I would then say, " You're a big guy, lock down on that thing!" We might get to 26 pounds and again I would ask for more drag. At about 28-30 pounds it was all the guys could do to stop me from dragging them across the floor. Unless you are in a chair or have someone holding you, you won't be able to stay still at much over 30 pounds off the tip of the rod. I know you don't believe me, try it.

I typically set my drag at the strike stop position around 14-15 Pounds. That's all that I am concerned about because I seldom move it unless it is to back it off. I think that is enough to set the hook and keep from tearing it out on the initial run. I want the shark to take as much line as possible without stripping me on the first run. I don't want him to be green when I get him close to the boat or bridge, which is where I usually fish. It might be different for you if you are beach fishing.

Now here's the biggy that most people do not know. As the spool diameter decreases, the drag automatically increases. That means that as you begin to loose a lot of line it may at some point be necessary to back off on your drag.

I know there aren't many of you that believe what I'm saying but try it and let me know what you find out.

I once landed a Goliath grouper on 30 pound test line with 10 pounds of drag after about an hour and a half fight. Steady pressure and don't you pull when the fish is pulling. That's the biggest secret. Let the rod and reel do the work when the shark is pulling, you rest when that is going on.
All of this does not answer the question. It's sort of like asking, " How long should I wait before I set the hook?" It varies from one shark to the next when you should apply the maxium drag. If I would have to say anything it would be after the initial run.

Thanks Keith.Those are words from a very expierienced shark fisherman .It is very important to remember to back off slightly as the spool gets smaller with a fish taking line off in many cases people forget and POP the line breaks when pushed beyond it's limit.These type of things are hard to teach because it might take a few years of hardcore shark fishing to actually hook a shark that will take you down to below a quarter spool and you can see and feel the drag pressure increasing at that point you either remember to back off or you find out the hard way with a broken line.

Thanks for the kind words William. Sometimes the best way to learn is by making mistakes and I've had enough time to make a bunch.

Oh, I forgot one other thing. Not only does the drag on the reel increase as the spool diameter decreases, the drag of the resistance of the water on the line increases when you get a lot of line out. In a lighter line weight the drag of the water can be enought to break the line if you get enough out.

I once had this happen on a large hammerhead on 30# mono back in the days that we thought we might set a worlds record for that line class. It was an outgoing tide in Egmont Channel and somewhere between 900 and 1000 yards the line just broke. Suppose it could have been something else but I don't think so. It was just a steady pull of the tide on the shark. He felt like he was just going with the flow and I couldn't do a thing about it.

The fight in a kingfish is similar. If you have the momentum and her head facing at you, keep that drag tight and keep the momentum coming to you. Once that fish turns to run, open up the drag a little and let her bolt if she wants it. That fish cant run forever. As soon as you see her slow or come to a near stop, tighten up the drag again and break her will. Get the momentum coming at you again. A large portion of our lost fish are from my customers getting too impatient and trying to force a fish up when shes not ready.

I think the #1 problem for most inexperienced fisherman is jumping the gun on the drag immediately. I'm guilty, I did it as a teenager all the time. We'd have 500 yards of 60lb test and we would have something just blister 150 yards off immediately, so we'd lock the drag in a panic and lose the fish. In my opinion, the only time you should truly "lock it down" is when you can see the base of the spool....I mean, whats the point of having 500 yards of line if you're not going to use every bit of it? Hope this helps.

ive never snapped my line on a fish from to much drag ive lost fish for to little(spooled) but i also fish heavier line

Some great info.

When working with max drags, max line strengths the little things like mentioned will keep you hooked up.

Like stated... reel drag increases as the spool gets smaller and it varies on reels, a 30w spool will increase more then say an 80w spool just because of the diameter. When spooling line on my reels I like to check drags at 1/4 spool 1/2 and full to see how much each reel increases. If you know the percentage of increase your drag can be set proper.

Again like stated the water drag on mono is crazy, the more line you have out the more pressure your line is taking. So you might not feel it on the rod end but if you have half spool of line in the water... say 500 yards, you have your drag set at 20lbs. the pressure on your line has probably doubled if not tripled.

That brings me to the next point. Line stretch... When line is stretched out near its breaking strength it weakens, so if you apply to much from the start and do not succeed in landing the fish your line is now weaker. i.e take a piece of 20lb line and test it. Actual breaking strength is 33lbs. first stretch pull it to 32lbs without breaking it, second stretch you wont make it to 32 lbs and it breaks, every time you stretch it out near its max it weakens the line. Some lines will be more extreme then others.

So heres my opinion of when max drag should be applied. On first power runs you should never be on full or max drag, this is what the strike button is for. If you have your drag set right the 99% of fish will stop taking line. Now that the fish made a power run and has burned some energy you throw it to him and break their will. If you cant break their will and they take off for another power run you need to back off the drag.

In short when the fish rest you max drag them, when they run you back off and rest.

So after all is incorporated such as shrinking spools, water drag, speed of the fish, line stretch, lines actual breaking strength, and the anglers ability you will still break some off. This is where the old rule of thumb comes in 1/3 of the strength. 100lb rod should be fished with 33lbs of drag, 100 lb line max drag 33lbs, done like this it will keep you in the safe zone when fighting a fish, its like the happy medium that will work even when all the things mentioned are added in.

CATCHINJIANTS (cj) Said it all and much better than I could. I agree completely with his stragety, especially the part about backing off if you apply a lot of drag and then the shark takes off.

I remembered the only time that I applied maxium drag. It was the first shark over 6 feet long that I caught. It was a tipper, on a windy night at the Skyway, and boy was there a lot of phorphus in the water. He jumped 5 times and it was spetacular. Anyway, I had only been sharkfishing a short while and had a reel with 300 yards of 30# Ande pink mono filled right up to the bars. I was confident that nothing would be able to take 300 yards of line. I watched the line melt off of my reel in disbelief. When I had about five wraps left and I could see the metal spool showing through, I decided that I would lock the drag. I figured I would either turn the fish or break the line and fortunately I turned him and he started swimming parallel to the bridge. I got a little line back and then backed off on the drag a little. The second run was not quite as long as the first but close

I'm guessing that is really the answer to the question about maxium drag. Use it as a last resort. This whole area is why I started fishing lever drag reels a long time ago. Much better control to vary your drag quickly and to known values. It's not as easy with a star drag. The tension washer can do some funny things.

There's only two positions I like to see my Avet 80 and/or my Duel 12/0W in: Freespool and Full (pre-set included).

BRO, the only time to put the hurt on them is when they are tired......Only then you can horse them in with no threat to there life....I think.

BRO, the only time to put the hurt on them is when they are tired......Only then you can horse them in with no threat to there life....I think.

Or his life... thats allot of drag