Front or Rear drag

[John Aston]

I have come far to prefer rear drags - simply for ease of adjustment. Most of my reels are Shimano rear drag and apart from an issue with a Catana , they have been perfect . One of the most robust has been the cheap as chips Hyperloop , which I bought as a back up for lure fishing - best 15 quid I've spent . There is possibly a weight penalty in rear drags ,if that matters , and on my ultra light Shimano Zodias lure rod I use a front drag Daiwa Legalis . Sweet reel , and I know my hearing is not what it was , but I can hardly bloody hear the clutch going . Pity there isn't a volume control to make it sound like a Hardy Marquis in full flow...

 

[108831]

I always swore by rear drags,mainly shimano,now I own virtually all front drags,one shimano,four daiwas and three cadence(plus other cheapies for light lure fishing),the drags are smoother,but also the FD reels have more winding power,so obviously there must be a gearing difference,I used to have a couple of 4000 stradic RD FD,reels that I used for barbel amongst other things,when I fished tge Thames in winter,using feeders with around 3ozs on the reel felt hard worked,as soon as I changed to FD's it was easy peazy,as for 3000 sized reels I own one,a shimano technium,nice reel,but I find that the spool being narrower causes some memory,so prefer 4000's and as I dont fish the Trent I don't need 5000 plus sized reels.

 

[rayner]

All my reels years ago were a front drag, They were all Mitchell. 300s or 410A in truth the drags were useless. They could never be relied on when using fine hook lengths. Mitchell reels forced the angler to backwind, the clutch was so bad.
I didn't help matters when I removed the grease then lubricated them with sewing machine oil to make them run smoother.
When stick fishing or using a waggler on the tidal Trent I used to bat the handle on the retrieve. It speeded the reel so much but did nothing to help the gearing. Gearing on both the 300s and 410s were the same, just a strange shaped plate run with two cogs. They were useless when the gearing wore just the slightest.
The only other reel I used back then "in the 80s" was a Shimano Aero match, which was a far superior upgrade incorporating a rear drag that was very smooth, almost infallible.
The Mitchells were relegated to being used on feeder rods, a tactic at the time that sucked all my confidence in matches.
I really hated tip fishing. In turn, I hated wind because it forced me to get the feeder rods out.
Feeder reels then progressed to bait runners, Shimano of course. Mini bait runners, not to use the bait runner whilst fishing but to aid me after netting fish. I use the runner lever to release the tension on the tip to enable me to ignore the rod to unhook the fish.
The bait runners have front drags that I rely on with no thought of the clutch sticking.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

For most of my fishing I use Shimano Stradic except for barbel when I use older Shimano baitrunners, but all with a rear drag.

The exception being my carp fishing where I use Daiwa 5500's big pit reels with a front drag as I find them more finely adjustable.

 

[Keith M]

Concerning rear drags being easier to adjust while playing a fish:

Don,t see it myself.

Rear drags are a lot easier to adjust while you are playing a big fish; not least because you are not trying to adjust a drag control on the front of a moving spool (that could be spinning); which is a very useful thing when your playing a much larger fish; plus you don’t need to have your hand in front of a spool that could have line being stripped from it.

Keith

 

[108831]

Never found it to be an issue adjusting FD reels whilst fish are running,as you aren't winding the line is coming from a fixed point.

 

[waldi]

Mini bait runners, not to use the bait runner whilst fishing but to aid me after netting fish. I use the runner lever to release the tension on the tip to enable me to ignore the rod to unhook the fish.

Me too.
I have all bait runners on my ledger/speci rods , Nothing bigger than a 4000.
Only exception is a Shimano 2500 Tri-Drag I use on my float rod and use the rear fighting drag for the same purpose.

 

[steve2]

Front drags for me I find them easier to adjusts that when I am not back winding.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm an unrepentant backwinder so whether the clutch is front or rear doesnt bother me one whit. FD reels look more compact though so I guess I'd buy FD if I needed a new fs reel.....which I dont. In any case I will always use a centrepin if I possibly can.

 

[chevin4]

When I am fishing for Pike Carp and long range Tench fishing using heavy lines I favour Shimano reels with a fighting drag. I thought this was a gimmick at first but find they are superb for playing quality fish and they are my first choice for Roach Perch and Chub and small stream Barbel fishing.

 

[mikench]

Not bothered. A rear drag reel can have the spool changed without the drag settings having to be altered so that is an advantage for me.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Surely most times you change the spool it's to use a different b/s mainline so you should be altering the drag anyway, lol.

 

[waldi]

Call me old fashioned and I admit that it’s probably a habit left over from the days of leather drag washers but the drags on my reels only get set when I start fishing and backed off again when I’m finished.

I set my drags by feel and often back them off to let a fish run a bit if conditions allow.

Some will disagree but I don’t think it helps if the fish is in the net too full of fight. Makes unhooking easier and safer for both of us.

 

[108831]

I do the same,I set drags according to rods and line strengths,hooklengths etc,then back it off after each session,no matter what materials the washers are made of it must make a difference...

 

[Philip]

Not sure which I prefer...most of my fishing at the moment is with a front drag basically because thats on the rod but he majority of my reels are rear drag.

Front drags are supposed to be smoother and I think thats probably true at least on the reels I have but the rear drag models are are perfectly adequate as well and I quite like the "neatness" of rear drag reels.

I always -always- give my drag a quick test before the first cast of any session to make sure it gives line. I dont like drags set to only just give line which I sometimes see advised even by some very well known anglers. I recon thats a recipie for a broken line if a fish surges off on the short line & its fractionally too tight.

I usually back the drag off a little bit then apply finger pressure to the spool if I need it. I'll also quite often back a drag off further once a fish is circling up in the water near the net to try and avoid a hook pull.

 

[sam vimes]

It's been nearly ten years since this thread started. In that time, my views haven't changed much. However, I do use front drag reels more than I did back then. I'm even more convinced that front drags are inherently better than rear drag. However, I still have a soft spot for good rear drag reels. The biggest attraction of a front drag reel for me is that they are invariably smaller and lighter than their rear drag equivalents. The one thing I'm not keen on with so many front drag reels is that the manufacturers insist on fitting "quick drags" to them. Fine and dandy on a reel used for legering, but a complete waste of time on a reel used for float fishing.

 

[nottskev]

I'm told front drag is superior, but I've never found myself thinking I'd have played a fish better or got one out more efficiently if only I wasn't using these old rear drag reels. I've had two front drag Shimano's and I disliked the "empty" feel on turning the handle, and positively hated the way the handle drops forward or back with anti-reverse off when you take your hand off. I like the look of rear drag reels, too; front drag models look truncated to me. This may be complete coincidence, but the wave of front drags seems to have been accompanied by more bling, with shiny little panels and garish colours.

 

[wetthrough]

It's been nearly ten years since this thread started. In that time, my views haven't changed much. However, I do use front drag reels more than I did back then. I'm even more convinced that front drags are inherently better than rear drag. However, I still have a soft spot for good rear drag reels. The biggest attraction of a front drag reel for me is that they are invariably smaller and lighter than their rear drag equivalents. The one thing I'm not keen on with so many front drag reels is that the manufacturers insist on fitting "quick drags" to them. Fine and dandy on a reel used for legering, but a complete waste of time on a reel used for float fishing.

For anyone owning a Daiwa 16TDM... with a similar dislike of quick drags, the slow drag from the Daiwa Ninjas are a direct replacement. Cost a few years ago around £5 from Daiwa.

 

[silvers]

I'm an unrepentant backwinder so whether the clutch is front or rear doesnt bother me one whit. FD reels look more compact though so I guess I'd buy FD if I needed a new fs reel.....which I dont. In any case I will always use a centrepin if I possibly can.

Same here, apart from the last sentence ... I’m still at tyro stage with a pin, and there are too many limitations for it to be a regular choice for me.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I've not kept up much with the market over the last couple of years but reading this thread made me wonder, just how many front drag reels are available these days?

Seemingly most if not all of the really popular reels are rear drag these days . . . . . so does availability affect preferences?