Drag & line strength visualizer
Drag is the reel's safety valve. Set it from your line's real, knotted strength - not the number printed on the spool - and see where your setting sits.
Your setup
Where your setting sits
The figures behind the bar
- Rated line strength
- 12 lb
- Effective strength at the knot
- 10.8 lb
- Safe drag zone
- 2.7–3.6 lb of pull
- Your setting
- 3 lb
The knot is almost always the weak point, which is why the safe zone is worked out from the knotted strength, not the spool label. If you are unsure of your knot, drop the knot-strength slider and set drag from the lower figure.
What too much drag actually breaks
The knot goes first
A sudden run with a locked-down drag puts the whole load on the weakest point. That is nearly always the knot, and it fails without warning.
Hooks pull or straighten
Heavy drag tears the hook hold on the strike and on every lunge afterwards. On a snag it straightens fine-wire hooks instead of letting line slip.
The rod takes the strain
A drag that will not slip turns the rod into the only shock absorber. High-sticking a bent rod under a heavy load is how blanks snap.