Mechanics of Fishing

[nullack]

Gday

So I've been educating myself and reading a bunch of books I bought on various angling topics.

None of them seems to address what I consider to be the basic mechanics of fishing.

Example, how much strain can a fish cause dynamically when being reeled in? People say, oh go light on 3lb line or heavier on 9lb line. I wonder how much of this actually matters in terms of the forces a fish can exert on the angler.

Guessing I'd say it would change as to the type of fish like I know a stringray from beach fishing experience is going to pull and pull much harder than a large salmon.

Seems to me the static out of water mechanics is the easy one. A 1kg fish is going to have a mass of 1kg when its static.

I was thinking about another case too. I've read books saying you need to set your drag at about 30% of the line strength. I've been setting it with a scale but having the rod horizontal to the scale not in the position that I'd be catching fish with. So now I'm thinking when I got home from work I should see if there is any difference on the scale in the two situations with the drag set the same.

Atleast this gives me something to think about before my next fishing trip

Thanks for any insight

[Kyle101]

You have way too much spare time on your hands.

But seriously that is something that i have thought about and I can't be bothered to do it myself so any theories or results you produce would be great

Cheers Kyle

[COS]

Way too much time, just go fishing! Trial and error so the more you do the more you will experience and then know what to do so go have some fun

[Flangies]

I dont bother setting drags anymore unless it's on game gear, the amount of times I'd new to carry scales around with me would be crazy. I just play it by feel, if you are confident in your knots and have a basic understanding of rod works you can usually go heavier than 30%. So many times you have to change the drag mid fight anyway so I wouldn't bother about it.

[Stealth]

This is what happens when science is applied to fishing lol, but seriously mate youll learn from experience what pressure you can exert through what lines at what angle etc..
if you wanna experiment and set ya drag with scales go for I say.

[dannyboy91]

Mate I've studied alot of biomechanics at uni for my current degree, it would be impossible to know the dynamic strain a fish species would exert due to the millions of variables like environment, diet, water temp etc... They haven't even figured out how to do this with humans, as the other boys said, just fish =) you will learn many more important lessons =)

[Breamobsession]

Haha I have enough trouble trying to work out how to catch fish let alone working out "how much strain can a fish cause dynamically when being reeled in"

Go fishing and forget about your worries Thats what fishing is all about

[yellow door 1]

In my younger years I was somewhat of a mathematical prodigy - My high score on a calculator was 8,008,135

But I've forgotten most of what I used to know and have to rely on practical tests for my findings these days.

Knowing how hard you can Jerk them.....
and how hard they can Jerk back......

Often comes down to who's being jerked and whos doing the jerking

[nullack]

Thanks for the welcomes guys

I'm some distance from salt water with bream so unfortunately it's relegated to when I can go on a bream trip between work and family.....but atleast I can think about it in between hehe

So um it seems to me this research doesnt have to be too precise. For example I know for a fact that a little tacker yellow fin bream wont pull 1KG of drag cos the last bream I caught was undersized and he didnt pull the drag when I reeled him in and released him. I know my drag was set for a 1KG friction point by the scales.

Surely there is decent rules of thumb we could apply from people who caught lots of bream.

I understand that lighter lines cast better. What I dont understand is the relationship between line strength and what forces on the line bream can apply.

[TheChief]

Originally Posted by nullack

I understand that lighter lines cast better. What I dont understand is the relationship between line strength and what forces on the line bream can apply.

There are to many variables involved to have a set rule on what drag pressure you should set for different line strengths. You really want the lightest drag pressure you can possibly use. It's easier to thumb the drag than try to loosen the drag knob if you are in trouble of getting pinged on a snag, pylon, rock or the racks. If you use some handy rod work you will find it hard to find a bream that will snap 6lb leader even with a locked drag. Unless you live in Tas....

Having a light drag is not usually to prevent snapping your line but to prevent pulling/straightening the hooks. Especially if your using fine gauge trebles. With single hooks and jigheads you can be a bit more heavy handed because it isn't as much of a problem.

It can depend on you leader/loop knots also. They all have different strength percentages. No point setting your drag pressure to close to your knot strength.

Hope that helps.

[nullack]

Thanks mate

[forsterfisho]

Just fish racks.....10lb + leaders and locked drags. Pretty simple way of getting bream into a boat.

[tobymcclure]

Originally Posted by forsterfisho

Just fish racks.....10lb + leaders and locked drags. Pretty simple way of getting bream into a boat.

ha ha

[stella fella]

I'm going to invent fully automatic drag. It'll always apply the perfect amount of drag. All of our problems will be solved

[beechey]

yer mate like everyone is saying just go fish and you will find out how to set your drag from spot to spot. just trial and error. yes it hurts losing good fish but it happens and thats fishing!!