Thread: front vs rear drag

What's the difference between the two and which do you prefer?

Back in the Zebco and Abu Garcia Cardinal 3 days, I used to think that the rear drag on those were awesome. Now every one of my reels has a front drag. If you have a high quality reel, front drag is very smooth and works very well. I am sure rear drag works well, but now that I use front drag, I prefer it.

I prefer a front drag seens to be better

Front drag will be the better of the two. Smoother and faster response.

The rear drag comes in handy if your fishing larger fish like salmon or brown trout or what ever. when you need to adjust your drag durning a fight. puting your hand in the way of braid on front drag reel could cut you up. most here use large spinning reels w/rear drag for Lake Michigan

Hi, For crappie fishing I like the rear drag with the lever like the one on the Shimano Spirex. Moving the lever to the left lets you strip line off easily and then just move it back to center to put the drag setting back to where it was. We use 8 of those reels when spider rigging on Percy Priest. I live in northern indiana but go down to TN to fish Percy Priest with my brother who lives a stones throw away from the lake.

Originally Posted by beau2

Hi, For crappie fishing I like the rear drag with the lever like the one on the Shimano Spirex. Moving the lever to the left lets you strip line off easily and then just move it back to center to put the drag setting back to where it was. We use 8 of those reels when spider rigging on Percy Priest. I live in northern indiana but go down to TN to fish Percy Priest with my brother who lives a stones throw away from the lake.

I have a Symetery 1000FI with the "fightin drag" lever I love that reel!

... front drag reels, but I really don't have a preference (that's just what was available, when I purchased them)
I do like my Shimano Spirex 2000 with rear drag (fightn drag).
But, if you set the drag to slip when setting the hook on something that ain't likely to move ... then it don't usually matter which kind you have. I never did like front drags, because I was always concerned with having my hand near the line/spool when fighting a fish ... I just knew I was gonna mess up and cause the line to break

That's where the rear drag system, like the one on my Spirex, comes into play ... and I've had to use it a few times, too

When using front drag reels, even the best ones of my arsenal, and even after having set the drag to slip before the line snaps .... I'm still more prone to turning the drag off (when fighting a large fish) and backwinding the reel :D ... guess I still don't trust the drag system to respond as quickly as I can, especially when using some of my "lower end" reels

... cp

I too like my spirex rear drag.

Another vote for Rear drag reels. I have all Shimanos.... Spirex and Symetre and they are all rear drag.

-Jeff