skeeter 7MM

Rusty, I believe the problem lies in setting the drag up appropriately for the fish you are fishing vs the FD vs RD. The fact the RD is more easier really becomes moot as most don't dare touch it while fighting a fish for fear of losing it! Something to consider is a drag is used not only to protect from allowing a fish to go over the line breakage point but also to play(fight) and keep the line tight through the thrashing, jumping, pulling, head shaking, etc they do when trying to unhook themselves. Plain and simple no matter the size or species you want the drag to be zinging in most cases as it will result in more fish landed. I just want to qualify obviously you don't want it become an all day battle for a 1lb trout but with the proper drag setting when that fish is most fiesty and hardy it should be able to muster an uninterrupted short duration run. As we know fresh water fish are not built to sustain long duration battles, they are short and swift. This inlies the reason for setting your drag appropriately to work not hinder your experience on the water. In all honesty I rarely touch my drag once I have set it up for the action that day. If I am fishing walleyes on a shelf I know damn well that their is a better than average chance at some point I am going to hook up on a pike lurking for lunch so while he may peel more drag than the average walleye the fight is only lengthed for a relatively short time while allowing me to properly fight and land a larger fish on light line and no leader! If I were fishing pike I reset my drag appropriately, sure I may catch a walleye, perch what have you but my main target is hard pulling pike and am geared to that fish. Incidentally I suggest always setting a drag to peel at 2lbs below rating but in many cases my drag peels around the halfway point. It becomes personal preference and where you fish, obviously if fishing heavy cover or timber areas you don't want the fish getting entangled in the junk so one must set the drag higher and basically horse them out of the garbage. However when finesse fishing there is absolutely no need to horse a fish and bring them to the shore or boat full of piss n' vinegar.

If your drag is to low or to tight, land your fish than set the drag up to a better setting before latching onto another fish is all that is required (regardless of FD or RD most do this way anyhow). Of course buy what you feel is the best the advantages or disadvantages to either system usually add up to personal preference vs functional for most anglers.