Kruger as I mentioned obviously you don't want to set it so light to have an all day battle on 1 pound trout but setting it so a fish can peel drag if mustering a small run vs being horsed in no way causes higher mortality rates in catch and release. When a small fish is horsed in via line it often comes with his mouth wide open swallowing water into his gullet, this fish will go to the bottom but will hardly be in great shape. The drag will speel when the fish of a certain size has a pull in the opposite direction above the drag setting, one can use many techniques to turn the fish or avoid long duration runs, it is better/easier to let the fish do it quick burst than gain, gain, gain vs putting constant pressure and stress on the fish against there will. I would hope most would understand that a 1lb fish pulls harder than 1 pounds of pressure on your line and that more often than not the reason for a break off is b/c of a fisherman putting additional strain on the line coupled with the fishes pressure, a drag set properly will prevent this. Even if a fish does strip a bit of line it will hardly make the fight or play that much longer to cause additional stress, especially if your set up properly. That was really my point before.
FYI, my spinning gear has 6-8 mono threaded on the spool, this is for small perch/trout right through large pike. I do change my drag for the species and conditions, however in most cases my drag for 8lb test is set to peel at approx 5lbs pressure. I use my drag a lot and yes I need to respool but I also land a heck of lot fish that are much bigger than the rather light line I use.
BTW I also practice catch and release and am quite aware that the more stress you put on a fish the worse off they are to survive but in the case of a small fish the extra fight is nill or min. at most vs just plain old cranking and skipping him across the surface. When it comes to the big fish you will need drag and the importance is when handling, I usually unhook or even cut my line on truly large fish...the last thing I want to do is over handle or pull the fish out of the water to remove a .35 jig. Tell me how you unhook a fish for release that hasn't even played a little without handling them? My fish I simply put my hand under the belly(keeping them in the water at all times), then unhook with my pliers and slowly revive them until I feel the pressure built up in the rear portion of the tail, finally a slight grab of the tail and I am soaking wet. I never use treble hooks and always barbless, this includes my crank baits. As your aware a single hook and no barb is best for catch release which also requires a tight line to land fish. I also am sure that some of the fish do or will die, as such I don't fish all day and hammer the crap out of them I use the 1 and 5 rule, meaning every 5th fish counts towards my daily limit, if I keep fish it is not included in my 5. For an example: if I keep 2 walleye and my limit is 5 per day, I will catch n release 15 others than call it a day.
What is your method of catch n' release?? No need to answer just pointing out many other factors to consider when practicing catch n' release.
I don't fish bass very often and am not sure what is considered the best for this fish, however for Pike, Walleye and lake dwelling trout I have no problems landing or releasing any of my fish. I mostly spend my time chasing fish that are much larger than my line rating so maybe that is why I use my drag and have become accustom to spinning on an extra spool of line per year.
I am not sure if we have a difference of opinion or I never worded it right in my first message, most likely the later but in any regards we are entitled to our own opinion and if you see a problem in my practice for catch n' release I welcome yours or any thoughts. I certainly am not above critism or finding better ways to ensure those big notherns and eyes are their for my kids and later in life grandkids to catch
