Old new guy intro

Hi, I've been a user of this site for a few years and I've gleaned a lot of info from the impressive knowledge base. I haven't made any posts so I thought this would be a good time to start.  Each year, I usually do a couple of 3-6 day tuna trips out of San Diego on a charter with some buddies. This year I'm bailing out on the longer range tuna trips due to covid and some personal (non covid) health issues. I do plan to pick up the slack with kayak lingcod fishing and some salmon trolling. My usual spots are Stillwater, Gerstle, Timber cove and Sea Ranch. I just installed a small downrigger and I'm planning on doing some salmon trolling even though I don't have a peddle yak. I mostly use 25 & 30lb setups with the typical big swimbaits and a shrimp fly dropper loop. When snagged, I find it challenging to crank down the drag and break off. Wondering if a lot of guys have this issue and drop down to 20lb to make it easier to bust off a snagged lure.

I forgot to mention that I live in Santa Rosa.

  NCKA Salmonater

Hi, I've been a user of this site for a few years and I've gleaned a lot of info from the impressive knowledge base. I haven't made any posts so I thought this would be a good time to start.  Each year, I usually do a couple of 3-6 day tuna trips out of San Diego on a charter with some buddies. This year I'm bailing out on the longer range tuna trips due to covid and some personal (non covid) health issues. I do plan to pick up the slack with kayak lingcod fishing and some salmon trolling. My usual spots are Stillwater, Gerstle, Timber cove and Sea Ranch. I just installed a small downrigger and I'm planning on doing some salmon trolling even though I don't have a peddle yak. I mostly use 25 & 30lb setups with the typical big swimbaits and a shrimp fly dropper loop. When snagged, I find it challenging to crank down the drag and break off. Wondering if a lot of guys have this issue and drop down to 20lb to make it easier to bust off a snagged lure.

Welcome

I typically use 20 lbs Fluorocarbon Leader for rock fishing.  Even with 20 lbs line, I have to have my thumb on the spool to apply additional drag to break the line.  Typically I don't like to change my drag setting during the fishing.

Paul

Thanks 123Engineering. I'll give it a go with the 20 pound fluoro.

Hi Salmonater, welcome 

Hey Salmonater, welcome to NCKA

Welcome to NCKA Salmonater