For salmon, I keep the drag fairly light, enough to not allow the line to backlash and create a bird?s nest, then just a touch more drag. I let the salmon take the fly and they either make a run for it or start jumping immediately. In either case you don?t want a tight drag as they will just break the leader or burn up your reel. I always wear leather palmed sun gloves and I use my palm to create more drag when the fish is making a run. Then it is ma matter if getting it to the boat as quickly as possible, without causing extra damage to the fish, so I can release it and go for the next salmon.

But then, salmon are not stripers so I am not sure how you would handle them.

Larry ---sagefisher---