What follows is a basic guide to adjusting the drag range on Duel two-speed reels. Unlike most lever drag game reels, Duels can be very easily adjusted to suit different line classes or drag progression preferences. This is literally a five-minute job, assuming you have the tools at hand. From beginning to disassemble the reel, through dismantling the drag, changing the progression springs and completely reassembling, can be comfortably done in five minutes with only an allen key screwdriver (which comes with the reel) and a philips screwdriver.

To begin with, we used a 4/0 for the demonstration, as it is the most popular size. This reel was filled with YGK PE8 (80lb) Dyneema braid, whereas other 4/0s will commonly have line as light as 30lb nylon. Most get filled with 50lb. The drag requirements are all different, but most reels only let you adjust the preset to vary the drag range. For the exercise, the Duel's preset was cranked up to the point where it only just free-spooled when the lever was backed right off; i.e. the heaviest drag the reel was capable of achieving, in ex-factory mode, without losing free-spool.

That preset gave six kilos of drag at strike, and nine kilos at full, measured straight off the reel (not over a rod, which would increase those figures). That's a pretty normal setting for 24kg (50lb) line, and the preset could be backed off for fishing lighter line; but it's somewhat limiting for heavier line. So here's what we did about it:

First up, pop the left sideplate off. That's four allen-key-head stainless machine bolts, and the tool to remove them comes with the reel.

The spool will now slide straight off the centre shaft, complete with all the drag. The drag assembly is contained underneath that cover that was at the handle end, and is now facing up...

Remove the three small screws using a philips head screwdriver, and lift off the cover to reveal the drag stack...

At which time you could remove the drag washers and spread them out as shown; though that's only done for effect. What you really want to get to is that collection of springs that are left on the spool. Now, this is a 4/0 just as it left the factory. It has twelve coil springs under the drag stack, arranged in four groups of three. Note that there is another spot for a spring between each of those groups; so we can fit in another four springs, for a total of 16.

Now some of you will have thought, too hard finding springs like that. Well, not really, they're in the bag the reel came in. Duel are good like that... so we'll drop them in...

Then reassemble the reel, which is just replace the drag stack, screw on the cover, slide the spool back into the reel and screw on the sideplate again. We had to back the preset off one click to achieve free-spool again when the reel went back together. Adding those four springs now gave us 6.5kg of drag at strike, around a 10% increase, and 11kg of drag at full, about a 20% increase. Incidentally all drag figures were measured with a completely full spool; any drop in line level will rapidly increase the drag setting, something to keep in mind when you're going hard with a half-empty spool.

Just for the exercise, we also set the 4/0 up with only four drag springs in it, to illustrate the opposite extreme. With the same preset to only just achieve freespool, strike measured 2.5kg and full measured 4.4kg. Perfectly appropriate should the angler be using the reel for ten-kilo-class tournament fishing or record chasing.

If 11kg of drag is not enough for you, there is the possibility of using heavier springs, but I'll save that story for later. For just now, let's look at a Duel 6/0. This one's filled with YGK Power Hunter PE10, which is definitely at the heavy end of the scale. Off with the sideplate, to reveal what appears to be exactly the same design as the 4/0...

But when we get down to the springs, look at that!!!! No, not really, they actually come ex-factory with only 18 of those 36 springs, which gives 8.5kg of drag at strike and 15kg at full. But we've jumped ahead a bit here and just for the hell of it, filled every spot with another spring...

... and found that such a setup gives us a frightening 14.5kg of drag at strike, and something around 30kg at full! Remember this is not just screwing the drag down as hard as it will go, this is still leaving the reel winding easily and with a progression that still has it dropping into absolute freespool down at the other end. Awesome. We pulled out some springs to get it back to a fishable drag for the PE10.

We didn't have a 9/0 full of line lying around to test the drag pressures, but will include a pic of the standard spring setup here because it's interesting compared to the others...

Only 16 springs as standard - less than a 6/0 - but remember there are other factors that influence the drag pressure, and the most important one of them is surface area. The 9/0 probably has twice the drag surface area of a 6/0, so it doesn't need as much pressure to achieve copious amounts of drag. Nonetheless, it has room for another 22 springs, most of which are supplied with the reel. Maximum drag in a reel with that much drag surface area, and 38 springs installed, would be mind-boggling.

And then there's the 12/0s... which we'll do another time. At the lighter end of the scale, the small reels like the 2.5/0 and the single-speed 20L have the same drag design, but employ lighter 0.6mm springs instead of the 0.7mm ones that the 4/0, 6/0 and 9/0 reels use.

The bottom line here is that with a bit of trial and error, Duel two-speeds (and the single-speed 20, 30 and 50 Duel reels) can be fine-tuned to have exactly the kind of drag range and progression you want for any line you're likely to use, without any machining of parts or for that matter, any extra parts apart from the springs.

The design also allows you to have multiple spools for one reel, which take only minutes to swap around, and which can have a drag tuned to match the line on the spool; remember the drag travels with the spool, so you can have a ten-kilo game reel and minutes later have a brutal bottom fishing reel, without having to lay a finger on the drag settings.

© Hal Harvey 2009