Fishing live bait?????
 

Well this weekend I had the largest bird nest on my reel, after something had hit so and fast, so I don't want this to happen again. So I have this question;

How would you set your reel up on dead stick with live bait, clicker on in free spool or light drag with reel engaged?

I have done both ways usually depending on the strength of the bait. If while in free spool the bait is pulling too much line with the clicker on, then I'll put it in gear on very light drag. There's also the method of wrapping a rubber band around the line and rod for stronger baits, but for the most part it's either light drag or free spool, but I let the bait determine what I do.

If its a star drag reel,you can fiddle with the tensioner on the spool and increase it somewhat to get rid of some of the freespool.Daiwa sealine reels have such a strong clicker that they work pretty good.The poop hits the prop everytime I fish two baits so I usually have only one bait out.

See what happens when you mess with bait Roger:) You might just have to go back to:jig:

What kind of reel were you using that the free spool with clicker allowed such a birds nest? I have never had an issue with birds nests while in free spool.