Bought a brand new Academy HD Ethos 8:1 reel. I put braid backing on reel then filled spool with 30# Power Pro Slick 8. When I pull on line to check drag the braid digs way down into the spool. I tried several different times and the same thing happens. The reel has a v type spool. Anybody else have this problem? Do you think problem is reel or braid? Thanks.

Peel the line off and respool it with a lot of tension. Even then there will be some dig in, just the nature of braid especially with 30# or smaller.

Not sure about the V spool, but I went around and around with the digging in when i'm hung and pulling hard. Best thing I have found is spooling the braid under really tight tension. Put a piece of tape over the braid about a hundred feet or so from the end of the line.

That’s why on a bait caster we usually stick with 55-70.

Not me . don't own anything bigger than 50. Don't have problems if you load under tension and buy the good stuff.

I've never used braid lighter than 65lb

I use 20, 40 and 50 with no problems using sufix821. Now when I used power pro I always had problems. Probably because it was the cheaper stuff. But anyway I’ve had no problems since switching to suffix.

40 is the lightest I have tried, it's doing okay. 30# is going to want to dig unless you -always- have a lot of tension on the spool. That's hard to do one slow moving baits.

You cant reel it in under tension every time.

Yes sir - It's not for everyone.. I've dropped as low as 12# on Falcon to get a crank bait deeper.. Now that got interesting.. The highest I go other than top water is 30--- yes it will dig in on a solid hookset but nothing that cant be overcome. The biggest thing is the bottom 2/3 of your spool. I spool it on then tie it to something solid and walk back till its all off - screw the drag down and winch it back on. Do the same when respooling the top 3rd. If its gets too loose during the day, cast it out put a glove on and reel it back under as much tension as you can... Not a problem for some. There definitely are difference between some lines.

My guess its the vee spool not the line is causing the problem. The line doesn't sit evenly on a vee spool. Can you trade the reel back into them and get one with a conventional spool?

It doesnt matter if its a v spool, your supposed to fill the V with BACKER, mono, floro or even braid if you want to keep the weight down. THEN you put a wrap of electrical tape around it making the spool straight across. You can use this method to make any reel a more shallow spool. I have most of mine set so they only hold about 100 yards of whatever line I want on them.

Always back the reel with about 6-10 rounds of any mono or flouro line. Tie on your braid and spool it as usual. all braid is too slippery to spool without some kind of backer line. Some people use electrical tape or bandage tape. I prefer the mono because you can also fill your spool with it enough so you can put a smaller amount of braid to be more economical and to make respooling new braid much easier.

Tie the braid thru the holes in the spool if it has them. Been a long time since I've bought a reel that didn't. I've put used braid on the bottom 2/3rds of my reels for years, even if its one I use with floro. Saves a lot of money if you change very often.

I use PP on my reels. I used Super Slick one time and one time was all it took and off it came. Big fan of PP but not the Super Slick.