Did you back it with mono or wrap the spool with duct tape? When I first spooled braid on my reel I didn't and the line will just spin on the spool, at first I thought my drag was screwed up too but finally realized what was happening. So I'm thinking I just wasted a 25$ spool of braid. So I strip the line off put the mono backing and thought I'd see how much of the line on the floor I could get back on the reel. To my amazement it all went back on with no tangles or knots. Try doing that with mono.:7