I have had similar issues with the LFS. I had bought two of them together, both manyfactured in Korea. That probably doesn't matter but... Neither had a really good drag out of the box but not too bad so I went ahead and used them on and off for about a year and the drags on both continued to get worse. Slip ,grab.slip ,grab. Finally got so bad I broke them down, cleaned them up, polished everything real good and put them back with grease on the sprocket and bottom FIBER washer. Then put top of gear and top washers on clean and dry. One reel came out excellent. Smoothest drag I've ever had. The other one is stilled screwed up no matter what I do. Go figure!!