As full as possible without causing problems.

 

I generally get my best performance at about even with the lip to 1/8" below the lip, but any further down I respool.

 

I haven't see any valid responses in favor of over filling the spool, IMO anyway,  I guess I'm just a graduate of the school that teaches me to judge perfornance, as it relates to expense, first. A quality spool of line, in compairison to the cost of the quality reel I'll be spooling it on, justifies it's price. Respooling when the spool gets a little low becomes a given.

 

I prefer my spool to spin slowly but with a lot of mass.  Less line = more speed and therefore more braking.  I get more consistent line feed during the cast with a full spool, and the spool starts up easier to boot.

 

Josh

I use to fill up my spool about 1/8" from full.  I have backed off to about 3/16" now.  You just need to play around with it and see what is the best amount of line for the reel.

I called Lew's yesterday and they said they are designed to be 1/8" under.

As some have found, a perfectly filled spool can end up with line stacked a bit unevenly, especially if it's used for moving baits, and you're putting pressure in direction. The spool will load a bit unevenly, and on some reels, the line will rub on the frame cross members. No good comes of this. Some of the newer, super recessed form factor reels are less forgiving than low pros from just a couple years ago.

Just before the lip .. I'm not sure on the fraction of an inch .. But I do add more to accomodate for cutting line to tie lures ... So it doesn't get to just how I like it until probably 2 or three lures deep .. But this works fore because usually when I put new line it's because of a new reel (I use braid) so im excited to use it with many lured anyways lol

As some have found, a perfectly filled spool can end up with line stacked a bit unevenly, especially if it's used for moving baits, and you're putting pressure in direction. The spool will load a bit unevenly, and on some reels, the line will rub on the frame cross members. No good comes of this. Some of the newer, super recessed form factor reels are less forgiving than low pros from just a couple years ago.

The Chronarch ci4 comes to mind. You overfill that reel a hair and the line will rub on the frame.

Hootie