I'm not familiar enough with round reels to know why this happened.  There is 6lb mono backing underneath that is symmetrical.  Should I pull it off or can I use it as is?  What caused this and how do I fix it?

Could be an issue with Line Guide Bar. But most often I've seen this when I'm frogging and holding the reel at an angle. The line being slightly slack on most retrieves allows it to fall to the lower side of the reel. I either have to be very conscious about it or under-spool the reel so it doesn't rub when one side gets more full. 

did that happen when you were spooling it up (it looks like pretty new 832 braid).  Did you have the line spool off to one side of the rod (left) while you wound the line on?  Round reels have a wide gap between the levelwind bars so if you're holding the line to the left side of that gap the whole time it will bias the fill to the left.  You've got a ton of space left on that spool so I would just fish it.  A couple long casts will even it out.

First thing, make sure your spool tension is not too tight - I prefer the Ambassadeurs with spool centering knobs on both sides - they let you dial this problem out.  

Basically, the spool is not centered with LW travel, and could be affected by tilt.  

There is a big lag in the worm gear and pawl (gently push LW rider back and forth, and you'll see how big the freeplay in the pawl and worm groove).  Whenever I'm spooling a reel, the source spool is on an axle, line run through a phone book with a weight on top, and my rod is in a rod holder. 

  

This frees up my rod hand to push the line in front of the rider guide.  When LW rider is at the center of the spool, I'm pushing the line with rod-hand index finger all the way to that end, where the pawl and rider reverse direction - repeat this in both directions.  

This method is more important to get flat line lay in threadline braid than when loading mono.  

I always get perfect line lay, and working-line lay-error will be insignificant.  

and look at it this way, it's a whole lot less work than hand-level-wind on a non-level-wind surf reel.  

This is a worm gear issue. 

nah - operator error

 

I've done this before.  

 

If you are touching the level wind while you're reeling, you can cause it to favor one side.

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

did that happen when you were spooling it up (it looks like pretty new 832 braid).  Did you have the line spool off to one side of the rod (left) while you wound the line on?  Round reels have a wide gap between the levelwind bars so if you're holding the line to the left side of that gap the whole time it will bias the fill to the left.  You've got a ton of space left on that spool so I would just fish it.  A couple long casts will even it out.

 

^^ This ^^

Got a boat?

 

Just cast something out there and then let a bunch more line out.

 

Reel her back in.   

5 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

did that happen when you were spooling it up (it looks like pretty new 832 braid).  Did you have the line spool off to one side of the rod (left) while you wound the line on?  

 

Yes, this was spooling a new (to me) reel.  However, I use a Piscifun spooling station like this.  My worry was that it was a problem with the reel.  It is an old reel, but I had it serviced when it came into my possession.  

I've found baitcasters get the best line lay result when the reel is mounted to a rod, and the line is run through the two closest rod guides.  

 

Even in the photo above, the line source spool is upside down to get minimum line twist  

On 8/25/2025 at 6:32 PM, bulldog1935 said:

I've found baitcasters get the best line lay result when the reel is mounted to a rod, and the line is run through the two closest rod guides.  

 

Even in the photo above, the line source spool is upside down to get minimum line twist  

^Agreed^

 

I've had these issues the most if I am trying to fill a reel while holding it in my hand reeling line directly from a spool. How you hold the line to apply line tension can affect how it lays on the spool.

 

I have also learned that I get better line lay when I have the reel mounted to a rod and the line going through at least a few of the guides. 

 

Had I thought of it, I should have saved a broken rod and cut it down to 2-3 guides to use just for filling reels.