I have read through the forums, my directions on my reel, and some online videos have been watched. Now I am confused. Half of the info says to spool the line on by laying it flat and letting it come off the edge, and the other half says to let the spool spin like you would with a baitcaster.

I just got a Cabelas Tournament ZX which is a Daiwa Reel. The Daiwa Instructions have a picture saying it should be spooled on by letting the spool spin like toilet paper and not off the edge laying flat.

What is the consensus? Which way is right and why?

If this has been asked before, please push me in the right direction, I could not find it. Thanks

I was taught that the line should come off the plastic spool in the opposite direction it is being taken up by the reel. If the reel is winding line clockwise, it should be feeding from the spool in a counter clockwise manner, and visa versa. No difference if the spool is laying flat, or mounted, as long as the feed from spool to reel remains the same direction.

This would be to keep it going on in the same manner as it has been sitting? So the actual spool is not spinning?

The reason for keeping teh spool standing up is so that the line does not twist as much. After I started to stand the spool up I realized how much of a difference that it made. But if you have to have it laying down then stop every 15 or 20 turns of the handle and flip the spool over so that the line twist cancells itself out.

I spool like you would with a baitcaster with the line comimg off the top, refiller spool on a pencil or upright. Regardless of how you spool, if you can troll your line after respooling, all issues are moot.

Historically, the way to spool spinning reels was to lay the supply spool flat such that the line came off the opposite way that it goes on the reel (so the opposite twists would partially cancel each other out). I have never seen a reel where the line went on counterclockwise, just clockwise, so the line should come off the supply spool counterclockwise.

Then they came out with anti-twist line rollers. Daiwa's Twist Buster was the first one I was aware of. Both Daiwa and Shimano's instruction sheets (I wouldn't call them manuals anymore) for these reels advised keeping the supply spool up and down like you would for a baitcaster. For these types of reels I have spooled on both ways and haven't detected any differences in line performance.

Check the reel's instructions. If you don't have them or have any doubt, I'd recommend using the spool flat on the floor method.

Note: if anyone tells you to lay the spool down with the label facing up (or down), IGNORE IT. Spools are inconsistently labeled, even within one manufacturer's products.

Lay spool flat and let line come off opposite the way it is being reeled on the reel by the bail. Good Luck - Aint nothing worse than a spinning reel with kinked line.

Wow so no real precise side, everyone has there own opinion I guess.

I guess I will flip a coin huh

Spool it with the label up.  I've never seen a spool of line inconsistently labeled, and actually the lines I use don't have a symmetrical spool - one side is different from the other, so they have to be done consistently.

You'll still have twist on your spool since the spool on the reel is smaller than the spool of line, but putting it label up will reduce the amount of twist.  Either way, like RW said, it's a good idea to troll just the line for a couple minutes to remove almost all of the twist.

Wow so no real precise side, everyone has there own opinion I guess.

I guess I will flip a coin huh

Listen to Marty. He's got it right. If your reel is at least at the same class (ie, Daiwa comparable model) to a Shimano Symetre, this side spooling is moot. With such spinning reels, they can have line spooled onto the reel EXACTLY as you would a baitcast reel.  

ABSOLUTEL:Y LISTEN TO MARTY> I have spools of Cabela's Proline and Stren in my tackle box right now that have labels on "oppisite sides" It happens frequently enough so you have to pay attention to assure the line is coming off counter clockwise.

 With that being said RW is right if you troll the line out, with nothing tied to it and reel it in, Issue solved. It may be a good thing to do mid way in a trip to get rid of some twiost also. If you use them to fish off the shore like me. I let it out by hand , in a field and reel it back in, Putting  a  little pressure on the line with my fingers to make sure the line is not to loose on the reel

Ok well I will take all this good info and use it, I appreciate it

Put the line through a few or all of the guides. Put the spool on the floor with the label up. Take 6 or 8 turns of the reel handle. If the line is twisted (very rare) turn the spool over. If not fill the reel to about 1/8" below the lip.

I have done this for many years and can't remember the last time I needed to get the twist out of a line. You might get some twist if you have a lure that spins or if you reel against a slipping drag. I solve these problems by putting a swivel in line when using a lure that spins and by back reeling in lieu of depending on the drag.