Respooled my VS 200 today with Powerpro 50# , and encountered the exact problem I anticipated... I usually have it spooed at the shop, But I have a spool of 300 yds, so I did it myself this time... Anyone with a VS knows that the line tends to lay on the spool in a hourglass shape... more at the top and bottom... Does anyone have any helful tips when spooling on your own to avoid this and have it lay on the spool more evenly? This is usually what it looks like after a few months of fishing! I figured no shop really feels like spooling up your reel when the line wasnt purchased there...

Never seems to bother me much...

it's only a matter of esthetics. I have 3, never an issue on any of them.

The reel is rather ugly anyway this just ads to that aspect of it.:jump1:

Seriously, That is caused by the way the reel cycles and lays on line, some reels (other manufacturers) allow one to adjust the style by adding or removing shims of different thicknesses. Some lines cast better with different patterns. I found it tricky to get it exactly the way I wanted it. When I had it serviced I mentioned it to them told them the line I was using and it came back balls-on perfect. I then took it apart to see what they did and wrote down the shim combo.

If you are not having any wind knot issues, don't worry about it.

The issue I have with it is not how it looks, but the fact that It was spooled with 300 yds on top of mono backing... I actually removed some of the mono backing, and 300 did not fit this time... its right to the edge of the spool, and thats when its packed tight! When retreiving line its going to lay even looser and be a mess...

The issue I have with it is not how it looks, but the fact that It was spooled with 300 yds on top of mono backing... I actually removed some of the mono backing, and 300 did not fit this time... its right to the edge of the spool, and thats when its packed tight! When retreiving line its going to lay even looser and be a mess...

Sounds like you had 30# braid on there originally and respooled with 50.

It was 50# PP. 100%

My 200 was spooled w/ 300yds. stren braid. It filled the spool a little full. Removed a few yards 15-20yds. OK after. I used double sided tape on the arbor to secure the braid from spinning on spool.

If you take the spool off maybe you can mount ot somehow on a variable speed drill and spool the line on using your fingers to make it lay on evenly.

To prevent an hourglass shape I try to spool it with a bulge in the center which will offset the eventual hourglass.So next time ,go a little heavy in the center of the spool with the first 200 yards.As the others have mentioned,it really doesn't matter as far as casting or performance, just looks.