I have had these issues myself and agree that dragging free line out behind the boat is a great fix assuming you haven't overfilled the spool. The line spool instructions tell you to face the label side up and should come off correctly (which is counterclockwise, but I've still had issues with that. Reel magic helps, but when all else fails dragging free line behind you and reeling back in between your fingers to add tension should do the trick.