spooling a level wind with braid

[jopes]

so I am about to pick up 4 rods and reels for some trolling.  I do not want to use mono, I plan on spooling them all with 10 or 14 lb fireline. 

the level winds hold 320 yards of 10lb mono, but the braid as we all know is a lot smaller in diameter.    The 10 lb has a 4lb diameter and the 14 has a 6lb diameter.   

I was going to pick up a 1500 yard spool and split it between all 4 rods,   about 425 yards each. 

so my main concern is if I just throw on the braid the spools and only be able half full, would I loose retrieval speed? 

[warbonnett]

   Well, first thing, 4 into 1500 is 375 !  It would leave you with a small spool of line.
 I would load the 375 on one reel then fill it up with some backing of whatever, then respool to one of the other now reels, this will put the backing on the bottom of that spool . Now you will have a full spool with braided line on top. Repeat for each new reel, and on the last you should know by now how far to fill the last spool with backing.
                        Good Luck, and have FUN !

[jopes]

no one said my math was any good.   

I may spool them with 20lb braid as well.  375 yards would probably just about fill the spool with out much backing.  just enough to stop the braid from slipping on the spool.

[eyedoktr]

As long as the reels are not line counters, you should be alright with less than full spools. You won't be able to cast as far and will not have the same amount of line taken in per revolution but that's about it. For trolling though, you really should have LC reels.

[jopes]

they are going to be line counters.

I never used a line counter before, do they have a specific spot where they need to be filled to, so they are some what accurate?

[eyedoktr]

they are going to be line counters.

I never used a line counter before, do they have a specific spot where they need to be filled to, so they are some what accurate?

There is not a "specific spot" but they do need to be filled. The best way to do it is as warbonnet suggested. Fill your first reel backwards, a predetermined amount of braid, then fill with mono backing. Tie the mono onto the 2nd reel, set the lone counter to zero and start winding. When you have all the mono on the reel, write down the number of feet. That is how much backing you will put on the rest of the reels. Even if the line counters aren't 100% accurate (they won't be}, at least they will all be very close to each other. Is it a hassle doing it this way? Yup, but accuracy and repeatability is a must when trolling to reproduce effective trolling. I do it on about 12 reels a year if not 2 times a year.

[slipperybob]

One problem with a lot of superlines is that when it get's thick onto the reel spool, the line has a tendency to dig in.  If you can wrap it tight it isn't so much a problem.