This article is a godsend, in part because I can show it to disbelieving family members who "never have problems like this"-- uh-huh, yeah right. Even the pros have this issue.

What's interesting is that, as it was happening (repeatedly) to me, and I kept forming more and more loops, I was able to identify the problem myself, according to the exact explanation given in the article-- the spool keeps spinning for a brief instant after the hook hits the water, leaving just a tiny bit of the freshly-unspooled line with nowhere to go. This, of course, forms a "loop" on the spool!

I kept remarking to myself last time I was out, "someone has to have invented mechanisms to counter this effect. And if not, I'm going to just invent my own!" Fortunately, I won't have to, because the article does indeed discuss already-existing counter-measures!

Another possibility: the rods I'm using are all old hand-me-downs; it's certainly plausible that the spooling mechanisms are worn, dirty, or both, exacerbating this inherent design fault.