Ironic that the high-end reel manufacturers number one goal with their drag systems is to minimize drag start-up inertia, basically to minimize the differential in the amount of pull it takes to start the reel turning versus the amount of force to keep it spinning. A "smooth drag" is what you pay big buck for in a fly reel or mooching reel. The trade-off for low start-up inertia would be line creep, but the flip side is that any reel who's drag doesn't have creep is going to be far more "catchy" - with a larger start-up differential compared to the drag setting once the drag is spinning, and typically more jerky as well. Not sure if it's even within the laws of physics to have both a butter smooth drag and no line creep but, I'm no engineer or physicist, so maybe it is possible?
Ukee