Welcome Sooner, I have to say draw weight should not be the issue. You said you use safety slides. Do you use the rod extension also? This is a must if you use the slide/spincast combiation.
When you pull the line out of the reel by hand, does it come out easily and smooth? No catches or hang ups? Sometimes the line just doesn't want to feed smoothly. If this is the case, you may want to try some "reel majic" sp? or other sillicon type lubricant.
If your line feeds freely, then it is probably just a matter of the pick up pins not being disengaged for whatever reason. If that's the case, bite the bullet and get a new reel. [:@]
Even though I'm a spincast person, I have to say that the retreiver reel has lots of benefits. Not snaping lines is one of them.
Good Luck and stay safe.