I am VERY right handed and I'm thinking about going to left hand reels. This will keep me from swapping hands on every cast (baitcaster). I do fine with my spinning rods and they are left hand reel. I've heard of several pros that do this and was wondering if anyone on here has made the swap. If so how long did it take to get comfortable? I've tried to use my left thumb on the spool but its just not happening! Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Right or left hand reels?
- Thread starter humdinger
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I am right handed as well and ALL my baitcasters are left handed. I made the switch back in the early 1980's. The way I see it. I am stronger with my right arm, so I have a better hook set. I am more coordinated with my right hand so I can work plastics baits better and I am a lot more accurate caster with my right hand. I like to pitch and flip baits so I dont have to switch hands to reel the lure in. As soon as the bait hits the water I am ready for the bite. I mean if you think about it. All you do with your off hand is reel the lure back to the boat. It seems a waste to use your most coordinated hand for that simple task. It took me one trip to get used to it. I will never own a right hand reel. I can make more casts and still fish slower because I am not wasting time switching hands to reel. Hope this helps. If you want to try it before you buy a reel let me know and I we will go fish. You can try some of my setups.
djsmarinelectronics
Well-known member
Ditto, for the exact same reasons. I didn't even notice the difference when I converted to all left hand reels except that it felt more natural.
Carl Guffey
Well-known member
<font size="3" face="georgia,palatino">A little something to think about. I use both left and right hand reels. When I get a little tired in one hand I just make the switch, but that entails learning to cast with both hands. Not a simple task, but one that will pay dividends in the long run. Just take about 15 minutes a day, everyday, and go out and cast in your backyard or driveway. The learning process will not be long.</font>
Thanks for the replys! I was on the fence about the swap but it seems like a good decision to make now. I'm going to get a left hand reel this weekend and start making the change. I sounds like it will be much more efficient. It really seems like a no brainer to me now! 
Me being very right handed I can't use my left thumb to work the spool very well, especially if I'm throwing something tricky like a spinnerbait in the wind. I just don't have the "touch" with it. So I have to swap hands from cast to reel, back and forth. With a left hand reel my right hand would always be in the right place.
Dustin, when you cast, do you throw with your left hand? If so, this means you hold the rod in your left hand when you cast and then switch the rod back to your right so you can reel with your left. If you went with a right-handed reel, this would eliminate the need to switch hands after you cast.
Like i said, I never switch hands with a baitcaster. I keep my right thumb on the spool and usually my left hand on the bottom of the rod. I guess you just have to do whatever feels comfortable. Some people do think I am right handed because of the way I cast.
Pointer 78
Well-known member
I'm right handed but I reel left handed because it is natural to do so and there's a physiolgical reason for it. BulletTJ is on the right track. I've spent the last 24 years practicing physical therapy.
We all have something in our motor (muscle movement) ability called graded control. Graded control is the ability to use just the right amount of force to cause an action the way we want. A basketball player uses his dominant arm to shoot a basketball with just enough force to get the ball in the basket instead of clanking it off the backboard or missing the rim altogether by shooting it short. Your dominant arm has much better graded control.
Fishing is the same way. We all use our dominant arm for casting accuracy because we have better graded control in that arm (so we don't keep throwing the lure too hard where it lands up in a tree or casting short of the target). Using your dominant arm to impart those tiny actions with the rod is part of graded control too. You want to do that with your dominant side.
Also, you want your stronger arm to give you a stronger hookset. Your subservient (less grade control) side is only used to take up the line via the reel handle.
Now, there are some exceptions. There are people that are truly ambidextrous. They have exactly the same graded control regardless of which arm is used. This is very, very, rare though.
I've often wondered why guys reel right handed on a baitcaster but have no problem reeling left handed with a spinning reel.
We all have something in our motor (muscle movement) ability called graded control. Graded control is the ability to use just the right amount of force to cause an action the way we want. A basketball player uses his dominant arm to shoot a basketball with just enough force to get the ball in the basket instead of clanking it off the backboard or missing the rim altogether by shooting it short. Your dominant arm has much better graded control.
Fishing is the same way. We all use our dominant arm for casting accuracy because we have better graded control in that arm (so we don't keep throwing the lure too hard where it lands up in a tree or casting short of the target). Using your dominant arm to impart those tiny actions with the rod is part of graded control too. You want to do that with your dominant side.
Also, you want your stronger arm to give you a stronger hookset. Your subservient (less grade control) side is only used to take up the line via the reel handle.
Now, there are some exceptions. There are people that are truly ambidextrous. They have exactly the same graded control regardless of which arm is used. This is very, very, rare though.
I've often wondered why guys reel right handed on a baitcaster but have no problem reeling left handed with a spinning reel.
Most left handed people are better with their right hand than right handed people are with their left. Society sometimes makes it that way. Most things are designed for right handed people and leftys have learned to adapt. They are a lot more ambdiextrius. My 5 year old is left handed and she can swing a bat either way. I look stupid trying to teach her left handed!
I cannot reel with my left hand. At all. All my reels are setup to reel with my right hand, even my spinning. Grew up learning it that way and now am hard wired. Luckly I have equal arm strength in both arms so this is not an issue with me.
I'm very right-handed. I crank baitcasters with my right hand and spinning reels with my left hand. Since I've been doing it this way for almost 60 years now, it seems very natural to me. A small variation that has developed over the last few years is to hold my baitcaster with both hands whenI cast. I thumb the reel with my right hand and palm the reel with my left hand. It takes some of the work off my right arm. Especially when trying to make long casts with heavy lures. I don't have nearly the strength in my hands I used to have, Imagine that! All of the baitcasters I use now have long, straight handles. I can't used pistol grips anymore. I hold the reel with the palm of my hand while bracing the handle against my forearm when pulling toward my left side or against my body when pulling toward my right side. This technique takes a lot of the load off my wrists. When I'm using spinning tackle, I'm using very light stuff so my casting motion is mostly wrist action. Not much work! When cranking spinning reels, I rest the handle against my right forearm. Again, it's all about minimizing the load on my wrists.</p>
My oldest grandson loves to fish and is right-handed. I bought him his first baitcaster, a left hand crank.So, now, he won't have to learn to switch hands. So that's my advice for new fishermen. Start them out that way. For me, I tried a left hand crank baitcaster and it felt very un-natural. So, as for me, I'll stick with what I grew up with.</p>
My oldest grandson loves to fish and is right-handed. I bought him his first baitcaster, a left hand crank.So, now, he won't have to learn to switch hands. So that's my advice for new fishermen. Start them out that way. For me, I tried a left hand crank baitcaster and it felt very un-natural. So, as for me, I'll stick with what I grew up with.</p>
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Yah know guys i've thought about this before, and even argued witha guy at sportsmans how i wasn't changing because it feels natural, and no reason to complicate things (I'm very hard headed!) but if swapping hands was such an issue why do so many pro's still do it. KVD throws right handed and swaps hands after casting, and he's made it this far, i'd say it's not an issue. I know when i throw crankbaits i cast and drop the rod into my other hand while it's casting and stop it left handed, so it doesn't affect the time until im ready to set the hook. Also one of my favorite reels (Lews Laser Speed Spool) is not available in a left handed model so i believe i'll just keep throwing and swapping for ever.
Mustang1987_1
Well-known member
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- Apr 29, 2012
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Tried to switch once and it just didn't work for me. Felt like I was holding the handle with my left hand and rotating the rod and reel with my right hand. Felt mighty awkward. Probably being old and set in my ways influenced the outcome though. emoGeezer
emoToast
emoToast
sprestwood
Well-known member
A rod and reel is a two handed device. However I often wonder about who decided that a right-handed baitcaster/conventional reel would have the crank handle on the right while a right-handed would have the crank on the left side. Maybe I am the worst to and the discussion because my granddad, who taught me fishing, was ambidextrous. Determining what ends up in which hand can be decided among which hand is most dexterous and which is the power hand. I am right-eyed, right-footed, bat a baseball in a right-handed fashion, and in most all right-handed but all my optioned reels have a left-sided crank. I find that if a rod is in a rod holder, I will use my right hand to adjust the crank instead of the normal left, even at an odd reach-around angle. My right hand is not only the power hand but is the most dexterous, my left hand is smart enough to move a crank in a circle. The most important question is which of your hands can set the hook faster, those buggers can be faster than you.
ChooChooSnakeMan
Well-known member
I learned to bass fish in the mid 80's when almost 100% of right handed fishermen cast a baitcaster with their right hand then changed hands and reeled with their right hand. I only knew spinning reels and the guy that was taking me bass fishing fished some Bass and other national tournaments and one day handed me one of his baitcasters and said if I was going to be a serious fisherman I needed to learn how to use one. The first thing I said was that it was dumber than dirt to swap hands and that I needed the other hand reel. He said, "you dummy that's just the way it is done by everyone". I went out and found a left hand retrieve baitcaster which they didn't make many of in those days and showed up for our next fishing trip. I explained how that I now didn't have to switch hands and that my right hand and arm were stronger and had already been trained to be sensitive to strikes and on top of that I didn't have to switch hands and maybe miss a strike on the fall. He just shook his head and said I was wrong --- but the funny thing was after about 3 months then he showed up with a left handed baitcaster! I think it is the only way to go but if I had learned the other way then I would feel different. I do agree that sometimes on a long day of casting and winding it would be nice to share the work between my hands an little but I'd never change now.
outcaster
Well-known member
I am left handed and use only righthanded baitcaster reels. I cast, thumb the spool, work the lure, set the hook, and fight the fish all with the left hand/arm. No switching hands required. The only thing I have to do with the right hand is turn the handle. It seems to me that "righthanded" reels are set up naturally for a lefthanded angler. I don't think I could use a "lefthanded' reel. I set my spinning reels the same way. My boys are both right handed, but fish left handed like me. They don't know any other way.
