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How many guys fish with left handed reels?

8K views 54 replies 25 participants last post by  Cuz N' Eddy 
#1 ·
How many guys fish with left handed reels? I was looking at some vintage spinning reels and some are lefthanded. I was wondering how many of you fish with left handed reels.
 
#2 ·
I've always reeled with my right hand. I've always thought it seemed odd when people ask me if im left handed. I reel with my right because im right handed, thats my working hand. my left hand just holds the rod. for me, reeling with my left hand is like trying to throw a ball with my left hand. :)
 
#3 ·
I've always reeled with my right hand. I've always thought it seemed odd when people ask me if im left handed. I reel with my right because im right handed, thats my working hand. my left hand just holds the rod. for me, reeling with my left hand is like trying to throw a ball with my left hand.
Thats funny. Ive always reeled with my right hand also, just this past summer my buddy says to me "oh, your left handed." I was like, HUH?
Why do people think that?
 
#4 ·
well lets see, I guess it all depends on how you look at things, if I'm using a spinning reel, I reel with my left hand, if I am using a baitcaster or trolling reel I am reeling with my right? Is that odd??? Actually most people I know fish like that (right handed) My brother is left handed and he reels the opposite way I do with Spinning, however (right handed baitcasting are more common) he reels the same way I do with a baitcasting or trolling. I'll be willing to bet if you start paying attention, most right handed people will reel a spinning reel with thier left hand. You say your right hand is doing the reeling because its your working hand? Well for spinning I could argue, what is doing more work, the reel or the rod. If the rod wasn't bearing the wieght, then would the reel really work? But It really all boils down to how you learned to fish......
 
#5 ·
I had it explained to me a long time ago.
Righties reel with the left hand because your strong side controls the accuracy of the cast and the burden of the fight. More control on pressuring the rod, while the left takes up the slack as you fight the fish in.
Opposite but almost the same idea, with bait casters AKA conventionals.
Strong side, more commonly right, controls the casting and thumbing of the line. With the conventioal reel sitting on top during the fight, the strong side has better control of the rod and reel.
 
#10 ·
I've always reeled with my right hand because the old man is a south paw and that is just how I learned using his rods and reels so I guess that's why. Depending how big the fish is sometime I'll swith arms but I always cast with my right arm and use the right to reel. I guess it's just more natural for me.
 
#11 ·
I'm right-handed (dominant side), but ambidextrous at most things. I reel with my left hand, thats just the way I learned when I was tyke. I learned on spinning outfits, and pretty much all the setups that were around me when I was 8 or 9 were to be held with your right hand. I've always personally considered this to be "right-handed", because I am holding the rod and "fighting" the fish with my dominant arm. But as we know, it isnt seen this way by most. I can reel with my right hand if need be, as most conventionals are that way, but it always feels ackward fighting the fish with my left arm. When I buy conventionals or baitcasters, I opt for the ones that allow me to hold the rod with my strongest arm. Most companies offer something.

I have also noticed something that is quite common about those that reel righty.....even pro's, they will cast righty (over there right shoulder), then move the rod to their left hand, so they can reel their so-called (righty) reel. I think this disproves the debate in itself. Obviously guys that do this are right-handed (dominant side), and are using the wrong reels, because after casting over their right shoulder, they have to move the rod to the other side.

Most people and manufacturers see it differently, but I've always thought that if your holding the rod in your right hand, your right-handed, kind of like when your holding a pencil in your right hand.......right-handed.
 
#15 ·
when I was in the second grade, they tried real hard to make me into a righty... well I fell out of an apple tree trying to catch a weasel that had killed our chickens.. broke my right arm in three places and dislocated my shoulder.... lefty foreever!
 
#16 ·
i am right handed, i reel with my right. my brother is wrong handed, he reels with his left. guitar playing is kinda odd when it comes to right or left handed, right hand players use thier left hand on the fret board, left hand players use thier right hand on the fret board. huh?
 
#21 ·
CHADLEX8 said:
I'm basically retarded with my left hand but for some reason do all my cranking with my left and hold the pole with my right to work the fish. I always thought it was strange to see a right sided reel but have learned I'm in the minority.
A right hand person holds the rod in his right hand and reels with his left, with a spinning reel. I left handed person holds the rod with his left hand and reels with his right hand. Most left hand people use a right hand baitcasting reel and,it is easy for us because we reel with the same hand.
 
#22 ·
stmn0 said:
im a righty and i reel spinners with my left and conventionals with my right.
so, what is a left handed reel?iv changed some bass reels around, unscrew the handle, then take the cap off the other side and screw it in there.
In the old days you had to buy a left hand model, It cost a dollar or two more.

You reel the right way. The thing to remember is that when you cast the plug out, you don,t want to change hands. When people change hands thats no good. If you cast a popper, when it hits the water you want the bail over just before it hits the water. If the bail isn,t over the plug will sink on you on some plugs. then it takes a bit to get the plug back on top to work the way it is supose to work . Thats why you should throw the plug out with one hand and reel with the other.
 
#23 ·
stmo said:
unscrew the handle, then take the cap off the other side and screw it in there.
th_icon_loll.gif Like CC said andy. "The old days" The 'vintage' stuff (They call old crap vintage these days) didnt have the ability to change handles. Thats a more recent innovation. th_icon_loll.gif
 
#25 ·
Jonny Bolt said:
I have also noticed something that is quite common about those that reel righty.....even pro's, they will cast righty (over there right shoulder), then move the rod to their left hand, so they can reel their so-called (righty) reel. I think this disproves the debate in itself. Obviously guys that do this are right-handed (dominant side), and are using the wrong reels, because after casting over their right shoulder, they have to move the rod to the other side.
.
Jonny is correct!
What hand do you take a leak with? Yep, that's the rod hand. (For those of you that pee sitting down, this does not apply) The other hand is for reeling. Agreed many of the pro's swap hands after they cast. They also note that they loose quite a number of casts per day doing that! Orlando Wilson does not. He uses the baitcaster by casting with his right and reeling with his left. I saw this during a tourament years ago and made myself change what I was doing.
 
#26 ·
When the righthanded pro,s are using a self-leveling baitcasting reel, they reel with there righthand. and thats a right hand baitcasting reel. when they use a spinning reel the right hand reel as the handle on the left side and you reel with your left. That is the right way to reel because the power would be in your right hand to pump the rod. Lefty,s reel very easy with a right hand baitcasting rod,because it is very easy for them. In the old days they didn,t have lefty baitcasting reels and as a mater of fact I have seen many righthanded people turn the reel around and use it the wrong way. I have seen lefty,s turn the right hand spinning reels upside down so that they could reel easy with them. (wrong) the Guides would be on the top of the rod. Now they just put the handle on the side they feel is best.
 
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