Righty - Lefty or both

[bcklash]

I noticed on one of Zooker's threads, a picture showed his rod and reel combos. A lot of us saw he had right and left baitcasters according to the techinque he using.

My guestion is how many of you do this? I use left handed for my spinning outfits, but right handed for my baitcasters, I have trouble using a baitcaster for jerbaits, poppers and spooks, so I use a spinning rod so I work it right handed.

I guess what I'm saying is my DUMB ARSE needs to learn to use a left handed baitcaster for some techingues.

[Bassboss]

I can't walk the dog, pop the pop, or implie an action using a right hand retrieve. IMO you should get lefties. Who cares what the pros use!

[BigBassin144]

Well, I'm right handed, but my dad is left handed... So I leared how to fish left handed. When I started with baitcaster, I just assumed to get a lefty one. So I fish both left handed, which is good because I cast with my right and I don't have to switch hands after the cast.

My dad however, fished baitcasters right handed, and spinning reels left. I though he was the only one who did it different. He says its because when he used to use baitcaster for trolling salmon and trout plugs, all they had was right handed ones... so now I can't even use his reels. I'm trying to learn to reel them right handed. It feels weird but I'm getting better.

BB

[zooker]

to be honest lash i started life casting right handed.
then in april 04 i tore ligements and tendons on my left wrist. i could not even hold just a casting rod in that hand. with atwo day 6 man federation tourny loaming in early may.i got ahold of several club members and bummed 2 lefty reels off them and bought a pfluger trion in lefty..i returned the reels but bought even more lefty's.. definatly lefty reels have a spot in this sport..and the ability to "switch hit" will keep you fishing longer..


btw lash i'll have a couple lefty reels at the ky lake shin dig.. ifin ya want to try one..

zooker

[Raul]

All my reels have the handle on the right side and I am right handed.

[pig n jig]

Originally Posted by Raul

All my reels have the handle on the right side and I am right handed.

All my reels have handles on the right side and I am left handed.

[Jim80]

Even though I am a lefty all I can do with my left hand is write , it kinda feels weird to crank the handle with my left hand . But this also applies to everything else I do I throw right handed shoot a B ball righty and so on .


Jim

[Rebbasser]

Nope. Been throwing a right handed reel so long I switch hands automatically-I don't even realize I do it. I do reel a spinning rod with my left hand, though.

[jooleyen]

Same as Reb here.

I can use a lefty spinning reel no problem, because my arm is used to the motion, but lefty baitcasters feel weird because the knobs are centered to the reel making them seem shorter.

[JB]

Originally Posted by zooker

to be honest lash i started life casting right handed.
then in april 04 i tore ligements and tendons on my left wrist. i could not even hold just a casting rod in that hand. with atwo day 6 man federation tourny loaming in early may.i got ahold of several club members and bummed 2 lefty reels off them and bought a pfluger trion in lefty..i returned the reels but bought even more lefty's.. definatly lefty reels have a spot in this sport..and the ability to "switch hit" will keep you fishing longer..


btw lash i'll have a couple lefty reels at the ky lake shin dig.. ifin ya want to try one..

zooker

and that hand cannon fetish didnt help much huh > lol

[cassidyta]

I have both. I was strictly right hand retireve until the year that my wife could not read the Christmas list properly. I have also found that I like my heavy pitching and frogging rigs to be a left hand retrieve. I prefer being able to get the leverage on the rod with my right hand.
I can use either on bait casters, but for some reason I only like spinning reels on the left. I have a hard time if the handle is on the right.

[zooker]

Originally Posted by JB

and that hand cannon fetish didnt help much huh > lol

not so you'd notice...

zooker

[WTL]

I'm right handed and fish standard right handed reels, but I cast with my left like my father (who is a southpaw) so I dont change hands. The only exception is flyfishing, I do cast righty with that although I can do either. I think its a usefull skill to learn both ways but it just feels so unnatural to me.


For the hell of it I just went out in the yard and tried baitcasting righthanded. I really think I will pick it up fairly quickly, I could feel the dexterity develop in my wrist over the course of a mere 15 minutes practice.

I think it will be useful since I learned to cast lefty with heavy pistol grips my form lefty is not perfect, I tend to cast from the inside of my body out 3/4 sidearmed (like a pitcher with an odd release - kids remember casting is just like pitching - targeting a strike zone on a fish can even be like throwing a fastball and placing it where you will get a swing) the bad form means sometimes the lure will tend to drift laterally. I will go up a row of docks and every cast may be predictably 2' to the left of where I aimed. Not good. Sometimes I gotta remind myself "elbow in, wrist straight" to fix that lazy habit.

[keithdog]

All my life, my casting reels have been right hand retrieve. My spinning reels have been left hand retrieve. No problems at all. Then a few years ago I bought a left hand casting reel. I thought it would be no big deal to use it. After all, I'd been using spinning reels in left hand retireve for decades. Well, after a couple years of "trying" to get used to it with a baitcaster, I finally gave up and sold the reel. I think Jools may have it right as far as I am concerned. The spinning reels handles are longer giving you a wider turning radious which seems easier to do. But the narrower handles of the baitcasters for some reason made it feel more awkward to me.

[Bassin21]

I'm right handed, but all my reels are left hand retrieve. No particuler reason, that's just how I learned.

[rrw4258]

I am left handed, and my spinning reels are leftys and my casters are right.

Ryan

[Love of the Sport]

I'm right handed with all left hand casters.

[bamabassman]

lefty here, cast or throw with my left and retrieve with my right. doesn't matter with what kind of reel i use. bait, spinning, or flyrod all the same for me.

[islandbass]

Nothing wroug with you. Bottom line it boils down to personal preferecen. Right handed and strongly prefer to use left-handed reel, BUT I learned to fish the other way and I'm comfortable with that too.

[abu4600]

All of my baitcasters are right hand retrieve and my spinning reels are left hand retrieve.

[fishin spro]

i practice it both ways...i can pitch left handed or right handed...and do it both ways to some extent...and cast left handed a little bit when need be...but mostly stick to right handed casting.

[Bryan]

All my reels are LH retrieve. I'm right handed.

[MississippiBoy]

I'm right handed, and all my baitcasters are right-hand retrieve, but my spinning rod is left-hand retrieve. I cast right handed, so I make the switch with the baitcasters.

[3dkicker]

Left hand retrieve for flipping or pitching jigs and plastics, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits.
Right hand retrieve for crankbaits, swimbaits (I may change this) and other topwater.

Two main reasons.
1) To reduce fatigue while making 1000 casts per 8-9 hour days.
2) Works well for me. I get instant hook sets on the left handed retrieve without having to switch hands. I get a slower hook set for the right hand retrieve since I'm slower with my non-dominant hand. Plus my hooksets suck due to a busted finger that never healed correctly.

[aikenyounggun]

right handed for baitcasters...... left for spinning..... i would like to get a left for baticasting so i dont have to switch hands when i cast