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What hand do you reel with on spincasters/baitcasters?

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:44 pm
by Crash
I'm a right handed caster and only using spinning reels with a left hand retrieve. Same with baitcasters, I cast with the right hand and reel with left.

Is this common for a right handed person? Seems like a majority of reels are made for a right-handed retrieve.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:40 am
by roadwarriorsvt
I'm a lefty. I cast with my left and reel with my right.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:03 am
by djverve05
I'm a righty and cast with right hand and retrieve with my left as well. Its just something Ihave always done since I was a kid. I think its because my Dad was a lefty and thats how all his poles were setup.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:37 pm
by Ca_Bass
I'm right handed, cast with my right and reel with my right with bait casters. Spinning cast with right and reel with left. Whatever way is more comfortable and gives you more control is the right way :D

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:02 pm
by Stan Wright
I'm right handed. When first using bait casting reels, my Dad made us learn to cast left handed and reel with the right. Waste of time casting with the right hand and then shifting the rod to the other hand to reel. So I can reel or cast a bait caster with both hands.

Same with a fly rod..... right or left hand reel makes no difference... but I feel more comfortable casting right handed.

With a spinning rod I can cast with right or left hand.... but for the life of me, I CAN NOT reel a spinning reel with my right hand. I just can't do it.

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 3:33 pm
by KnotUrAvgFish
Funny I've never noticed about this but, I'm a lefty and with a baitcaster I cast with my right and reel with my right, on a spinner I cast with my left and reel with my right... I just can't reel with my left for some reason. :lol:

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 5:19 pm
by GaBoy
Bait cast with right and reel with right hand. Spinning cast with right and reel with left.

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:39 am
by skunked
Cast with right and reel with left for both spin and baitcasting. Feels more natural to me, but limits me with certain brands/models of baitcasting reels which are not available in lefty. Also, harder to sell when I feel like selling them.

right handed

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:43 am
by blast from the past
most of us are right-handed. that naturally means our desire would be to work the rod with our right hands - casting the lures, retrieving (reeling in) the lures, feeling the strike (or nibble), feeling the initial hook set, and playing the fish, with the rod in our right hand (our "favored" hand). that means of course we would be working the reel handle with our left hand (since you couldn't be doing both at the same time with the same hand). right handers are naturally inclined to prefer the rod itself, not the reel handle, to be in their right hand when operating. being right-handed and constantly having the control of the rod in the right hand (continuously) is the natural "good feel" for the right-hander. this is probably why more and more companies are making their baitcasters in left-hand cranking models. the shimano 51 is a rather expensive but excellent example. like Stan and Skunked, i use the rod in the right hand and crank the reels (baitcast, spincast, spinning and flyreel all) with the left hand.

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:42 pm
by seabass
I'm all screwed up.

I'm right handed and cast with my right and reel with my left with spinners.

Since my actions with conventional ulua reels are so engrained, I cast with my right and reel with my right with baitcasters.

Goofy I know, as I cast with my right, then hand off to my left and start cranking with my right. :roll:

Haven't been able to get my brain to switch and I'm not comfortable crankin with my left hand on a baitcaster.

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:51 pm
by skunked
seabass wrote:I'm all screwed up.

I'm right handed and cast with my right and reel with my left with spinners.

Since my actions with conventional ulua reels are so engrained, I cast with my right and reel with my right with baitcasters.

Goofy I know, as I cast with my right, then hand off to my left and start cranking with my right. :roll:

Haven't been able to get my brain to switch and I'm not comfortable crankin with my left hand on a baitcaster.

You might say you're goofy and screwed up, but what you do is normal for the majority of right-handed anglers. Even the pro bass anglers do what you do. I have 90% lefty baitcasters. I've been slowly selling off my righty reels over the past few years. Junk part is that some companies are still slow to cater to people like me. Pflueger and Shimano are the main culprits.

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:28 am
by Ken
I'm the same...right handed, casts right...

For spinnings, I retrieve left. :D

For baitcasters, I retrieve left (Cardiff 301 -> left-handed model) :D

For conventional...I'm restricted to right hand retrieve. :?

I wish they will start making left hand retrieve conventional reels...but then again, when big game fishing, I find it better retrieving with my strong arm (right hand). But it's just less convenient having to switch hands after casting.

Hm...maybe I should learn to cast spinning rods and conventional rods with my left arm :lol: :lol: :lol:

Strangely, I have somewhat learned to cast a fly rod with the left hand...maybe it wouldn't be so bad learning to cast spinners and baitcasters with the left...slowly and surely...