Right Hand Fisherman: What Success In Reeling With Left?

[Silas]

I'm right handed and have cast with my right and reeled with my left all my life (over 50 years!) Down here in the bayous of Louisiana we cast to the brush and stumps along the little winding, slow moving bayous and by casting with my right hand, i'm pretty accurate and can lay the bait right next to the stump.

I CAN cast with my left and sometimes do with a flip cast for speed, but the accuracy is just not there.

I'm just starting to learn to PITCH and am trying to learn to pitch with my left and reel with my right. Well, this old dog's left hand doesn't quite do the "flip" of the wrist that gets the job done!

So I thought.....why not just buy a LEFT HANDED REEL and then I could cast with my right and reel with my left. After all, I do that with spinning gear. It should be easy.

Last night, I ordered an old Shimano Curado 100B left handed just to try this out ($50).......will put it on a brand new Powell Diesel 7'2" MedHeavy Extra fast rod I just got. This will be a great "experiment." If you have any suggestions, I'd certainly be glad to hear them!

My question:

How many of you right handed guys have ever switched over like this for pitching, and how successful were you?

I just want to know what I'm up against and the odds of succeeding!

[LgMouthGambler]

Tried it, and couldnt get the accuracy I wanted. So I just flip and switch.

[ec1]

On a baitcaster, I only know how to pitch with my left and retrieve with my right.

I recently bought a LH baitcaster and it's been more of a bother than anything trying to pitch with my right.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

I know im probably just weird but I've always casted and reeled both with my right hand. It just doesn't feel right reeling or casting with my left. Then again, I was raised polish hillbilly so it could just be that.

[moguy1973]

I'm right handed but cast better with my right hand and reel with my left. So I have all left handed reels.

[Diggy]

I'm right handed but cast better with my right hand and reel with my left. So I have all left handed reels.

this

[BASSHUNTER1961]

I'm right handed and have always reeled a spinning reel with my left hand, and a baitcast reel with my right hand. Well, after more than 40 years I switched the beginning of this season. I bought a left hand baitcaster and I will never go back to a righty again. I was very comfortable after the first outing, and after the second outing it felt great. Now it feels like I've been doing it this way all my life. Infact, I took a righty out the other day to see how it felt and I hated it. Keep at it and don't give up, you will be glad you switched. Good luck!

[Ratherbfishing]

I'm right handed but cast better with my right hand and reel with my left. So I have all left handed reels.

Ditto. I still don't understand why someone would deliberately choose to control the rod with their weaker hand and arm. I used to use a "right-handed" reel (handle on the right) because...well, that's "how it was done" but I'm so much happier since I switched over.

[Alpster]

If you do a forum search on lefty reels, you can read about this topic for a long time. It usually turns into an argument about which is best and gets locked by a moderator. You just have to do which ever works best for you. There is no concensus on this. I cast and retrieve with my right hand and always will. In 45+ years I have never missed a fish by changing hands during the cast. Your milage may vary.

Ronnie

[Tim Cianciola]

im right handed and use a left handed rod because i like to cast with my right and reel with my left, it just more comfortable too me.

[K_Mac]

As Alpster said, this topic comes up often. I am right handed and reel left. All of my reels are left handed, and I am no more likely to change than Ronnie. There is no right or wrong here! Use what works best for you. That old Shimano should serve you well...good luck.

[TNBassin']

I reel with my left and cast with my right for both bc and spinning gear.

[DaveT63]

I'm right handed. I grew up using spinning gear, casting with my right hand and reeling with my left. When I switched to baitcasters, my first was right handed, and it just felt SO wrong. I bought a lefty reel and never looked back.

[Traveler2586]

I'm right handed and have cast with my right and reeled with my left all my life (over 50 years!) ...................

I'm just starting to learn to PITCH and am trying to learn to pitch with my left and reel with my right..............

My question:

How many of you right handed guys have ever switched over like this for pitching, and how successful were you?

I just want to know what I'm up against and the odds of succeeding!

Why do you want to switch? You said "I'm right handed and have cast with my right and reeled with my left all my life (over 50 years!)" So why change for pitching??? Keep the rod in you right hand and keep your left free for the bait and reeling. Why aggravate your self?

I'm right handed. I grew up using spinning gear, casting with my right hand and reeling with my left. When I switched to baitcasters, my first was right handed, and it just felt SO wrong. I bought a lefty reel and never looked back.

X2

[Silas]

I didn't mean to bring up an old topic that would end up in a slew of hot comments, so I apologize in advance if I've touched any sensitive nerves.

It wasn't that I wanted so much to do much CASTING as I wanted to just do the PITCHING. That way there wouldn't be much reeling actually involved.....just a few turns of the handle and I would be prepared to pitch again.

Thanks for all the replies, and especially for those that have converted successfully in the pitching mode. It gives me hope that it is not a really difficult task.

For regular casting, I'll probably just stick to my old tried and true switch hands method.....has served me well for decades.

The guy that is selling me the old Curado 100B says he has used it for exactly the purpose of pitching with his right hand, reeling with his left, and his suggestion was to just take the ONE rod/reel set up for the day and concentrate with it and I should have a good chance at it. Sounds like pretty good advice to me. Reel comes in Thursday and I'll try it out Friday.

Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate your patience.

[Loop_Dad]

Hey Silas,

I had the exact thought as yours. Right handed guy pitching with right and reeling with left. I already cast with right / reel with left on spining set up anyway. 2-3 of weeks ago I bought a LH reel. Well it didn't work out for me and gave up, returned it and replaced with RH reel. ( I had a thread.)

I wasn't thinking about any problem when I bought the reel. I thought it was just matter of getting used to and practicing.

First time out, I found out quickly that my right arm got so tired and even had some pain in the wrist area. What I didn't realize before was that by casting right and reeling right, I'm constantly switching the arm all day long, which was good for my arms and wrists. I think the thumb position had something to do with it too. With thumb on the spool with bait caster, the tendon for the thumb is kinda stressed. With spinning, that area is nicely stretched out when I am reeling.

Hope you get better luck than me.

For me, I actually practiced pitching with left arm now and I am surprised that how I can still learn new stuff at my age. I'm liking left arm pitch.

[SirSnookalot]

The answer is........whatever you are more comfortable doing.

I am vehemently opposed to using b/c gear for anything, except deep water ocean fishing and I'm not crazy for that either.

For me having my dominate and stronger arm (righty) on the rod is of great importance. I cast more accurately and ready for a big strike, luckily my fish hit hard enough I don't have to put much energy into setting the hook, but if I did my stronger arm would work better for me. When I'm offshore using a conventional reel I now use a left hand crank, makes pulling up and reeling down so much easier for me, even offshore spinning is my first priority.

[Lee Kuusisto]

As Alpster said, this topic comes up often. I am right handed and reel left. All of my reels are left handed, and I am no more likely to change than Ronnie. There is no right or wrong here! Use what works best for you. That old Shimano should serve you well...good luck.

[21farms]

i've tried many times over the years to make that switch. even though i reel lefty on spinning gear i can't seem to do it on baitcasters. i buy a new lefty reel, take it out and fish it until my first missed hookset, and sell the reel shortly afterward. repeat again the following year. and the year after that. i finally decided this year was my last time...i give up. no more trying. my right arm is far stronger than my left, but for some reason, i absolutely can't get a good swing on the hookset using my right arm. i know people that did make the switch and love it but it didn't work for me. YMMV. good luck.

[NBR]

When you watch the big name pros they almost all bait cast right and reel right. Maybe it is for the same reason that I do it right/right is that I just started that way and now it's habit. With spinning gera I cast right and retrieve left.

[Diggy]

I didn't mean to bring up an old topic that would end up in a slew of hot comments, so I apologize in advance if I've touched any sensitive nerves.

if this topic touched someones nerve id believe they have some deep rooted issues..I doubt it did

Im sure you can find someone with a lh reel you know that would allow you to try it out and see if its for you before you buy one

[BASSHUNTER1961]

When you watch the big name pros they almost all bait cast right and reel right. Maybe it is for the same reason that I do it right/right is that I just started that way and now it's habit. With spinning gera I cast right and retrieve left.

Which leads me to my next thought.....

We have always had the option to reel left or right with spinning reels, so why did right handers choose to cast right and reel left? Why did we not cast with our right hand and switch hands and reel with our right?

In the early days there were no left hand baitcast reels, just right hand retrieve, so there was no other choice. Even today you can't always find a left hand reel in the gear ratio you want or need. It's something we all got used to, and never gave it a second thought. I'm glad I made the switch though, and wish I had done years ago..

[ChiCityBasser]

I'm right handed but cast better with my right hand and reel with my left. So I have all left handed reels.

Done it this way with all my spinning reels and tried a right handed casting reel and didn't feel comfortable with it. I ended up selling that reel here on the board. I then began to purchase left handed casting reels as more of them are coming onto the market and glad I have gone that route.

[Silas]

Well, the beauty of this situation for me was that if I don't adapt well, it's October and my brother's (who is left handed and has only one casting rod/reel setup) birthday,and it will make a great birthday present!! And for $50, I think I can't go wrong with the quality of the reel.....just a couple of cosmetic scratches on it.

[shady oaks]

After getting a RH reel sent to me not once, but twice by a company when I ordered a LH I took it as fate and learned how to use it. So glad that I did, now if someone invites me out for a day on the water when out of town or with my gear, no worries. I will say though my hook set is more of a body hook set than an arm hook set when using RH reels versus LH. But in the end, you have to do what is most comfortable for you, not others. Learning to versatile with a great weapon, and good way to find stellar deals sometimes!