Reeling hand?

[nascar2428]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

Wanna fish against me & see? ?

You must be out of your mind! LOL.  I'm a horrible jig fisherman even when I don't switch hands!!

[Catt]

12 minutes ago, bwjay said:

. I really could not wrap my head around the idea of using my dominant hand to cast, then losing sensitivity and strength by switching the rod to my weak hand,

 

In my younger days I was a Golden Gloves boxer & while my dominant hand is my right hand my knock out punch was my left.

 

I never bought into having a weaker arm, I could lead with my right or left.

[ResoKP]

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

In my younger days I was a Golden Gloves boxer & while my dominant hand is my right hand my knock out punch was my left.

 

I never bought into having a weaker arm, I could lead with my right or left.

Hey not everyone is a Golden Gloves boxer like you and can't knock someone out with their left punch let alone a fish ?

[Catt]

26 minutes ago, ResoKP said:

Hey not everyone is a Golden Gloves boxer like you and can't knock someone out with their left punch let alone a fish ?

 

Just because you have a dominant hand does mean your other hand is weak or uncoordinated. 

 

I simply don't see a need to change how I fish.

[bwjay]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Just because you have a dominant hand does mean your other hand is weak or uncoordinated. 

 

I simply don't see a need to change how I fish.

Most people aren't ambidextrous, but people who are, are clearly at an advantage, not only for fishing, but any sort of sport or activity that may require the use of either hand based on proximity or reaction (like catching something). There's not much reason to be able to write with both hands, unless of course you're trying to fake out a handwriting recognition test. 

[FCPhil]

Assuming your right handed...you should start with a left hand retrieve baitcaster if your just starting. With a left hand retrieve, you will not have to switch hands before and after casting and your right arm will give you more power to fight fish, being the one holding the rod. 

[Mobasser]

58 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

In my younger days I was a Golden Gloves boxer & while my dominant hand is my right hand my knock out punch was my left.

 

I never bought into having a weaker arm, I could lead with my right or left.

Catt, I boxed in the Kansas City Golden Gloves. 72- 75.

[Catt]

2 minutes ago, bwjay said:

Most people aren't ambidextrous, but people who are, are clearly at an advantage, not only for fishing, but any sort of sport or activity that may require the use of either hand based on proximity or reaction (like catching something). There's not much reason to be able to write with both hands, unless of course you're trying to fake out a handwriting recognition test. 

 

I am not ambidextrous but doing certain jobs require the use of both hands.

 

I'm also a carpenter, auto mechanic, and A&P aircraft mechanic. All 3 require you to be able to use both hands.

 

@FCPhil I don't know about y'all but I set hook & fight the fish with both hands on the rod.

[bwjay]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I am not ambidextrous but doing certain jobs require the use of both hands.

 

I'm also a carpenter, auto mechanic, and A&P aircraft mechanic. All 3 require you to be able to use both hands.

 

@FCPhil I don't know about y'all but I set hook & fight the fish with both hands on the rod.

I can do some things with my left hand (non-dominant hand) but some things that might be useful, like setting a hook and fighting a fish, or throwing an item, or using a knife or hatchet, I cannot. I am also right eye dominant so shooting firearms is very much a right-hand right-eye activity. I suspect using a hatchet and throwing items, which require accuracy, would be very risky/inaccurate for a long time. I have no real need to use a knife or hatchet with my left hand in any sort of precise way, but throwing items with my left hand would come in handy.

[Mobasser]

I've always reeled with my right hand,cast with my right, and switched to hold the rod with my left. It would be hard to change now

[ResoKP]

I've yet to hear a single logical reasoning for using non-dominant hand to control the rod and dominant hand to reel.

[Catt]

6 minutes ago, ResoKP said:

I've yet to hear a single logical reasoning for using non-dominant hand to control the rod and dominant hand to reel.

 

Do you not read any of the above post?

 

In boxing if you're "one" handed I'll own you!

 

As a craftsman if you're "one" handed you'll have a hard time keeping a job cause ya slow!

[ResoKP]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

 

Do you not read any of the above post?

 

In boxing if you're "one" handed I'll own you!

 

As a craftsman if you're "one" handed you'll have a hard time keeping a job cause ya slow!

Most right handed people would have their right punch as their stronger/knockout punch. So that's just your own personal scenario.

 

Nobody actually said their left hands are useless, just that that their right hands (if that's their dominant hand) do better job and choose to use it for more important tasks, reeling not being one. lol.

[GReb]

This is the most useless reoccurring fishing discussion there is. Catch toads and smile

[rod snapper]

2 minutes ago, GReb said:

This is the most useless reoccurring fishing discussion there is. Catch toads and smile

thankyou sir.

[Paul Roberts]

2 hours ago, bwjay said:

It seems obvious to me to use your dominant hand for control of the rod, which is used to cast, feel bites, set the hook, and fight the fish. Your dominant hand/arm is more sensitive, and stronger. I really could not wrap my head around the idea of using my dominant hand to cast, then losing sensitivity and strength by switching the rod to my weak hand, just to do such a simple task as turning a lever with a handle that requires no finesse or strength. You do need some forearm endurance but that can be built up quickly. It seems so inefficient that the only reason I can think of for doing it is if you grew up doing it and can't retrain yourself.

 

Funny enough, I think I saw on a Tactical Bassin video, Matt said he is a right handed guy who used left hand reels, and did that his whole life, but switched to right hand reels for some reason. Don't remember his rationale for it. I'll keep using my dominant hand for the rod as it is more sensitive, tactile, and strong.

That is the rationale alright. But, oddly, it just wasn't as comfortable reeling with the R, even though I use spinning with the L. I've found that my dominant hand (R) is not more sensitive, or if it is, it isn't by much. I've done both long enough now, I guess. It's possible to learn to do well with both.

[bwjay]

5 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

Turning the handle on a spinning reel is completely different than with a baitcast reel.  A spinning reel is suspended below the rod.  This allows you to stick your elbow out and use your whole arm to turn the handle allowing you to rotate your shoulder and/or elbow to turn the handle instead if relying on pinching the handle knob between the thumb and index finger and rotating the wrist.  With a baitcast reel the the hand turning the handle is in front of your chest with the elbow against your side and the rotation of the handle is made exclusively by rotating at the wrist.  It is this motion that is akin to writing and difficult for right hand dominate people to do. 

 

If you have some degree of ambidexterity that allows you to use a left hand reel while right hand dominate then then that is great but don't pretend like the rest of us can.  Many of use have tried or currently own left hand reels and juat can't turn the handle smoothly, fast enough or both.

I will admit that it is not a very natural motion for me to articulate my left wrist in a circular motion, like how you reel a baitcaster, and it's gonna take me a while to get used to it, but no doubt much less time than it would to train my left arm to handle a rod with the accuracy and sensitivity I'd want. I feel like I'd be setting the hook in the wrong direction. Well, I've got a baitcasting reel on the way, gonna look at rods maybe this weekend, and if I find that using my left hand to hold the rod isn't completely out of the question, maybe I'll get a right-handed reel too and try it.

[ResoKP]

10 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

Turning the handle on a spinning reel is completely different than with a baitcast reel.  A spinning reel is suspended below the rod.  This allows you to stick your elbow out and use your whole arm to turn the handle allowing you to rotate your shoulder and/or elbow to turn the handle instead if relying on pinching the handle knob between the thumb and index finger and rotating the wrist.  With a baitcast reel the the hand turning the handle is in front of your chest with the elbow against your side and the rotation of the handle is made exclusively by rotating at the wrist.  It is this motion that is akin to writing and difficult for right hand dominate people to do. 

lol. Let's be real. There's no difference. At all. Doesn't matter if the reel is at the butt of the rod, or on the side of my head. It's still the same turning motion.

10 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

If you have some degree of ambidexterity that allows you to use a left hand reel while right hand dominate then then that is great but don't pretend like the rest of us can.  Many of use have tried or currently own left hand reels and juat can't turn the handle smoothly, fast enough or both.

Me too man. I can turn things better with my right hand. But I'd rather use my right hand to control the rod which is a much more involving task in bass fishing. If I had two right hands, I wouldn't use my left at all ?

 

[Catt]

We talking fighting a bass here guys...I think I can handle it left-handed!

[ResoKP]

46 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

No it is not.  It is completely different.  I can't make small circles with my left hand by rotating at the wrist for any extended period of time.  I can only do it very slowly and for a short time.  So slowly in fact that the rate of line recovery makes it unusable to do so.  Guess what?  I have have no problems turning the handle on a spinning reel left handed because I do not rotate my wrist making small circles.  I do the chicken wing and stick my elbow out and rotate my forearm to make the small circles like a monkey screwing a football.  I can do this with a spinning reel thanks to the reel being suspended below the rod.  My faster uses spinning reels exclusively and grasps the knob overhanded and rotates his whole arm at his shoulder to turn the handle.  

So you're telling me, you take the same spinning reel that you can reel just fine with, put it on an ice fishing rod and hold it like this:

and now all of a sudden you can't turn the handle anymore because the handle is not sitting below? Makes no sense. Whatever the reason it is that you're not able to turn the baitcaster is in your head.

 

You make a lot of contradicting points and none of it has any logical cohesion:

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

To say that there is an advantage in not having to switch hands is a bit of an over statement.

There is a quantifiable advantage to not switching. You miss less bites when you get bit the instant the bait hits water. Matt from TackticalBassin talked about it in his video. That's why he stopped switching hands when pitching.

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

This adversion to changing up hand position between casting the rod and palming the reel encourages bad habits...

That's a big assumption. And just because it encourages, doesn't mean it applies. Not that it encourages in the first place.

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

It is abnormal to palm the reel when casting or to hold onto the rod grip when turning the handle.  

That's just your own thinking.. You can actually pitch & punch palming the reel because you can just engage the thumb bar with left hand or your right hand thumb if you can reach it. On the other hand, if your throwing crankbaits, you don't need to palm the reel (and instead "hold onto the rod grip when turning the handle").

 

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

When palming a baitcast reel you are cupping the rod in and under handed cupping motion. It is not a particularly good way to hold onto something to begin with and doesn't allow for a lot of dexterity when compared to how you hold a spinning reel. 

Wrong. Baitcaster is a more natural hold. Stand with your arms down. Thumb faces forward. Bend elbow and raise ur hand. Thumb faces up. And that's how you'd hold baitcaster. Spinning, you're holding with thumb pointing down. Your wrist is twisted like how you use a computer mouse. It's not ergonomic. Thats why they sell ergonomic computer mouse that positions your hand more like in a trigger grip style. Google for images if you're not sure what I'm talking about.

 

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

If you want a lot of fine control of the bait to hop and twitch then holding the rod in and over handed grip with your dominate hand and the reel suspended below is ideal.  It is this reason alone why spinning reels are great for small finesse jigs for bottom contact and right hand dominant users use left hand retrieve spinning reels.  I'm saying this as an egg beater reel hater and use baitcast for everything including UL 1/32 jigs and 1 inch plastics.  

You're contradicting yourself here. You talk about controlling the rod/bait with dominant hand for spinning gear. Yet you use your "bait finesse" baitcaster for the same application but doing it with the opposite hand. What. lol. Also, there's a lot of fine control of hopping and twitching with normal jigs too not just "small finesse jigs" as well as many other variety of baits.

[MIbassyaker]

I....also don't understand what's so different between turning a spinning handle vs. turning a baitcasting handle. But I'm not interested in that sort of hair-splitting. 

 

I am interested in this, though:

 

55 minutes ago, ResoKP said:

Wrong. Baitcaster is a more natural hold. Stand with your arms down. Thumb faces forward. Bend elbow and raise ur hand. Thumb faces up. And that's how you'd hold baitcaster. Spinning, you're holding with thumb pointing down. Your wrist is twisted like how you use a computer mouse. It's not ergonomic. Thats why they sell ergonomic computer mouse that positions your hand more like in a trigger grip style. Google for images if you're not sure what I'm talking about.

 

I have been fishing spinning reels for more than 3 decades, and I don't believe I have ever in my life held the rod with my thumb pointing down. My thumb is on top, fingers wrapped underneath with 2 or 3 in front of the reel stem. Or, the thumb is on the side, sort of pinching the foregrip with the knuckle of my index finger on the other side (a reason I prefer spinning rods with a foregrip...I do actually grip it).

 

Nobody has ever before remarked to me that there is anything odd or unusual or wrong about this.

 

Here:

 

I mean, the wrist angles down more than a baitcaster, but the thumb is certainly more forward than "down", and it's still on top. Nothing like a computer mouse at all.

[ResoKP]

30 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

I....also don't understand what's so different between turning a spinning handle vs. turning a baitcasting handle. But I'm not interested in that sort of hair-splitting. 

 

I am interested in this, though:

 

 

I have been fishing spinning reels for about 3 decades, and I don't believe I have ever in my life held the rod with my thumb pointing down. My thumb is on top, fingers wrapped underneath on either side of the stem. Or it is on the side, sort of pinching the foregrip with the knuckle of my index finger on the other side (a reason I prefer spinning rods with a foregrip...I do actually grip it).

 

Nobody has ever before remarked to me that there is anything odd or unusual or wrong about this.

Haha you're right. There's differences  in hand position depending on grip. I mainly use spinning for drop-shotting so that's what came to mind. I think the second grip you mentioned is what I meant though. I do hold it in the first grip you mentioned as well.

[ResoKP]

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

It makes perfect sense.  A spinning reel is suspended below the the rod.  This places the reel handle much lower than it would be in a baitcasting reel and at an ideal location to turn the handle by rotating your forearm should you choose to do so.  With a baitcast reel the reel sits on top of the rod and would require you to lift your arm much higher if you were to attempt to turn the handle this way.  Baitcast reels also have dual knobs and are shaped in a way that are designed to be grasped by your thumb and index finger and small rapid circles made by the wrist.  A spinning reel has a single knob and the knob is often shaped in a T or ball knob that allows the angler go to turn the handle if ways that don't require rotating at the wrist.  Spinning reels have geometry that allows you to turn the handle in ways don't rely on the rotation on the wrist the way a baitcast reel does.  

lol. It's all in your head man. You're turning a handle in a circle whether it's below the rod, above, beside, or on the ground. So can you turn an ice fishing spinning reel or not?

 

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

Palming the reel when casting: you have an argument here. Palming while casting does prevent you from having to move your hand from the casting to palming position but it also creates its own set problems.  It is a case of the cure being worse than the sickness.  Casting while palming the reel encourages the index finger to ride along side plate of the reel and potentially open the side plate or scroll the mag dial on Daiwa reels.  Casting by choking up on the reel trying to palm it also places your hands further up onto the rod and onto the exposed blank portion of the split grip rod.  Palming the reel when casting also locks your right wrist in place and does not allow it to rotate on the cast.  Not to mention trying to thumb the spool when the thumb is in front of it.  All of this for what?  The ability to set the hook as soon as the bait hits the water?  You can already do this if you switch hands or position before the bait hits the water.

Do you know what pitching is? I was talking about palming while pitching. Read my post again. All those negatives you mentioned, almost never happens. How many times does getting strikes when bait hits the water happen? A lot. You can mention all the extreme cases all you want, it doesn't help make your case in the real world.

 

By the way, thumb the spool while the bait is in the air when punching/pitching. It's not only easier but it also stops the lure mid air and makes it drop vertically straight down so it punches through grass better and also makes less splash. You can do it while palming. It takes some skills. Kind of like reeling a baitcaster reel. lol. /s

 

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

Holding a rod in a over handed grip is more natural.  Go pick up a stick in yard and swing it around.  Go swing a baseball bat.  You grab it over handed.  Heck, when you cast a baitcast rod you grab it by the rod grip over handed and cast.  It isn't until the rod/reel is palmed does the grip change to an underhanded cupping grip provided you are not trying to palm the reel when casting.

I think the original context of that was around "strong arm to set the hook". Baitcaster = bicep curls. Spinning = hammer curls with wrist tilted down. So big hooksets with baitcaster is more natural and effective.

 

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

I use my BFS reels for presentations where the means of moving the bait is done with the reels handle.  For these applications I prefer the tiny winch mounted to a stick operated by my dominant hand aka a baitcast reel.  For jigging and shaking presentation I prefer spinning.  The only spinning rig I use is for shaky heads and drop shot and it is for the ability to grasp the rod with my dominant hand in an over handed grip.

 

Probably should be moving the bait with the rod. But then again BFS is a category that doesn't belong anywhere in bass fishing ?‍♂️. Wrong tool for the job. Like hammering a nail with a shovel. Not that I have anything against BFS, but that's a discussion for another thread.

 

[ResoKP]

25 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

No, it is not the same thing.  There are plenty of right handed people who are not able to turn the handle on a left handed baitcast reel but are able to fo so on a spinning reel no problem.  This is actually the case with most right handed anglers myself included.  It has been explained to you multiple times, this is due to the geometry of the spining reel being different from that of a baitcast reel and the single handle knob and knob shape.  You can grab a spinning reel handle and turn it in ways that don't rely on rotating at the wrist like a baitcast reel.   Your statement that if you can reel left handed on a spinning reel then  you can on a baitcast reel is simply WRONG.  You are not everyone.  You don't know.  Don't pretend to.  

 

No, I'm not going to try and palm the reel while casting.  It is stupid and not how normal people cast.  If you lefties do it then that is fine.  Continue being weird.  I and many others have no problem hooking into fish as soon as the bait hits the water without having to do something so asinine as trying to cast the reel while palming it. 

 

Unless you have some disfiguring disease then your arms are of roughly equal strength.  You shouldn't be struggling to set the hook becuase you are palming the reel with your left hand rather than the right.  The difference in hand dominance has to do with dexterity and fine motor control.  Holding the rod and hookseting are simple tasks that are easily handled by the non dominant hand.  Casting the rod and turning the handle are tasks that benefit from the use of you dominant hand and it is why it is common to see anglers use their right hand to both cast and retrieve.  The desire to turn the handle with the right hand usually trumps the desire to hold the rod in their right hand.  It is typically much easier to adapt to the relatively simple task of holding the rod with their non dominant hand than to try and turn the reels handle with their non dominant hand.  They might as well be tryiing to teach themselves to write left handed.  It IS that difficult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, you're just either delusional or in denial. There's an on-going poll on another forum with 945 votes, 57% being on left handed reel as of now. So your "most right handed anglers cannot reel right handed" statement is flat out wrong. Maybe it's just you or a small groupthink of similar people like you that find it SO difficult to reel with their off-hand.

 

Also, don't be getting defensive. I never told you or anyone how to cast or how to do anything in regards to fishing lol. You're the one spewing what is "normal" and what isn't. You learned it that way, and it works for you, keep doing that. That doesn't mean new anglers need to learn the inefficient way.

 

Also, observing these left/right hand threads, it appears that more people are starting to think that dominant hand should be controlling the rod/lure. Maybe it's the changing dynamics of modern bass fishing where baits are getting more complex and need the "fine motor control". Again, reeling is just the most menial task to bass fishing. We're not fishing 200lb tunas.

 

Anyways, all I've done is present factual and logical reasonings while all you've managed to do is equate turning a reel handle to writing letters on paper. Just... lol.

[ResoKP]

16 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

 I operate with facts.  More people in the US use right handed baitcast reels than left handed reels.  This is a fact.  To calim othewise is wrong.  Left handed reels are slow selling for a reason and their adoption by US anglers has been slow.  It can even be difficut to find left hand reels in some gear ratios because there is such little demand.  I don't care what some internet poll is on some other forum lol.  Look at the facts if you care about the percentage of this vs that hand retrieve.    

 

In any case it doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter if left hand reels sell less than right hand reels.  It doesn't matter what the pros use.  Use whatever you are comfortable with and when a bunch of us tell you we can't use left hand baitcast reels because we are right handed and have problems turning the handle then believe it.  Don't argue and say that it is the same as a spinning reel and that if you can reel left handed with a spinning reel then you can with a baitcast reel.  It is not the same.  

 

And no, I can't claim ownership of the dominant hand and writing anology.  That brilliant illustration goes to the the member @Reason.  He is right on btw.  As a guy who has tried to write left handed and reel left handed with a baitcast reel let me tell you they are very similar.  

 

Casting while palming is weird.  I'll stand by that forever.  That's weird as hell.

  

I'm sure there's much more right hand retrieve baitcasters floating around because that's what companies sold you on back in the day. Maybe we can get a tackle shop owner to chime in on sales data. What's more important is probably the change in historical sales volume of left vs right. What I know is my local tackle shop carries more left-hand retrieve models and don't even stock some of the right-hand models.

 

Go ask 10 right hand dominant people who reel left handed if they can write letters on paper with their left hand. Probably 9/10 will have terrible left handed writing. That is logical reasoning and where your analogy crumbles to nothing.

 

I've still yet to hear one concrete benefit of utilizing your dominant hand for reeling as opposed to controlling the rod. It's either just excuses of it being difficult thus making compromises or "it's just how I've been taught so I'm sticking with it".