Stoopid question? LH vs RH baitcasters

[Finessegenics]

I’m right handed and use both lefty casting and spinning reels. I’ve  been using spinning reels for my whole life and only began using casting reels 3 years ago. That being said I learned to use a baitcaster with a RH reel but after learning, I went to a LH and never looked back. It felt so unnatural to me to have to hold my rod with my weak arm. 
 

my reasoning is, it just feels comfortable and when working bottom contact baits, wouldn’t you want your dominant hand controlling the rod? You can be much more precise in the tiny tiny hops you make with a jig or worm when using your dominant arm. Maybe this is all an illusion but I feel as if I wouldn’t be able to control my bait using a RH reel. The LH reel suits my general style of fishing (slow and methodical) since my dominant arm is controlling the rod. 

[AmmoGuy]

It couldn’t matter less. Do what feels right. 
 

Most people’s non dominant arm/hand is plenty capable of high level five motor skills. Playing guitar or piano for example. 
 

I cast right, reel right. I switch hands, and I palm the reel. Palming the reel “feels” like it gives me better control and leverage. Not really possible if you cast right, reel left. 
 

I do however pitch left handed, as I want to be able to react to a strike as soon as the lure hits the water, and there’s much less time to change hands during the short “cast”. 
 

 

[AmmoGuy]

1 minute ago, BaitFinesse said:

 An even stranger one is to palm the reel with only 2 fingers in front of the trigger and then to actually cast the reel this way.  I really hate this one.  It is great for pitching but thumbing the spool is a nightmare but doable. 

Yes, this is how I pitch (left handed). 

But I've got pretty big hands, so even with two fingers in front of the trigger, my thumb lines up behind the spool pretty well. 

[AmmoGuy]

2 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

You still don't get that easy and familiar thumbing motion of resting you thumb on the thumb bar and rocking the thumb tip into the spool. It's more awkward to feather the spool when palming the reel while casting than doing it normally.  Doable but really weird if you are used to doing it normally. 

Agreed. 

It's just how I've always pitched, so my left thumb doesn't have any recollection of an "easier and familiar thumbing motion, ha. 
 

 I don't really break my normal "palmed" grip, my hand just rotates back some, and my thumb slides down to the thumb bar/ spool.  Again, it wouldn't work as well if I had smaller hands. 

 

That being said, I don't mind pitching left handed with a standard casting grip either. Just don't feel like I have as much control during hooksets. 

[PhishLI]

16 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

I used to switch hit, but can't reel a LH BC half as fast as RH, and my left wrist just isn't used to it so it's gets fatigued quickly.

So there it is in a nutshell. "You" are uncomfortable and less than proficient here. "You" find it clunky and awkward. "You" have extrapolated your experience out to anyone else who casts right and reels left. You've  projected whichever glitchy movements you have out and onto anyone else who casts and reels this way. Most of us are probably guilty of something similar, even if we only think it and don't write about it as you have. I slide up the reel using the leverage of the handle while cranking once I haven't been struck on the drop or the first few cranks. It's nothing less than graceful, seamless, easy, and painless.  

[WRB]

I cast using my right hand both spinning and baitcasting reels. Spinning I use left hand reels, baitcasting right hand reels switching the rod over to the left hand. The switching rod motion is something learned when casting. 

We have lots of James Niggemeyer videos to watch his casting technique, it's the same I use and most right hand casters using right hand bait casting reels.

Being left eye dominate and right handed it would have benefit me to learn to cast left handed and I tried but couldn't master the casting motion.

Tom

[AmmoGuy]

58 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

I would love to be able to cast left handed when picking apart docks.  

Same here. 

I DO cast left handed occasionally when accuracy isn't a huge concern, but the chances of a birds nest go up dramatically. 

[NELABassguy]

I reel spinning reels with my left hand because my dad handed it to me like that when I was 4 or 5 and then when I got to be 10 he threw his right handed ambassador on a rod and said, "when you can cast this you can cast this you cast anything." Old habits die hard I guess because I have tried to use them the opposite and I look/feel like a spaz. 

[BrianMDTX]

Well...I returned the LH baitcaster and got a RH lol. 
 

Here’s what I think. Being right-handed, holding a spinning rod in my right hand for the cast feels natural, just as casting with a baitcasting rod in my right hand feels natural. Reeling just feels different. My best guess is that the handle on a spinning reel is below the level of the axis of the rod whereas on a baitcaster it is above the level of the axis of the rod, and somehow that makes a difference in how natural it feels when cranking the handle. I can crank a spinning reel very fast and smooth with my left hand, but it feels erratic and awkward doing so left-handed on a baitcaster. I did not think it would make that much of a difference, but to me, it did. It’s as if I’m off-balance. 

[Armtx77]

I'm a righty and all mine are Left Handed. I dont know when LH baitcasters became mainstream, but I bought two Abu BlackMax baitcasters, that were LH in 1993.

Motor skills will let you use either, but Im glad that just about baitcaster, comes in both.

 

[Columbia Craw]

It's a conspiracy that began during the cold war.

[kayaking_kev]

19 hours ago, PhishLI said:

So there it is in a nutshell. "You" are uncomfortable and less than proficient here. "You" find it clunky and awkward. "You" have extrapolated your experience out to anyone else who casts right and reels left. You've  projected whichever glitchy movements you have out and onto anyone else who casts and reels this way. Most of us are probably guilty of something similar, even if we only think it and don't write about it as you have. I slide up the reel using the leverage of the handle while cranking once I haven't been struck on the drop or the first few cranks. It's nothing less than graceful, seamless, easy, and painless.  

Maybe you missed my first post, where I mentioned I had problems because of a brain surgery that damaged my left side to where I have to wear a brace on my leg for the rest of my life and affected the rest of my left side as well. I also said that others can probably get used to it after awhile. I don't think I projected my personal experiences onto to anyone. One thing I've learned lately, is that many aspects of fishing comes down to personal preferences.

 

I don't care what side anyone reels on, there is no right or wrong way, I was just sharing my personal experience having just recently tried LH reels.

[fishwizzard]

I wonder how much, if any, eye dominance place in which hand you prefer casting with?

 

I am left eye dominant and write with my left hand, but use most tools with my right. When I got into shooting I started out using my right hand but quickly realized that my eye dominance forced me to shoot left handed. 

[islandbass]

On 5/21/2020 at 5:14 PM, RoLo said:

I'm right-handed, so it naturally follows that all my casting reels are "Left-handed".

Is there any reason for this anomaly?  SEARCH ME!    

Perhaps the designer of the first casting reel was a south paw...I really don't care.

 

Roger

That’s also my story and I’m sticking to it. 
 

To the OP - It’s 100% your preference. Try both. One will feel awkward and the other will be like the baby bear, “just right.”  However, I will bet you a floating rapala minnow and a pack of owner mosquito hooks that because of your history with LH spinning reels, you will 1,000,000% prefer LH casting reels. ‘Nuff said.

[PhishLI]

3 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

Maybe you missed my first post, where I mentioned I had problems because of a brain surgery that damaged my left side to where I have to wear a brace on my leg for the rest of my life and affected the rest of my left side as well.

I absolutely missed that! Sorry! Sincerely.

 

3 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

I don't think I projected my personal experiences onto to anyone. 

You didn't. I was responding to the some of the other points being made on this topic and somehow twisted your post into those.  More apologies. Sincerely.

 

3 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

I don't care what side anyone reels on

Me either.

[dodgeguy]

12 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

Well...I returned the LH baitcaster and got a RH lol. 
 

Here’s what I think. Being right-handed, holding a spinning rod in my right hand for the cast feels natural, just as casting with a baitcasting rod in my right hand feels natural. Reeling just feels different. My best guess is that the handle on a spinning reel is below the level of the axis of the rod whereas on a baitcaster it is above the level of the axis of the rod, and somehow that makes a difference in how natural it feels when cranking the handle. I can crank a spinning reel very fast and smooth with my left hand, but it feels erratic and awkward doing so left-handed on a baitcaster. I did not think it would make that much of a difference, but to me, it did. It’s as if I’m off-balance. 

your not off balance. i feel the same exact way about the handle being above and below the rod. also most spinning handles are longer and turn in a bigger circle. When i learned baitcast there were no lefty reels. WE had zebco closed face reels when i was a kid and they were righty reel handles so thats what we got used to. progressing to righty baitcast was the next obvious step. this garbage that switching hands takes time is ridiculous. if you reel lefty and cast righty you have to move your hand from the rod handle to palming position.That to me seems even more akward than just placing the reel in your left hand palm. watch any pro who uses a righty . they switch in one smooth movement before the bait even hits the water. use what you feel comfortable with.

[BrianMDTX]

It’s all good, I guess. Whatever works for the individual angler. 
 

At least I broke the ice this morning on the new rig. Shade over 1.5 lbs and 15”, but was a fighter. No hits on the wacky wig or weighted Texas rig with a 5” Senko. Switched to a weightless Senko Texas rig and nailed him on the second cast. 

And so far I’m liking the Yo Zuri hybrid line. Haven’t had one issue (knock on wood). 
 

[Mobasser]

I've been casting right handed and reeling right handed to r a long time. Switching hands is automatic for me