Using lefty and right baitcasters.

[Bankbeater]

I grew up learning on right hand baitcasting reels, and left handed spinning reels.  I've thought about getting a left handed reel a few times, but never pulled the trigger.

[Sir Shamsalot]

I use both. I'm right hand dominant. I started with mainly LH reels cause it felt a bit more natural. I spent most of my time fishing out of the back of the boat, and the LH reels gave better hook sets casting towards the 3 to 6 and 9 to 12 o'clock positions relative to boat position. Now I fish more out of the front of the boat, and have switched more to RH reels. I still use both. When I'm out fishing though, I prefer to only have all RH or all LH so that my muscle memory stays the same on that outing. I did try flipping with LH reels but that didn't work out. To be clear i mean flipping not pitching or punching. With the reel handle pointing towards the pulled line, I would often catch the reel handle so I went RH, and never looked back.

[sdsc357]

I am right handed but started fishing with lefty spinning reels. My first BC was a lefty curado cu201. I've only owned lefties and have no desires to learn to use a righty.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I own and use both. I’m right handed and reserve my righty reels for chuck and wind presentations 

[ironbjorn]

Right for chuck and wind moving baits

 

Left for baits I work with the rod

 

I'm right handed and cannot effectively or comfortably work a bottom contact bait with the rod with my left hand

[Osteichthyes Bassturd]

On 12/28/2020 at 8:44 PM, dodgeguy said:

Does anybody use both ? Are there advantages to using both ? I was thinking of pitching with a lefty.

Im 64. The only thing I could see as an advantage is "if" you can do it, it does give your arthritic grip a rest. Say your right hand is cramping from holding the rod and you want to switch. I spin cast almost 100% as a righty. But because I right hand hold the rod, and reel with my left, I have a majority of LH baitcasters. It's a preference since I learned this positional working of a rod/reel as a kid and the left hand did the cranking always. Now that I'm older, I need a break so I sometimes have a RH Baitcast on the crate behind me.  

[Sir Shamsalot]

I use both. I used to be exclusively using LH gear till I lost a rig to Davey Jones Locker. I went to bomb cast a heavy spinnerbait, but either didn't disengage the clutch or accidentally engaged it. So as I was finishing my cast, I went to slide my left hand from casting position to palming the closed clutch let the lure torque the rod out of my grip, out of the boat,, and into the drink.. Shortly after that I switched to RH gear for long casting. I still use LH gear because there's are times it just shines, like fishing out of the back of the boat and more. I'm more mindful of body mechanics. 

[new2BC4bass]

7 hours ago, Osteichthyes Bassturd said:

Im 64. The only thing I could see as an advantage is "if" you can do it, it does give your arthritic grip a rest. Say your right hand is cramping from holding the rod and you want to switch. I spin cast almost 100% as a righty. But because I right hand hold the rod, and reel with my left, I have a majority of LH baitcasters. It's a preference since I learned this positional working of a rod/reel as a kid and the left hand did the cranking always. Now that I'm older, I need a break so I sometimes have a RH Baitcast on the crate behind me.  

I feel it is an advantage.  Cranking hand never gets tired, but the rod arm can.  I don't know if it is arthritis but sometimes the muscles in my right elbow bother me enough that I can hardly pick up a can of soda.

[Michigander]

I'm right handed and avoided bait casters for a long time because the switching hands thing made no logical sense to me. I use the left hand retrieve bait casters now and love them. I get that a lot of people are used to RH retrieve, but if you were starting fresh, why would you do that to yourself? LoL

 

To me, for a right handed person, a RH retrieve bait caster is a specialty reel for actual flipping, because you're manipulating the line and the handle gets in the way if it's on the left side.

 

#LeftSideIsTheRightSide

[J Francho]

I use both.  Moving baits = RH retrieve, contact baits = LH retrieve.  Spinning is always a normal right hand reel (handle on the left).

[gim]

On 1/1/2021 at 11:30 AM, Bankbeater said:

I grew up learning on right hand baitcasting reels, and left handed spinning reels.  I've thought about getting a left handed reel a few times, but never pulled the trigger.

 

This is me too.  I have heard that the majority of anglers are like this. They use a BC with a right handles and a spinning reel with a left handle.

[Bankc]

The only LH reels I use are spinning reels, because they have their handles on backwards anyhow.  I am super right handed.  I could cut off my left hand and if it wasn't for the pain, I wouldn't even realize it until I went to tie my shoes.  

 

That being said, you can learn to do anything left handed that you do right handed, or vice-versa.  It might take more time, and it likely will be frustrating at first, but it's something pretty much everyone can get through.  I learned to pitch and flip left handed so I wouldn't have to switch hands with my right handed reels.  That's harder than reeling, and it probably took me a week to get comfortable with it.  I also learned to roll cast left handed to make casting to the other side of my kayak easier.  I find it easier than casting backhanded with my dominant hand.  

 

One trick for learning new coordination skills, I've found, is to sleep on it.  Practice an hour or so everyday, and then get a good nights sleep.  I can practice something for eight hours and make minimal headway.  Or I can practice something for one hour, get a good nights sleep, and somehow make huge leaps.  There's just something about sleep that works wonders for learning coordination based skills.  So don't try to learn it all in one day.  Instead, give yourself a few weeks, and just devote a little bit of time to it every day, and you'll find that it really isn't all that difficult to learn, so long as you're consistent.  

 

[Michigander]

19 minutes ago, Bankc said:

The only LH reels I use are spinning reels, because they have their handles on backwards anyhow.  I am super right handed.  I could cut off my left hand and if it wasn't for the pain, I wouldn't even realize it until I went to tie my shoes.  

You can change the side the handle is on for most spinning reels. ?

[J Francho]

44 minutes ago, Michigander said:

You can change the side the handle is on for most spinning reels. ?

Until the mid 90s, you couldn't, and if you wanted to use a left handed spinning reel, it had to be ordered.  Eventually, almost all spinning reels were convertible.  There might be a few holdouts in the salt world.  Fun fact, most use a right side crown gear.  I'm not sure it matters.  The same was true of baitcasting, all were right hand retrieve.  In the early 90s I started to see left hand reels, and even bought one.  So, I've been using both for nearly 30 years, lol.

[Osteichthyes Bassturd]

On 1/26/2021 at 10:49 AM, Bankc said:

The only LH reels I use are spinning reels, because they have their handles on backwards anyhow.  I am super right handed.  I could cut off my left hand and if it wasn't for the pain, I wouldn't even realize it until I went to tie my shoes.  

 

That being said, you can learn to do anything left handed that you do right handed, or vice-versa.  It might take more time, and it likely will be frustrating at first, but it's something pretty much everyone can get through.  I learned to pitch and flip left handed so I wouldn't have to switch hands with my right handed reels.  That's harder than reeling, and it probably took me a week to get comfortable with it.  I also learned to roll cast left handed to make casting to the other side of my kayak easier.  I find it easier than casting backhanded with my dominant hand.  

 

One trick for learning new coordination skills, I've found, is to sleep on it.  Practice an hour or so everyday, and then get a good nights sleep.  I can practice something for eight hours and make minimal headway.  Or I can practice something for one hour, get a good nights sleep, and somehow make huge leaps.  There's just something about sleep that works wonders for learning coordination based skills.  So don't try to learn it all in one day.  Instead, give yourself a few weeks, and just devote a little bit of time to it every day, and you'll find that it really isn't all that difficult to learn, so long as you're consistent.  

 

Excellent Advice. My reply is practice on the water is even better than thinking about this. And since I can't go where I normally fish until spring,  I do exactly what you recommend. Even just reading about this makes me a bit more prepared. ? Feb 7 2021 and its 27 degrees outside. 

[Deephaven]

I used to have both.  Now only left.  It is easy to learn to reel with either hand, but not as easy to cast.  My rule is simple.  I will only use reels where I don't have to change hands.  Never understood why those with right handed reels cast and reel with their right hand.

The one negative with switching to all LH retrieve is that my retrieve speed for catching up to fish that are charging is slower.  Faster at reeling with my RH, but with all the high speed reels today that is no longer a consideration.

[Deleted account]

On 1/26/2021 at 10:27 AM, gimruis said:

 

This is me too.  I have heard that the majority of anglers are like this. They use a BC with a right handles and a spinning reel with a left handle.

Like all humans should...

[Boomstick]

I cast primarily left handed unless there's an obstacle that is easier to cast right handed - after a few practice tries I can usually make weak casts right handed with acceptable accuracy. But I can't reel with my left hand to save my life, my reeling motion is so very jerky, so I always use right handed baitcasters.

[new2BC4bass]

I agree with Bankc......it is easier for me to make a left hand roll cast than a right backhand cast.   And, yes, I know I need more practice with the backhand.     I've read that it is best to study in sort intervals...like 15 minutes.  The mind will retain the first and the last few things....for the average person.   Just like a speaker can rattle off a set of numbers and most will remember the first and last 2-3 numbers while having problems with the numbers in the middle.

 

It is also amazing what the mind can perform while you are asleep.  Many times (years ago, not so much now) I would wake up during the middle of the night knowing how to solve a problem at work.  I'd go in, try it and bingo...worked.

[PhishLI]

I'm right handed, but can wind equally well with either hand. This always felt natural to me. I chose to start with left handed bait casters because I like the feel of the rod in my power hand, and it also didn't occur to me to buy a righty reel and switch my hands. In my corner of the northeast spinning reels are the norm. I had nobody to influence my decision, and had only ever come across one person using a BC at that point.  By the time I bought first BC I hadn't even looked at an online fishing forum, so I had no clue I'd committed a sacrilege!

 

Fishing on several small jon boats and Sun Dolphins with another person drove home the need to be able to cast with my left arm. Boat direction and the angler behind of, or in front of me can really limit what I can do in cramped spaces sometimes. So I bought some right handed reels, learned to cast lefty, and now it doesn't matter which reel I use.

 

It's cool that I can now overhead bomb cast a frog using my left arm without looking like my sister while doing it. She's never fished, so don't get all bothered. You know who you are.

 

The real bonus to this reconditioning, beyond fishing, is that I do far more things left handed now, and quite well, including some that wouldn't have ever occurred to me in the past?

[roadwarrior]

Great explanation!

 

[PhishLI]

On 2/7/2021 at 8:44 PM, BaitFinesse said:

You can do a similar thing with baitcast reel abut it looks and feels super weird to stick your elbow out and rotate the forearm and wrist on a baitcast reel like a spinning reel.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to argue with you as I appreciate your effort in making your point, but you've made this case several times in the past. Is this how "you're" affected in this regard? I fish with 6 other righties that use left handed bait casters, and none of them are, including myself. None are flaring out their elbow, or are doing anything particularly odd that looks like they're stuck in spinning reel mode while using a BC. I actually scooped up several righty Chronarchs for chump change from one of those guys because he felt totally uncomfortable using them even after a year of trying. On the other hand, my right handed brother, who was a gifted athlete, feels totally uncomfortable reeling lefty with either spinning reels or baitcasters. Yet if he tries one of my lefties there's no unusual posture in the equation. It simply feels wrong to him, but he's unusual in that he kicks a ball using his left leg, so I don't count him as typical.

[Russ E]

12 hours ago, BaitFinesse said:

So the dominate hand with the developed fine motor skills can do both of the most demanding tasks when using a baitcast reel.  Cast the thing and rapidly turning the handle over and over again.  Holding onto the rod and hooksets are tasks that don't make use of fine motor skills the same way casting, thumbing the spool and pinching the knobs while rotating the wrist.  These tasks are handled by gross motor skills which are not dependent on hand dominance the way fine motor skills are and are equal in each arm.  This is also why RH anglers can use left handed spinning reels as the reel suspended below the rod allows for geometry that allows the angler to use gross motor skills in the arm to turn the handle rather than rely sole on fine motor skill wrist rotations like a baitcast reel.  You can do a similar thing with baitcast reel abut it looks and feels super weird to stick your elbow out and rotate the forearm and wrist on a baitcast reel like a spinning reel.

As a lefty who has always used right handed  baitcasting and spinning reels, this makes no sense to me. My wrist and and elbows are roughly in the same position for both types of rod. The only real differences are the reels are 180 degrees different and my grip is a little different.

As @PhishLI mentioned, this may pertain more to you than the rest of us.

[Deephaven]

13 hours ago, BaitFinesse said:

So the dominate hand with the developed fine motor skills can do both of the most demanding tasks when using a baitcast reel.  Cast the thing and rapidly turning the handle over and over again.  Holding onto the rod and hooksets are tasks that don't make use of fine motor skills the same way casting, thumbing the spool and pinching the knobs while rotating the wrist.  These tasks are handled by gross motor skills which are not dependent on hand dominance the way fine motor skills are and are equal in each arm.  This is also why RH anglers can use left handed spinning reels as the reel suspended below the rod allows for geometry that allows the angler to use gross motor skills in the arm to turn the handle rather than rely sole on fine motor skill wrist rotations like a baitcast reel.  You can do a similar thing with baitcast reel abut it looks and feels super weird to stick your elbow out and rotate the forearm and wrist on a baitcast reel like a spinning reel.

That is what I thought as well until I owned both types.  What I found for me was that I was never in a situation where I needed that extra motor skill on the cranking side.  When fast reels were 5:1 that was a different story, but now that you can buy reels that rip it wasn't the case anymore so I sold off my right handed reels.  The real kicker and frustration that put me over the edge was the RH reel on my pitching stick.  Lost too many fish during the hand off.  I also found that for bottom contacting baits that having my dominant hand greatly increased my capability of feeling bites and responding correctly.  For fast moving baits that don't require feel I can see the argument of using RH as that is the one type of presentation where the focus is on the cranking instead of utilizing the rod, but it is rather easy to train either hand to crank.  The other motions not so much.

 

Obviously everyone is different, but that is my experience.

[PhishLI]

On 2/8/2021 at 10:24 AM, BaitFinesse said:

Now I am working on fatigue and hand cramps. 

Which hand is cramping? The palming, cranking, or both?