left or right reel handle for spinning reel?

[Clumsy fisherman]

I am right-handed and have always had the spinning reel handle on the left, so I use the right hand to hold the rod. I have recently noticed people using right side placement for the handle. I saw this on the beach last summer. Is it better to use the dominant hand for the rod or the reel handle?

[MN Fisher]

I don't know about others - but I run the handle on the right cause my BCs are all righties and it'd confuse me switching retrieve hands when I switched from casting to spinning.

[JediAmoeba]

Most reel on the left...I however reel on the right for baitcasters and spinning rods

[Scott F]

I can reel from either side with a baitcaster, but on a spinning reel, I just can’t cast with my left and reel with my right.

[Bird]

Same ^

I only reel left handed with spinning and have a mix of left and right with casting.

[gim]

I heard that over half of all anglers are of the route who use a spinning reel with the handle on the left and a BC with the handle on the right.

[bulldog1935]

Baitcasting and spinning require very different casting strokes.  

I cast both a fly rod and baitcaster with left hand - these two casts are a lot more similar than spinning - jerk in your cast gives tailing loop with fly rod, and backlash with baitcaster.  

With a spinning rod, jerk is rewarded with cast distance.  

IMO, it's better to keep the muscle memory separate in each arm.  

This was also the norm when I was growing up fishing.  

 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

I am right handed , but I hold the rod in my left and reel with my right. Spinning and casting. 

[GRiver]

I reel everything left handed, spinning and baitcaster. I can reel right handed, but I absolutely can not cast left handed.

Nobody is safe if I cast left handed.

[king fisher]

     I can use left or right hand on spinning, and fly reels, but prefer left.  I look like I am having a seizure if I try and reel with my left hand on a bait caster. The reason being, when I learned to fish, all spinning reels were left hand retrieve, and all bait casters, other conventional reels or my Zebco 33 were right hand retrieve.  My muscle memory for any reel that is on top of the rod is for right hand only.

       My first fly reel was right hand retrieve, so I had no choice but to learn how to reel with my right hand with it.  Being it was on the bottom of the rod, I was able to adapt my fly fishing retrieve to spinning reels once they were made with handles that you could switch to either side.

       It has always been a goal of mine to learn to retrieve a bait caster with my left hand, but now I  find myself subscribing to the theory, you can't teach old dogs new tricks.  I haven't officially given up but I don't foresee any left handed bait casters arriving in the mail anytime soon. 

       I hate to admit it, but I did turn my first spinning rod upside down and reel backwards until a friends dad told me I looked like an idiot and needed to grow up and reel with my left hand.  Since then, I cringe every time I see someone reel that way, especially since now all you have to do is change the handle.

[volzfan59]

I grew up fishing spinning reels with a left hand retrieve, still do it. I learned how to use baitcaster's that were right hand retrieve, so all of my b/C's are right hand retrieve. Anything else doesn't feel natural to me.....go figure.

 

[islandbass]

1 hour ago, Clumsy fisherman said:

I am right-handed and have always had the spinning reel handle on the left, so I use the right hand to hold the rod. I have recently noticed people using right side placement for the handle. I saw this on the beach last summer. Is it better to use the dominant hand for the rod or the reel handle?

This is absolutely a personal call. Bottom line, unless one is ambidextrous, one way should feel more “comfortable” than the other. 
 

Personally, my preference is lh for both spinning and casting. I can use rh or lh casters but lh is preferred. I tried spinning rh and it felt weird and uncomfortable. With that said, I will switch on a spinning if my preferred side is tired. When jigging for salmon with heavy spoon like lures, one can get fatigued on one side so switching the handle allows that side to “take a break”. ?
 

Lastly, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it. 

[msgf91]

I switch the handle to the right side on all of my spinning reels.  I started fishing spinning reels when I was a kid and all we used were the Shimano IX or FX reels. Similar with old Penn spinning reels for surf rods.   They felt like 3 to 1 ratio with a very low IPT and no bearings.  So it was just easier to reel with your right. My Dad would switch the handles when I was a kid then to keep things consistent I just continued to reel with the right when I got nicer reels.  

[optimator]

1 hour ago, volzfan59 said:

I grew up fishing spinning reels with a left hand retrieve, still do it. I learned how to use baitcaster's that were right hand retrieve, so all of my b/C's are right hand retrieve. Anything else doesn't feel natural to me.....go figure.

 

Same. 

[Kirtley Howe]

It's all a matter of what you learn or teach yourself. I am by nature a lefty. But my older brother (18 months older than I am) got a baseball glove a year before I did. He is a righty. So, I started using his glove, and learned to throw right handed and catch like a righty. I can bat either way, but have more power as a righty, more control as a lefty.  I play ping pong lefty. I play tennis and golf righty. I write left handed, but can write right handed equally well, just more slowly. Everything else is a crap shoot...whatever feels good to me is how I do it. I fish primarily left handed, but can cast right handed if I choose to. I shoot a gun left handed, but, before I tore my left shoulder up in a car wreck, I used a bow right handed. Due to the shoulder damage, I can't use a bow either way anymore.  Just do what feels good to you and don't worry about it.

[Craig P]

I know for me, the most important part is I want my dominant hand to set the hook. I set the hook with the rod, not the reel.

[Hammer 4]

1 hour ago, Craig P said:

I know for me, the most important part is I want my dominant hand to set the hook. I set the hook with the rod, not the reel.

This is what I've been doing for 50 years.

[Clumsy fisherman]

11 hours ago, gimruis said:

I heard that over half of all anglers are of the route who use a spinning reel with the handle on the left and a BC with the handle on the right.

That's what I have always done.

[Fishingmickey]

I am also a lefty righty.

FM

[Tatulatard]

You don't change grips between casting and retrieving a spinning reel so there is no incentive to switch hands.  Also spinning reels in lure fishing applications are typically used to recover slack line from rod movements which does not require the fine motor skills and endurance for continuous cranking. 

[J Francho]

Left. 

[Steveo-1969]

15 hours ago, Clumsy fisherman said:

 Is it better to use the dominant hand for the rod or the reel handle?

The correct answer is “whatever feels most natural for YOU”.

 

 Personally I am RH. I reel a baitcaster with my right hand and a spinning reel with my left hand. Anything else feels unnatural. YMMV 

[Bankc]

It's all personal preference.  I've switched back and forth many times.  Whatever's best is whatever's most comfortable for you.  Reeling isn't a fine motor skill, so you don't need to do it with your dominant hand if you don't want to.  Switching will take some getting used to, but it's something you can adapt to pretty quickly.  

 

There are small advantages and disadvantages either way.  But nothing big enough to make one or the other the obvious choice.  Hence why so many people will do it different ways.  

[WIGuide]

15 hours ago, volzfan59 said:

I grew up fishing spinning reels with a left hand retrieve, still do it. I learned how to use baitcaster's that were right hand retrieve, so all of my b/C's are right hand retrieve. Anything else doesn't feel natural to me.....go figure.

 

Ditto for me. I also like keeping it that way since if one arm needs a break I can switch it up. 

[Darth-Baiter]

I’m lucky where I can pitch better with my left hand.  My reels at all based for a right hand person.