Do left handers ...

[king fisher]

The most popular spinning real in the 60-70's was the Mitchel 300, it only came with left hand retrieve.  Most bait casters at the time only came with right hand retrieve.  I am very stubborn, and it is hard for me to learn new things, so I reel with my left hand for spinning and my right hand for bait casting.  No logical reason, I simply don't want to change.

[MIbassyaker]

I'm right-handed and learned cast-right/crank-left/no switch on spinning gear years ago as a kid.  That's what my hands know how to do, and my left hand especially does not enjoy learning new tricks.  So when I picked up baitcasting later in life, it took about 20 seconds of handling a right-handed reel to know that I would need a lefty.

[ironbjorn]

I'm right handed. I cast, work lures, and fight fish with my strong hand and arm: the right. I reel with my weak hand: the left. Nobody can convince me that it makes any sense that right handers are casting a whole rod and lure, working said lure, and fighting fish with their weak arm just so they can spin a handle with their strong hand. That is mind blowingly illogical.

[Jar11591]

I’m a righty who was taught by a lefty so I fish like a hybrid. I both cast and crank with my right hand, unless it’s a fly rod. With a fly rod I strip and crank with my left. 

[VTFan]

On 11/14/2023 at 7:17 AM, GreenPig said:

The good thing about being really crazy is you don't know you're crazy. SO SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!🤪

LOL!!! For sure!!! 

[rocketsurgeon]

I cast with my right but all my reels come from the leftorium.

I cast with my right but all my reels come from the leftorium.

[RipzLipz]

I’m RH dominant.

 

Spinning, I’m fine casting right & retrieving left.

 

Baitcasting is a mix. I’m an oddball like a few others. For anything that requires a cadence or more action than dragging or slowly hopping, I have to cast right & retrieve with the left (mainly jerkbaits & topwaters). For almost all other applications I’m casting right & retrieving right (switching hands after casting). LH reels weren’t readily available when I first started using baitcasters, prior to the internet or even home computers being a thought.

 

I’ve considered going with all LH retrieve reels but I’d have to reinvest a ton of money to do so & not being more than a pleasure angler (non-tournament), I can’t seem to justify doing it, especially when my preferred reel brand went through a price increase for their latest generation of reels.

[1984isNOW]

On 11/15/2023 at 9:05 AM, ironbjorn said:

I'm right handed. I cast, work lures, and fight fish with my strong hand and arm: the right. I reel with my weak hand: the left. Nobody can convince me that it makes any sense that right handers are casting a whole rod and lure, working said lure, and fighting fish with their weak arm just so they can spin a handle with their strong hand. That is mind blowingly illogical.

I just quoted you quoting me 7 years ago when I first got into baitcasting gear.

 

I'm not sure why more people don't understand this. I can't even fathom how this trend began, did it start as a prank but somehow caught on?

 

Like pet rocks?

[thediscochef]

I'm a mix, I bomb cast better with the right hand but it feels more natural to retrieve with the rod in my left hand. For spinning gear I tend to cast with the left hand and reel with the right. I've recently started working shorter range casts, I really think that's a technique I have overlooked as a bank fisherman. For that I have ordered a tatula 100HSL so that I can make more casts faster, no switchy. I also have a deep SV spool in the mailbox for that 100 when it arrives. I wanted an SV reel but the Tackle Warehouse sale made the 100 a little too cheap to pass on.

 

I write, shoot a basketball/hockey puck, and play bass with both hands, though some things I am more practiced on one side. Everything else is right handed only, baseball mostly. Can't throw or hit lefty to save my life.

 

I don't really think there's a truly wrong answer for what individuals choose for themselves in this matter. There's some advantages to not switching hands and there's also some advantages to doing what's comfortable.

[crypt]

I'm left handed and the rod never leaves my hand.Reel with my right cast with my left.Very efficient.

[RipzLipz]

On 11/21/2023 at 9:40 PM, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

I'm not sure why more people don't understand this. I can't even fathom how this trend began, did it start as a prank but somehow caught on?

 

Like pet rocks?

That can recall, right hand retrieve reels were more readily available. One didn’t have PCs or internet as an option for researching and/or purchasing equipment & often retailers carried far more RH models than LH. I’m sure tracking customer buying habits wasn’t much of a thing until PCs were more readily available.

[postoak]

On 11/21/2023 at 8:40 PM, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

I just quoted you quoting me 7 years ago when I first got into baitcasting gear.

 

I'm not sure why more people don't understand this. I can't even fathom how this trend began, did it start as a prank but somehow caught on?

 

Like pet rocks?

I read on the internet (LOL) that the guys who fight big game fish want to use their dominant arm to crank so as to have the most strength and stamina.  That makes sense, but doesn't explain why what must surely have been a small percentage of the fishing public drove the entire market.