Left Hand retreive

[gtbehary]

I have been a spin fisherman all of my 53 years.  My fishing buddy talked me into my first baitcaster and I found that I was only comfortable with a left hand retreive.  Any other right handers out there cast with their right hand and reel with their left hand?

[BassnJoe]

Yes...you will find quite a few.  I started with right-hand retrieve reels, when there was no other choice.  I "retrained" myself in the mid-eighties, when "lefties" started coming out.  I'ts much more natural to me now...and I prefer using my strong arm to both cast and work my baits, along with fighting my fish.

Joe   8-)

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Yes I just went to baitcating after years of spinning I have 3 baitcasting rigs, all left hand retrieve It didnt make sense any other way

[Vyron]

Much more natural the left hand reel for me

[fishbear]

What everybody else said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chris at Tech]

Yep, I'm right handed.  I cast with right hand and crank with the left.

[gtbehary]

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one.  Why anyone would want to switch hands on every cast is a mystery to me.

[Raul]

Why anyone would want to switch hands on every cast is a mystery to me.

Because you are an old fart that learned to fish with righty baitcasters when baitcasters were only manufactured in righty version.

[lubina]

I can't see one good reason to change hands after a cast.

[Raul]

I can't see one good reason to change hands after a cast.

Again: Because you are an old fart that learned to fish with righty baitcasters when baitcasters were only manufactured in righty version.

[lubina]

I can't see one good reason to change hands after a cast.

Again: Because you are an old fart that learned to fish with righty baitcasters when baitcasters were only manufactured in righty version.

You are right in the " old fart " part but I use left hand retrieve only.

I did tried to learn with an old right Curado.....I still can see it rear showing up in a hole in my garage wall. ;D... man I hated it!!!!!

[TournyFish001]

I am Right handed and Left hand retrieve for me- tried the right hand retrieve at 1st and felt strange-

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

Im with you guys big time, right handed for everything else but  when i reel in my spinning reel its my left hand doing the turning, got the new bait caster and have to reel in right handed, am not comfortable at all and the next one i get will be for the opposite hand to do the cranking

[jdw174]

I have been a spin fisherman all of my 53 years. My fishing buddy talked me into my first baitcaster and I found that I was only comfortable with a left hand retreive. Any other right handers out there cast with their right hand and reel with their left hand?

If only I could   Tried it once but just never could feel comfortable with it.  I have no trouble with spinning tackle but baitcasting?.....I still cast right and crank right.

[FishTank]

I too am right handed and use left handed baitcasters.  It just feels natural to me but if I had started using a right handed at first I'm sure I would be saying the opposite.

[scbassin]

Wait a minute, I am left handed & cast with my right hand & crank with my left. I must have went to lunch during that lesson.

[hi_steel_basser]

I'm left-handed, so right-handed baitcasters do me just fine. And on spinning reels, dont you know you can put that handle on the other side!? All you have to do is take the knob that is directly opposite from the handle loose, pull the handle out, and switch sides! Every reel in my boat, casting and spinning, has the handle on the right side.

[Black Bass]

I'm right handed and prefer to cast and work my rod with my right hand. I crank with my left.

[Brad_Coovert]

Cast right, crank left, repeat.

That's me.

Brad

[gatrboy53]

yep,always made sense to me.bought my first lh baitcaster in the mid 70's a abu-garcia 5001c,still use from time to time...3.8:1 gear ratio

[Al Wolbach]

Cast right, reel right. With most rod handles these days I cast with both hands, for most situations, so switching is really not an issue. The older pistol grips were a different story.............Al

[gtbehary]

Glad to see that I am not alone.  So Hale, if you are reading this post, cranking with your left hand isn't a Yankee thing!!!!!

[Tpayneful]

I am right handed and started fishing with spinning gear.  I always cranked the spinning gear with my left hand.  When I finally decided to use a baitcaster I chose a left handed model.  It works best for me but it does limit your choices of reels because only 1/3 to 1/2 of the reel models have a left handed model.  The most interesting thing for me is that my 6 year old started fishing with a Zebco 202 which is right handed.  When he started using a spinning reel, he made me switch the handle to the right side.  So I guess my boy will grow up switching hands as well.  The one advantage I guess is that he will not want to use my reels!  ;D

[Guest avid]

When out in my canoe I generally bring 4 rods. 2 righties and 2 lefties. This is convenient because I put two rods on each side of the canoe. I do not switch hands with the rightie reels. I cast with my left hand. For some reason there are baits that I actually prefer casting with my left hand. These are spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and jigs. Soft plastics and topwaters are cast with my right arm hence require leftie reels.

PS.  I thought Raul's explanation for why people switch hands was perfect.  I was going to ask the question again just to see if he would say it a third time, but decided not to push my luck  

[osbornj2]

I'm right handed and prefer to cast and work my rod with my right hand. I crank with my left.

I agree completely ! If you're right-handed, why on earth would you want to fight the fish with your left-hand (your "weaker" side) ? I prefer to fight the fish with my strongest arm (my right), so I crank the reel with my left.  Not to mention that when you're working lures, it's a lot easier to get the precise action that you want with the arm that you have more control with.  BTW, I'm not an old fart (yet!), but I also grew up using spinning reels that had the handle on the left side, so when I converted to casting reels, it was a no-brainer which felt the most comfortable