How many of you fish left handed AND right handed casting reels??

[The Rooster]

I'm curious, is there anybody out there who fishes with both left and right handed baitcasters??

What would be your reasoning behind this??

I'm wondering if there would be any advantage to me learning to crank left handed over right handed. I can cast with both hands now, but left is not as good as right obviously since I'm right handed. However I pitch with the rod in my left hand ONLY.

Seems that sometimes I could get a good deal on a reel but the one I may find may only be left handed so I miss out on it since I don't crank left. If I learned how I could grab a reel at a good deal and still use it. But if that's the only reason for doing so, I'm not sure that's enough??

[Tin]

I do, when pitching I have the rod in my left hand and so I use a right hand retrieve. When casting lures in open water with my longer rods I use both and my left is on the bottom, so after the cast I reel with my left. When casting lure to a bank I use my left like with pitching so I reel with my right.

[Wayne P.]

I do. For flipping and pitching, I use left hand reels. For everything else, I use right hand.

[Skeet22]

I can do both and have both. When I buy a new reel I prefer left handed as I prefer to set the hook with my dominant arm and am comfortable reeling with my left hand. For worm fishing and flipping/pitching leftys are my choice. For moving baits it does not matter to me either way.

[Skunked in DR]

Lh for pitching, flipping and all bottom contact presentations.  Rh for moving baits.

[J Francho]

Yep...

[K_Mac]

I am right handed and use lefty reels. I no longer have any right handed reels since I talked my wife into using lefties. ::)More choices are available in left now days, but using left does sometimes limit your options.

I think it would be a good thing to be able to use both, though I seem to be unable to do so. I don't know really if I am unwilling or unable, but the bottom line is I am completely uncomfortable using RH reels. After several days of hard fishing it would be nice to change up...

[Bronzefly]

Lh for pitching, flipping and all bottom contact presentations. Rh for moving baits.

Same here - its much more comfortable for me this way.

[MarauderYak]

I have both.  I like the LH reels for flipping, and if I'm casting a spinnerbait right up on the shore line.  That way I can start cranking it the instant it hits the water.

[Primus]

Lh for pitching, flipping and all bottom contact presentations. Rh for moving baits.

Me too, I like to set the hook with my dominant right hand.

[brian_82]

strictly left handed, I think its from growing using left sided spinning reels.

[TRYTOFISH]

I can do both and have both. When I buy a new reel I prefer left handed as I prefer to set the hook with my dominant arm and am comfortable reeling with my left hand. For worm fishing and flipping/pitching leftys are my choice. For moving baits it does not matter to me either way.

x 2

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

I am right handed, but I prefer the leftie reels, mostly because I am used to spinning reels where it defaults to the left side and just got used to that after all these years.

[doublest]

Lefty, When I started fishing, my first reel I could cast was an early Airex Masterreel .Got used to crankin left handed and never looked back. However, I do occasionally use a righty. but prefer lefty.

[dave]

Yes

[bass or bass ?]

I use only right hand cranking reels and have converted all my spinning reels to right hand crank also.

[The Rooster]

I use only right hand cranking reels and have converted all my spinning reels to right hand crank also.

This is what I do as well.  I think we're in the minority on the spinning reel crank being on the right side.  After this thread I'm beginning to think I'm in the minority with right handed baitcasters also. 

[Rich Tehan]

I use only LH. Any stupid hand can turn a handle, but the cast, the action, the hookset, and fight are are all done with the hand on the rod. I'm right handed so I want my more deft

hand on the rod. I couldn't imagine doing all those things with my LH, or switch hands for every cast, idk how RH people do it.

[BassThumb]

I can do both and have both. When I buy a new reel I prefer left handed as I prefer to set the hook with my dominant arm and am comfortable reeling with my left hand. For worm fishing and flipping/pitching leftys are my choice. For moving baits it does not matter to me either way.

x 2

Well put.  Same here.  Frogging is another technique where a lefty reel can be utilized by right handed people.

[Steve1357]

I regularly use both, all lures, nothing special.

You should get the hang of it after a few times...

Last year, Walmart was dumping some left handed Okuma Tycirs for $20, I figured I'd try it. Great for worming, jigging.

Guess the best advice is to try it and stick with it for a while.

[Steve1357]

Rooster, have you went fishing left handed yet?

[Red]

All left for me.  I gave the right handed reels an honest effort, just can't get it, my left hand or arm dosen't work as well I guess, and I like having my dominant hand on the rod.

Cliff

[Micropterus salmoides]

Looks like I'm in the minority here as I'm right handed and use all RH baitcasters. I use LH spinning. The first baitcaster I bought years ago was LH, but I eventually made the switch to RH as they were more available and it seemed the majority of right handed anglers used them. Now it seems that more and more right handed anglers are using LH reels, though most pros I see use RH reels. I may be joining the ranks of LH users as persistent shoulder, back, and forearm pain is making it difficult to work jigs and worms with rod tip up and is particularly problematic when using jerkbaits.

[fishinfewl]

I'm a righty that use left handed reels but I might just try a right handed one just to see why so many people do it.

[The Rooster]

I have not went fishing left handed yet as Steve1357 asked.

I may be learning to cast like that soon though, for medical reasons. My right forearm occasionally has a pain in it like tennis elbow. Been over a year and has never fully healed. As it is, I have to wear a band around it now for doing anything strenuous. What I do for a living involves swinging a hammer and pounding nails using my right arm. Based on this I don't see it getting much better and I may have to get better using a hammer left handed as well (I can do this now but not as well).

Add to that casting a 3/4 oz. weighted jig on the weekends and I am tearing it up more than I have to so I think I'm gonna try to learn to cast left handed and just save my right arm for cranking the handle.

This means I'll be cranking exclusively with my right hand now though so no need for left handed reels at all. I already cast and hold a spinning rod with my left and just crank right handed only. I fight fish and retrieve holding the rod in my left for a baitcast rod too, and can "somewhat" cast with it as well, and I also pitch left handed (not right handed at all for that). Only thing I do right handed is casting using the baitcast rod to launch a lure. After the bait is in the water the rod goes to the left. Once I learn to throw left for that I will never need to hold a rod in my right hand again. This will solve a lot of problems for me with fishing. I will still be able to cast right handed if I need to, and once in a while won't hurt me too bad. Being able to cast completely left though will help in a lot of situations and also save my right arm.