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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 8,946 Likes: 40
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 8,946 Likes: 40 |
In the past couple years I've started seeing something that is weird to me .. right-handed people reeling with their left hand. We never did that. Traditional way was to have the rod in the right hand casting and fighting fish when we were using the left to manage loose line but switching the rod to the left hand if we were reeling in or fighting fish on the reel. The only people who had the handle on the left side were the crazy south paws. When did reeling from the left become a thing for right-handers?
Which "handed" are you, and what do you do? Just curious ...
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
Here be dragons ...
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Posts: 7,473 Likes: 12
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 7,473 Likes: 12 |
Been reeling with the left for over 50 years. I guess I should point out I am right-handed.
Last edited by Just a Hunter; 09/07/22.
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Joined: Feb 2001
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,379 Likes: 26 |
I,m LH but prefer to reel a Fly reel RH side
kk alaska
Alaska 7 months of winter then 5 months of tourists
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 11,482 Likes: 100
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 11,482 Likes: 100 |
I reel with my left hand flyfishing.
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166 |
Right handed, reel with my right hand. To do otherwise feels totally foreign.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,324 Likes: 6
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,324 Likes: 6 |
I’m right handed, cast with right and reel with right. My dad taught me how to fish and all his rods were set up that way. At some point in time my dad switched and now he casts right and reels left.
Went fishing with my brother in law and he brought all the gear. He thought I was right hand cast left hand retrieve so brought a rod rigged that way. Once I got a fish on the reel, I couldn’t make my left hand work the reel to save my as.
Last edited by Farming; 09/07/22.
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Posts: 6,693 Likes: 261
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 6,693 Likes: 261 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster
DON’T BE TOO PROUD OF THIS TECHNOLOGICAL TERROR YOU’VE CONSTRUCTED. THE ABILITY TO DESTROY A PLANET IS INSIGNIFICANT NEXT TO THE POWER OF THE FORCE.
- Darth Vader
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Posts: 7,387 Likes: 58
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 7,387 Likes: 58 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster This^^^^^^
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 18,613 Likes: 78
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 18,613 Likes: 78 |
I am with the old timers. Cast with my right, manage line with my left, real with the right.
Molon Labe
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,741 Likes: 6
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,741 Likes: 6 |
Cast (sort of!) with my right, reel with my left. Right arm is stronger and I don't want to be switching hands when I am in the thick of it!
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 891
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 891 |
Why would you switch hands back and forth on the rod? That seems ass backward. i'm left handed, cast left reel right with everything.
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,457 Likes: 181
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,457 Likes: 181 |
Why would you switch hands back and forth on the rod? That seems ass backward. i'm left handed, cast left reel right with everything. +1 I’m exactly the same.
Will Munny: It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have.
The Schofield Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming.
Will Munny: We all got it coming, kid.
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Posts: 6,500 Likes: 65
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,500 Likes: 65 |
Most all saltwater fly guys I have been around reel with their dominant hand. The few trout guys I been around reel with nondominant hand. Doesnt seem to be a steadfast rule. Im a saltwater guy. Every reel I have for salt is set up for my dominant hand. For tarpon and bonefish you can end up in your backing. If the fish turns and runs back at you. You need to reel a lot of line in quickly. Generally you get a long run at hook set so there is plenty of time to switch hands. Right or wrong after 25 years I doubt I will change up. PS my one trout set up is nondominant. The shop that set it up just asked if I was right or left hand. I commented that all my salt setups were dominant reel and the guy just looked at me and said “well that aint the way we do it for trout” since I was there to learn I just rolled with it.
Life can be rough on us dreamers.
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,358 Likes: 86
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,358 Likes: 86 |
Right handed, reel with my right hand. To do otherwise feels totally foreign. Left handed and I do it the same way. Leads to some confusion when you ask how to spool the line or set up a reel.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166 |
I'm anything but ambidextrous. The important stuff must be done right handed. Switching hands to wind a reel has become second nature, I do it without thinking. I've little background in spinning reels, it's been around 50 years since I last manipulated one.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,448 Likes: 25
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,448 Likes: 25 |
I am left handed and use a right hand reel. I never change hand positions. To me the reel is a line storage device not something that I use to reel in the fish. I developed a way to deal with the line when I fished the Madison river for trout. I didn't use the handle on the reel. I would strip in line as I fought the fish then using the palm of the hand would spin the rim of the reel taking up the loose line far more quickly than reeling. Of course the reel has to be the style with a rim that revolves with the spool. Oh sure I would crank the handle at times but when the action is fast, IMO, it is just too slow to deal with slack line. An alternative to reeling is the vivarelli reel. It is lightweight and a pumping action takes up the slack line. https://francovivarelli.com/shop/
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,773 Likes: 110
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,773 Likes: 110 |
Right handed, cast (sort of) right handed, reel with left hand.
Spinning gear is left hand retrieve.
Only have one baitcaster, and its right hand retrieve, but after using it a short while, I wish it were left hand retrieve, but it is fine as is.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,773 Likes: 110
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,773 Likes: 110 |
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,758 Likes: 166 |
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Posts: 78,660 Likes: 70
Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,660 Likes: 70 |
I’m right handed, cast with right and reel with right. . Thats how I learned to fly fish..simple matter to transfer the rod to the left hand once a fish was on, and when I started all reels were set up for right hand reeling. Took some effort but most could be converted to left hand. I just never did.
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,103 Likes: 2
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,103 Likes: 2 |
I'm definitely a right cast/left reel guy. I tried to convince the GF this was the best way but she insisted on doing the right/right switch hands thing. Well, guess what? I have 1 less rod and reel than I used to now. End of July we were fishing red salmon and she hooked a fish and as she went to switch hands, it made a run and the rod went flying out of her hands, never to be seen again.
"243/85TSX It's as if the HAMMER OF THOR were wielded by CHUCK NORRIS himself, and a roundhouse kick thrown in for good measure."
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Posts: 3,229 Likes: 2
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 3,229 Likes: 2 |
Probably 75% of my fishing is with spinning reels. I'm right handed and reel left. I want my dominant hand handling the rod to set the hook and fight the fish. Same way with the fly rod.
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,486 Likes: 20
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,486 Likes: 20 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster This^^^^^^ Same
My heart's in the mountains, my heart is not here. My heart's in the mountains, chasing the deer.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,923 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,923 Likes: 1 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster This^^^^^^ Same Likewise. It just never made sense to me to see someone cast with their strong arm and then switch hands to use the reel. For most fish it doesn't matter, based on their size, it just makes sense to cast with your strong arm and fight using leverage with our strong arm.
_________________________________________________________________________ “Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 6,482 Likes: 19
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Posts: 30,786 Likes: 106
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,786 Likes: 106 |
Reel and handle line with the left on trout rods.
Depending on wind direction I'll cast with either hand on top with my two handed spey rods. Wind those too with the left hand.
1Minute
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 44,091 Likes: 805
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 44,091 Likes: 805 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster Same here.
Me
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 18,613 Likes: 78
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 18,613 Likes: 78 |
All the old timers that taught me used their right hand to play the fish and reel. Worked for them, works for me.
Molon Labe
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 51,210 Likes: 51
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 51,210 Likes: 51 |
Right handed, reel with my right hand. To do otherwise feels totally foreign. Because it is, by gosh!
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,755
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,755 |
Right handed, cast RH, and reel LH.
Been doing that for as long as I can remember...
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 50
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 50 |
im left handed..cast with left..reel with right
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 26,101 Likes: 513
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 26,101 Likes: 513 |
After fishing with Keys guides like Stu Apte and Ralph Delph, they were adamant about using your strong hand for both casting and reeling. I never understood why you would switch hands on the fly rod, but they said it was more important to be able to reel faster with your strong hand to get line back on the reel when you fight a large salt water fish that can run fast in open water.
I only fish trout streams in Montana and can reel and fight a fish better with the rod in my right hand a reel with my left. I have fished Alaska a few times and was able to manage the salmon the same way. Tarpon and Marlin may require more control on the reel…
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,825 Likes: 10
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,825 Likes: 10 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster Same here. Yup, same same....
BT53 "Where do they find young men like this?" Reporter Savidge, Iraq Elk, it's what's for dinner....
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Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 456 Likes: 37
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 456 Likes: 37 |
I'm right handed. I cast right and reel with my right hand for fly and bait casting gear.
I rarely use spinning tackle, but cast right and reel left with it.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,170 Likes: 58
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,170 Likes: 58 |
I’m a lefty. Cast all rods with my left hand. Fly reels and bait casters I use my right hand to reel. Spinning reels I prefer to use my left hand to reel.
My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guns for what I told her they cost.
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,687 Likes: 6
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,687 Likes: 6 |
Why would one want to do all the switching around.
Same with casting/reeling a bait caster . . . LOTTA extra effort the way most folks do it!
To me major control activities with ones dominant hand, other needed activities with the other hand!
Last edited by LouisB; 12/31/23.
Some spelling errors can be corrected by a vowel movement. ~ MOLON LABE ~
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Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 259 Likes: 1
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 259 Likes: 1 |
I don’t switch to much work for me. I’m right handed spinning, bait, and fly. All go in my right hand to cast. I reel with left.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,786 Likes: 106
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,786 Likes: 106 |
I used to cast and then switch hands to wind. After a few years it just seemed more efficient to wind without switching hands as my newer and better reels would function either way. I've also gone to two handed rods for big water/fish. That's evolved into being able to cast with either hand. With that gear I'm still winding left-handed.
With a session or two, muscle memory will come around.
Many years back and with no schooling I was doing archery left-handed but was right eye dominant. Couldn't hit sh-t. An astute friend noticed and suggested I switch to a right-hand bow. Took about 3 days for the strength to develop, with things improving markedly. Mostly of that too was just a matter of overcoming muscle memory.
1Minute
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,003
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,003 |
Right handed - cast and hold rod with right hand and reel with left.....feels awkward to me to switch hands with the rod after the cast and feels natural to reel with the left hand no matter if it's fly gear, spinning or baitcaster....all the same for me
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Posts: 6,025 Likes: 25
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 6,025 Likes: 25 |
Right handed so the reel handle is on the left for everything but fly fishing.
I want the handle out of the way so I don't break off if I bump it when a big one is running.
Little fish get hauled in by the line and I can spool up the line after releasing the fish.
"Camping places fix themselves in your mind as if you had spent long periods of your life in them. You will remember a curve of your wagon track in the grass of the plain like the features of a friend." Isak Dinesen
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 360 Likes: 3
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 360 Likes: 3 |
Cast right, crank left.
In my younger days, I remember getting excited and get both hands gyrating!
Get close and wack em hard!
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Posts: 851 Likes: 36
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Posts: 851 Likes: 36 |
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 9,145 Likes: 10
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 9,145 Likes: 10 |
I am right handed but I cast with my left and reel with my right. Except for fly fishing then I cast right hand and strip line with the left. That's just how I learned from the start.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke 1795
"Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry 1775
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,486 Likes: 20
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,486 Likes: 20 |
I'm right handed. I reel with my left hand, whether I'm flyfishing, spin fishing or using a conventional reel. I have better rod control with my right.
Last edited by eaglemountainman; 02/26/24.
My heart's in the mountains, my heart is not here. My heart's in the mountains, chasing the deer.
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,397 Likes: 41
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,397 Likes: 41 |
I'm left-handed, I cast with my left, reel with my right no matter what kind of rod and reel I’m using.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,741 Likes: 6
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,741 Likes: 6 |
Right handed so cast with my right hand, reel with my left. Tried setting up a flyrod to be able to reel with the right hand thinking it would be faster if needing to recover line in a hurry, after switching the rod over to my left hand. That did not last long! For a trolling rod I can reel with my right hand, but have only done that with single action reels. I can cast a flyrod with my left hand, not as well as my right hand, but on occasion where needs must. Would not try it with a spinning rod as releasing the line would at some point also include releasing the rod! Oddly enough in hockey I shoot left handed!
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 138 Likes: 3
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 138 Likes: 3 |
I mainly saltwater fish these days but learned on fresh. I’m right handed and cast right, move the rod to my left and retrieve/reel right handed. My left hand is mainly used for holding a beer as its functionally useless for pretty much anything else. I have had a couple of guides comment on how odd it is to them that I switch hands but it works fine for me.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,571 Likes: 3
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,571 Likes: 3 |
Cast right, reel right, cause that's the way I've done it since childhood.
Just down the road from The City of Lost Souls in the Land of the Blind. Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,441
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,441 |
Right hand dominant. Casting right hand, line control with right index finger, reel with left hand. If I cast left hand, I usually, but not always, switch the rod to my right hand or back and forth while playing a fish, but always reel line in with my left. I do not set up the reel for a left hand cast, right hand reel.
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,363 Likes: 10
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,363 Likes: 10 |
Im right handed
Cast right, reel left.
That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster This. Why complicate it???
"Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money." -Tom T Hall
Molon Labe
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 138 Likes: 3
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 138 Likes: 3 |
I’m self-taught and have always cast right handed, switch the rod to my left and both managed the line and reeled right handed. Almost exclusively a saltwater fisher and haven’t had any issues managing redfish to tuna like this but it does seem weird to most.
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 2,918 Likes: 53
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 2,918 Likes: 53 |
' I'm right-handed. Cast with right hand. Crank with left hand.
Very common to see someone right-handed, cast with the right, then switch rod hands and crank with the right. Also common to see that same person crank with the left hand when using a spinning reel. I think some of it is "brain wiring" and some of it is conditioning being that baitcasters used to be mainly offered with right hand cranks. This is aging out and now there are plenty of left crank reels.
B L M - Bureau of Land Management
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,575 Likes: 4
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,575 Likes: 4 |
I am with the old timers. Cast with my right, manage line with my left, real with the right. Me too. We must be in the minority these days though as all fly reels come set for left hand wind.
I never had no edukation. Not never.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 93
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 93 |
I am right handed.
I cast the fly rod with my right hand. Once the fly line is out, I use the right index finger to secure the line in case I have mend. I slow retrieve the line with my left hand, never letting go with my right index finger. If a strike occurs, the right index finger holds the line securely. Then I start reeling using my left hand until the slack is gone.
While my left hand gets the line taunt onto the reel, I release my right index finger from the line and start apply pressure on the rod. When I get a strike, I reel the fish slowly with the left hand exclusively.
I learned many years ago, when I reeled with my right hand, I lost tension on the line when switching the rod to the left hand (and most likely lose that fish). I since have switched my reel retrieval to the left hand only. Even bought conversion drag disc plate on my older Abel reels.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,805 Likes: 81
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,805 Likes: 81 |
Right handed. Cast right, reel left. For 50 years. Thought that was how everyone did it.
Don't just be a survivor, be a competitor.
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