[Stew-Rat]

This is certainly not a right or wrong issue. Thought it could be interesting for anybody who wanted to weigh in. I am right handed. I cast with my right hand and then switch to reel with my right hand also. (spinner)That`s just how I feel comfortable. Alot of the pros I have watched do the same. Spinners come with the handle on the left and I have to switch it. Baitcasters have the reel on the right. Guess you can tell I really have no point here, just interesting to me.. I really only use a spinner for freshwater but if you carried a baitcaster and didn`t switch the handle on the spinner you would reel with different hands for different rods. That would not work for me.
Man, I think I`m bored. (lunchtime) Anyway if you got something to add to this, lay it out there. Even it is the fact that I could probably find something more productive to think about.

 

[Jeffonc]

Its definitely a puzzler. I cast right, keep the handle on the left for spinners, handle on the right for casters (cast then switch hands). Fish the same techniques on both, just in different sizes - worms, crankbaits, spinners, etc... Makes me sort of ambidextrous when it comes to reeling.

However, I've tried both spinning and casting reels with the handle on the opposite side of my normal and they both feel completely wrong - its like I lose the ability to control a perfectly functional hand just by moving the reel handle a few inches above or below the rod and changing the arc of travel bigger or smaller. I'm missing the handle, hand flying off the handle, bumping the spool with the reel hand, torquing the rod out of the hand that's holding it, etc... Looks like I'm fighting with myself.

I can't explain it, other than left-hand crank casting reels were so rare when I started that I just got used to doing it this way.

 

[backlash]

It's certainly a personal preference issue. I also, cast right handed and switch hands to reel with the right. For me it seems more natural to reel with my strong particularly with the fly rod. I can get line back on the Fly reel faster and I'm able to keep slack out of the line if a fish happens to make a run toward the me.

 

[Dave B.]

for bait caster or offshore reels, handle on the right
For spinning gear (salt or fresh), handles on the left (my preferance..)

For some reason I feel awkward using a spinner with the handle on the right,, yet perfectly comfortable with trolling gear handles on the right....

never really thought about it too much...

 

[sundrop]

Same as Dave B here, I am right handed but a spinner feels funny on the right. But a baitcast feels funny on left.. Oh well, guess I'm Ambidextrous I don't catch fish with BOTH hands...LOL!!!

 

[Spider Crack]

i normally keep spinning rod in left hand, reel with right; with baitcaster, i reel and cast with right hand, but switch rod to left hand on every cast. have developed a wrist problem, so can't work a spinning rod very long with my right hand, but i've tried to switch the handle on the spinning reel and use my right hand to reel and hold rod with left. just can't do it! i find my right wrist and shoulder tire easily with a spinning rig esp. in a kayak, not as much when i can stand on bank or boat. something about sitting in a yak and holding the spinning rod unsupported in my right hand that causes my wrist and shoulder to hurt quickly. i prefer to work a zara spook (top dog, etc.) with a spinning rod in right hand, because i can walk it much more "credibly" than with my left. but it kills my wrist and shoulder after a short time. so spend my fishing day in kayak constantly swapping between spinning and baitcasting rigs -- very annoying, but i haven't figured out a good solution. it seems like i develop some sort of repetitive motion injury for every activity. getting old(er) is a pain (literally)! gotta run and take more advil...

 

[sundrop]

GA sounds like you might have some Carpal Tunnel going on. I had R and L fixed in 99 and it was a miracle!

 

[capefearfly]

I have the handle on the left on my spinning and fly reels it just feels more natural to me. I tried to use a baitcast and it just felt all wrong using my right hand to reel and then there were all those backlashes to go along with it so I just gave up on it. Think it comes from the fact that all my early gear the handle was on the left so I just got used to it that way and just don't have the mental capacity to make the switch.

 

[Spider Crack]

GA sounds like you might have some Carpal Tunnel going on. I had R and L fixed in 99 and it was a miracle!

CT is exactly right! it's been getting gradually worse over the last 2 years, and i may have to do surgery as well. it's getting serious when i can no longer walk-the-dawg with a spook and work a gotcha plug the way i want to!

 

[zooker]

i am a switch hitter i use both. right and lefty bait casting reels..

i find that pitchin and flippen with a lefty reel is very easy..you never switch hands with the rod..


zooker

 

[lefty]

As I hope y'all have guessed, I'm left-handed.

I started out borrowing spinning gear -- big 'ol surf rods -- at which time I would cast with my left hand and then switch hands and reel left as well. Once I got my own spinning gear, though, I switched the handles, so now I cast left and reel right, with no switch.

Not knowing any better, I started using baitcasting gear the same way -- cast left, reel right. And that's where I'm at today.

 

[sgtfish]

I am with Zooker. Last year I got good flipping reel with left hand reel. You never have to switch hands. I have tried the left handed reel for other types of casting (cranks and spinnerbaits) but I had a hard time holding the rod steady. All my spinners are left handers. I like having my right arm for the hook set and control on long cast.

 

[sundrop]

GA that surgery isnt a big deal as long as you can give it a couple of weeks of rest.

 

[Stew-Rat]

Lot of interesting replies. Always like to see how different fishermen do / think about things.
I would like to fess up that I`ve never had a low profile baitcaster. I`ve backlashed some big ones though. I watched Gary Klein one day. Just me in my yak and him and a camera guy for so long (in the wrong direction ) I wanted him to take off so I could quit shadowing him.
He could throw a bait a foot off the surface at an overhang with major speed and "thumb" it so it would just fall right at the edge. Point is I have seen a baitcaster in the hands of a master and it was incredible. Maybe next reel.?
All this discussion and no one has brought up the much under- utilized UPSIDE DOWN SPINNER TECHNIQUE. God bless those people. You tell `em. I can`t seem to do it.
Makes me think about back_reeling. Seen Professionals do it . I never have . Seems like a bad idea. Can`t I just forget about my fancy, smooth drag if I learn to do that. Maybe I`missing something on that. I am not scared to go for the drag . Thanks for the comments so far. ----------stu

 

[lefty]

Stu
I borrowed a round 'caster for a while (thanks, JeffO) before buying my first one, which was a lo-profile model. I'd found, by casting a practice weight at my neighbor's tree (thanks, CoachKinsey) that the round reel started to get heavy after a while... having to hold it balanced on top of the reel...

The low-profile reel is easier to balance - at least compared to the round one I'd borrowed. My wrist doesn't tire as quickly.

As for hand preferences, I have identified a likely risk of my same-handedness... Since my left-hand thumb is "trained" to go for the spool, I'm probably at greater risk than most of that thumb interfering with the drag if I ever get into another good fight... By switching hands after the cast, the thumb that's spool-trained is safely out of the way, holding the crank handle...

 

[Jeffonc]

All this discussion and no one has brought up the much under- utilized UPSIDE DOWN SPINNER TECHNIQUE. God bless those people. You tell `em. I can`t seem to do it.

LOL... I guess everybody's got their own solution to the handle-on-the-wrong-side problem.

 

[Stew-Rat]

Only baitcasters I own are Ambassadeurs. Just for the pier or beach or some straight down fishing. I have never tried to throw the lures I would for largemouth. I`ll get a Bass style baitcaster one day.
On the "thumbing" topic I do use my left hand to slow or stop line when it`s spooling off, then switch / flip the bail left handed, reel right. Obviously, If you feel comfortable it seems to make more sense not to switch hands but if I`m headed toward the trees I can stop it almost as good as just bearing down on it with your thumb.

 

[Topsail Angler]

Anything I'm casting I have the handle on the leftside - spinner or conventional, that way I don't have to switch hands after the cast. Which usually means I have to special order the conventional reels. For conventional reels used for trolling and bottom fishing reels, I go with the rightsided handle.

 

[ecugman]

Spinning and bait caster handles on the left for me as well.

However, the bait caster rarely leaves the rod rack in my barn. I don't get enough fishing opportunities, so when I do go I'm not interested in spending half my time trying to master the BC.

I have practiced with the BC a little and just don't see anything I can do with it that I cannot do with my spinning rods.

 

[n4svz]

I'm right handed. For fly fishing and spinning the crank's on the left. For bait casting the crank's on the right and I switch hands.

For surf rods, with spinning reels - cranks on the left. For Penn type casting reels - cranks on the right again.

Just the way I learned to use the equipment over the years. Can't say I ever gave it a lot of thought.