Right Or Left Hand Baitcaster

[drs7558]

I'm right handed. Started bass fishing years ago, got right handed reels, learned to use them but it always felt funny. Somebody handed me a left handed set-up, and that was it. Got rid of all my right hand stuff. Been using left handed gear ever since. Switching hands is a big waste of hook setting time, and just doesn't make any sense. Geee, I wish this forum had spellchek. Denny

[moguy1973]

I never have been able to reel with my right hand. I cast with it and reel with the left.

I was told of a really nice BPS reel by a friend that has a lot of different ratios and comes in either left or right reel. It's the Pro Qualifier. First really easy to use bait caster I've owned. Costs around $100 but I think I got mine on sale for around $75 last fall.

[hoglaw]

I'd echo what so many others have said on here. Most folks use right hand reels either because that's how they grew up or because they didn't think about it when they thought "I want to buy a baitcaster."

The first reel I ever put my hands on was a spinning rod. I grew up fishing a little creek behind my house. So when it came time to get into baitcasting, I didn't feel the need to change anything.

Most stores will stock fewer left hand models for sure and you may encounter the occasional availability problem. But that inconvenience is far outweighed by fishing the way that comes natural to you, and because there are serious deals to be had. I've been slowly stocking up on nice baitcast reels like a curado and revo to replace some of my older cheapies. But I build rods much faster than I can afford to acquire reels. Over Christmas, I was back home and went into Gander Mountain. They had Citicas marked down to $89 or something, so I asked the guy if he had any left hand models. He basically blew the dust off of one and I played around with it for a minute, and asked him if he'd take $60. He said he could do $65, so I bought all three they had left. They are good servicable reels. They are darn decent reels for $65.

The ONLY drawback in my mind is that 95% of folks use right hand models, so it's a little tougher to jump in someone elses boat and use their equipment. A spinnerbait, worm, or crankbait is no problem. But you should see me try to work a sammie or rogue with my left hand. It isn't pretty.

[Kelroy]

This is a subject which has puzzled me for some time. In my opinion, a fish (or lure) can only be controlled effectively by your line, and your line is controlled not by a tiny crank on the side of a reel, but with the rod itself. It seems logical to me that the greater strength, accuracy, dexterity, sensitivity, endurance, and fine motor skills of the dominant hand would be better utilized in the manipulation of the rod, rather than squandered on turning a tiny crank to reel in slack line.

It is also easy to stop the spool and engage the reel just as your lure hits the water, which is important with buzzbaits, flipping for a reaction bite, or when the fish are biting aggressively. When you spend less time fumbling and more time fishing, you easily make more casts per hour, which can be an important factor in a tournament setting. Several pros who rely heavily on flipping have made a switch to left-hand-retrieve reels on their flipping rods (or even learned to flip left-handed) in order to capitalize on these advantages. What baffles me even more is that many still use the juggling routine with the rest of their rods. Seems to me, either you get it, or you don't.

How did this whole right-hand-retrieve thing get started? Just my guess, but I think it probably dates back to the earliest direct-drive reels. Given the lack of gears, drag systems, and anti-reverse, it may well have been necessary to 'reel' a fish in with the dominant hand. Sometimes the 'Old Way' is not always the best way- "centuries of tradition, unhampered by progress." As for me, I will gladly leave the juggling antics to performers more talented than I.

[Gilly]

I am ambidextrous however as I get older my strength seems to be increasing to the right (not decreasing on the left!). My Dad spent many years trying to make me a dominant righty including fishing. A left hand retrieve was offered to me about 15 years ago on a Canada trip.....and it was 'right'. From that point on everything I own has a left retrieve. My right hand is more sensitive on the line so all in all it works perfect.

[Al Agnew]

There's no doubt that it's better to hold the rod in your dominant hand, so for most right handers the left hand crank baitcaster will be better. I bought one for my wife, and she uses it very well. But when I pick it up it just feels very awkward to me, even though I'm used to reeling a spinning reel with my left hand. But, since I'm right hand dominant but somewhat ambidextrous, I have no doubt I could get used to it soon enough. But like I said before, I taught myself to cast with my left hand back in the days when the right hand crank baitcasters were all that was available, and now I see no reason to change.

It's funny how your muscles get used to something you do a lot, however. When I was a kid, starting out using Zebco no-brainer spincast reels (which, like the baitcasting reels, always had the crank on the right side back then), for some reason I got used to holding the rod in my right hand with all my fingers behind the "trigger" on the rod handle, instead of wrapping my index finger around the trigger. Back then, I often used live bait, and so my casting motion using the bait was very soft, using my whole arm instead of just my wrist, in order to keep from flipping the bait off the hook on the cast. As I got a bit older and was using lures a lot more, I developed the wrist motion a lot better.

So when I started fishing tournaments and decided to teach myself to cast left handed in order to be more efficient as Kelroy talked about, I started out putting my index finger of my left hand around the rod trigger. It only took about three or four trips before I was pretty proficient with my left hand.

And now, all these many years later, if I go winter walleye fishing with live minnows, I ALWAYS pick up the rod with my RIGHT hand, and make that soft, full arm motion cast. My fingers still ALWAYS all go behind the trigger. But if I'm otherwise fishing with lures, I ALWAYS pick up the rod automatically with my left hand, with index finger around the trigger.

One day I was on a small pond with a couple friends. I hadn't brought a rod or tackle, but we'd decided to walk down to the pond and fish. One of the friends had an extra rod I could use, a spinning rod. But he was left-handed, so he had the reel set up with the crank on the right. Now in all the years of casting a baitcaster left handed, I'd NEVER tried to cast a spinning rod left handed. I told him that before we started fishing...and then proceeded to pick up the spinning rod in my left hand and immediately start making near perfect casts. The only thing that felt awkward was reeling with my right hand...even though I've reeled those baitcasters with my right hand all these years. Go figure.

And by the way, I'm almost equally proficient with a fly rod with either hand, which really comes in handy fishing from a drift boat.

[Mitch f]

Didn't know you fished tourneys.

[Al Agnew]

Mitch, I haven't fished tournaments for a long time, except for one friendly tourney on Pomme de Terre that I have fished with my dad some years...haven't even fished that one for a couple of years. But back in the 1970s I fished quite a few local tournaments and a few regional ones.

[Mitch f]

Mitch, I haven't fished tournaments for a long time, except for one friendly tourney on Pomme de Terre that I have fished with my dad some years...haven't even fished that one for a couple of years. But back in the 1970s I fished quite a few local tournaments and a few regional ones.

I thought so, you can't get that good at casting by fishing once a week on the Big River!