spinning reel bail removal

[snagged in outlet 3]

I reel left handed on everything. I guess it came from fly fishing. 

I never understood the hand switching on bait casters.   I buy left hand reels. 

My reel is turning while the buzz bait is airborne 

[grizwilson]

2 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I reel left handed on everything. I guess it came from fly fishing. 

I never understood the hand switching on bait casters.   I buy left hand reels. 

My reel is turning while the buzz bait is airborne 

Do you cast with the right, that seems so efficient to me

[MOPanfisher]

Snagged in Outlet, I am with you, spinning reels, and casting reels all left handed.  For me it was a holdover from spinning reels, my fist ones didn't have the option to switch sides with the handle.  I have tried to run a spinning reel right handed and it just feels weird.  

[fishinwrench]

6 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I buy left hand reels. 

Actually you don't.  You buy left handed Baitcasters and "right handed" Spinning and fly reels.   

I never understood why a spinning or fly reel with the handle on the RIGHT was considered LEFT HANDED, but it is.  That's probably why you sometimes see some goonhead holding it upside-down and reeling backwards.

[lee G.]

That always baffled me to. (lefty here)

Always been confused about the whole right left reel thing.

[Al Agnew]

The big question is, why did the early baitcasting reels all have the handles on the right side?  I've heard two explanations...one is that with the really early ones, you were supposed to turn the reel upside down after the cast to reel.  That makes absolutely no sense.  The other makes a little more sense--it's just that most people are so strongly right-handed that they felt far more comfortable reeling with their dominant hand as well as casting with their dominant arm.

I've said many times before that I taught myself to cast a baitcaster left-handed back in the days when I had aspirations to be a tournament angler.  Back then, ALL baitcast reels had the handles on the right side.  To be more efficient, I just started out one spring doing nothing but casting left-handed.  After a couple trips, it felt natural, and I've never looked back.  At the same time, I started out casting spinning tackle with my right hand and reeling with my left, and THAT always felt just as natural.  However, the weird thing is that, when baitcast reels with handles on the left side first came out, I decided to try one.  I'd bought it for Mary, and she learned on it and handled it just fine.  I picked it up, and spent a day casting.  The casting part felt perfectly natural--my right hand had never lost the muscle memory from casting spincast and baitcast reels growing up.  But reeling was another matter.  I never got comfortable reeling with my left hand--even though I routinely reeled a spinning reel with my left hand!

Interestingly, one time a few years back, I was visiting somebody who had a spinning reel with the handle on the right side.  I picked it up, and in about 10 casts, I'd gotten reasonably comfortable casting it with my left hand and reeling with my right.  And whenever I pick up one of the kids' spincast reels, I automatically cast it right-handed--can't do it nearly as well left-handed.

And I can cast a fly rod almost equally well with either hand.

Of course, a lot of tournament anglers in my age class learned, as I did, on baitcast reels with the handle on the right, and for many years they switched hands, never teaching themselves to cast left-handed as I did.  Now, however, they usually palm the reel in their left hand, and cast two-handed, with their right hand on the rod handle and right thumb on the reel.  I've never gotten comfortable palming the reel...it simply feels very uncomfortable and it seems like a weaker grip.  Maybe it's because my hands are somewhat small.

Do anything long enough and you get very efficient at it.  Lots of people still switch hands, and do it very quickly and easily.  

The biggest advantage for me with casting a spinning reel right-handed, and casting a baitcaster left-handed, is that I can switch from one to another and not get as tired by the end of the day.

[snagged in outlet 3]

8 hours ago, grizwilson said:

Do you cast with the right, that seems so efficient to me

Yep, cast with right hand reel with left.

 

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Actually you don't.  You buy left handed Baitcasters and "right handed" Spinning and fly reels.   

I never understood why a spinning or fly reel with the handle on the RIGHT was considered LEFT HANDED, but it is.  That's probably why you sometimes see some goonhead holding it upside-down and reeling backwards.

I never knew that.  I never understood the hand switching either.  I want my dominant hand holding the rod.  I can fish either way but I fish better with right hand on rod.  I two hand cast a bait caster almost all of the time if the position is right.

My buddy went to Bass Pro after seeing my left hand bait cast and the dork behind the counter said "You don't want a left handed bait cast reel because those reels aren't as good".  As if a CNC machine knows the difference between right and left hand.  

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Lefty baitcaster and righty spinning for me, I would rather let my dumb hand do the dumb work and my right hand control the fish