Right or Left

[kickingfrog]

I'd give my left hand to be ambidextrous.....

left hand...ambidextrous....never mind..seemed funny at the time..........

spin left.. baitcaster right...

 

I think that's funny... Probably says more about me than you though??? I may use that line, but you'll receive full credit.

[walleyejigger]

i'm a lefty, spinning with my left, baitcast with my right, i have better leverage with my dominant hand and need more while baitcasting i also can cast a spinning with any arm but baitcasting much better with my left

[capt bruce]

I keep reading its all what your used too etc. lol ITs fishing it should be what WORKS THE BEST AT putting fish into the live well ??? Maybe not if you just fish to relax and enjoy the time out doors BUT if your in a tourament etc.its what is the best way to get bit and when your switching hands the bait is out of your control , any time the bait is not in your control you dont have any idea whats going on . I see people pay 200 300 dollars for a rod so they can feel whats going on at the bait and than at the most important time they are changeing hands ??? Do what FEELS right if ya want but if ya want fish do what catchs then the best even it it takes awile to get it right . Dont see golfers say I know I hold the club wrong and I cant hit the ball well but it FEELS right . just my 1/2 a cent based on 25 years of teaching bass fishing to people when IM guideing .Seams funny when the is fishing a sport thread came up no one mentioned that most people Fish with no instruction they just pick it up and start playing spend 100's if not 1000's on equipment they get no instruction on (dont want to speak about the electronics I see in some guys boats and how they dont have a clue on how to use them more than just the basics , ) This is where clubs like muskies canada etc. come in and attending seminars etc. so much to learn these days so much good stuff to use , if you want to become a succesfull angler learn learn and than read somemore . Ive probably said more than I should so im out of here before the shouting starts .

[Reef Runner]

Your wisdom is greatly apprecieated for sure Capt. Bruce.

 

reefrunner

[TJQ]

Try to steer them away from dating advice or whatever sicko things might be incinuated from this topic.

 

What??? LOL.. unsighltly comment around here... NEVER!!!

[Terry]

here

now he's casting right handed

 

 

[GBW]

Well said Capt. Bruce.

 

Like I mentioned, I just wish there was a store in the GTA that has an area for you to test casting L vs. R hand before you buy a baitcaster. You are 100% right, get educated and that's why I'm asking for such a store.

[kennyman]

I'm right handed, I throw with my right,cast with my right, reel with my left,spinning or baitcaster (pretty new to this). For fun I'm buying a fly set up too which will be the same, cast right,reel left ..... otherwise I'll be even more confused.

[OhioFisherman]

Geoff see if someone from the board is in your area with both, more of a comfort thing than anything else. You will pick up and use the tool you are most comfortable with, I can and have used both, even though I am a righty I prefer a lefty.

[jace]

baitcasters, i'm ambidextrous, with nearly equal casting skill with left or right arm. The reason i am is because i find this sort of casting takes a lot more strength and it wore out my shoulder and wrist, especially with the short pistol grips, so i learned to fish both sides with these reels.

 

Spinning rods for me are mostly left retrieve, easy casting, I can do it all day, every day for a month and not want to change arms.

 

I am also left handed on spinning for another reason that nobody has brought up. ...the bail on most spinning reels is set up to open for a left handed opening and line to be released out of a right hand finger without snagging or falling off the finger. Sure, the handles on most reels can change sides, but the bail opens to the same side and rotor doesn't change directions making it best for a right hand finger not left.

[MCTFisher9120]

Right handed so when i use a baitcaster and all spinning grar is on the right.

Edited June 29, 2008 by Mike The Bass Fisher

[Guest Johnny Bass]

I was just thinking about this the other day. I am right handed in everything I do. I also hold the rod with my right hand. I want to be able to horse and control the fish with my stronger arm, and the reeling with the left comes natural. I reel left hand with both spinning and bait casting.

 

I've noticed a lot of people complaining that the tackle stores lack left handed retrieves. Lets hope they realize that a lot of us are lefties and they keep their left handed retrieves stocks up.

[Greencoachdog]

Fishermen that know what they're doing cast with their dominant arm and crank with the other... the uncoordinated switch hands after casting.

[Sinker]

Fishermen that know what they're doing cast with their dominant arm and crank with the other... the uncoordinated switch hands after casting.

 

Call me uncoordinated all ya want Glen... ....I'll still throw as many, if not more casts in a day than most!! Its whatever your used to.......I'm used to casting and reeling with my right hand. I switch every time, while in mid cast......I don't even know it happens.

 

Come on up and we'll count how many we can do in a day........I'll keep up, I promise

 

Sinker

[jace]

Call me uncoordinated all ya want Glen... ....I'll still throw as many, if not more casts in a day than most!! Its whatever your used to.......I'm used to casting and reeling with my right hand. I switch every time, while in mid cast......I don't even know it happens.

 

Come on up and we'll count how many we can do in a day........I'll keep up, I promise

 

Sinker

 

 

Most top tournament guys are fully ambidextrous. It gives them all the casting angles that fishing certain structures and obstacles the he might come across. If you can only cast from one side, you lose all the mirrored angles of the other side. for example, casting to a tree with a right hand turning channel behind it is impossible to get into with the right arm without moving the boat to the left. that said, i've seen some instructional videos where the guy changes hands which takes away from his credibility in my mind. Changing hands works for the longer casts but it's not a good thing for short casting where a lot of strikes can be seconds after the lure hits the water. I found it hard to learn things from a person who obviously had a few things to learn himself.

[JohnF]

Fishermen that know what they're doing cast with their dominant arm and crank with the other... the uncoordinated switch hands after casting.

 

Us Canuckian boys grew up playing hockey. I guess when the coach said I need as many players who shoot left as right a bunch of us just said "Yup, OK coach." In fact I think most of us just felt more comfortable with our power and control hand on the top of the stick. For me it translated into baseball too, although while I played I wasn't a bad switch hitter. But I couldn't shoot right in hockey to save my soul. When I started to play golf left just felt better than right. My son, the golf pro, told me I had a beautiful swing right handed. Too bad I couldn't hit the damned ball. So left I hit it, not a helluva lot better, but better.

 

When I started fishing it seems that the cranks were always on the left side of the spinning reels so I just natcherly started cranking left. It felt good. I always cast with one hand with a spinning rod and it just seemed to be easier to time the line release and the wrist snap with my dominant hand. Cranking is a no brainer. Even my left hand can do it and nature has somehow arranged it that my left hand is not connected to my brain for anything requiring hand eye coordination.

 

Then I bought the baitcaster. Garry (of 2 RR's fame) kinda looked like he was gonna make me walk home from the middle of the lake when I sprung that fine little piece of equipment on him, but then he bit his tongue, said something like "Yeah. Well, okay, if that's what you bought." But after trying his, or mebbe it was Albert's, right hander I just didn't feel good with the crank in my right hand. Why would I add another step into the equation. Cast, switch, lock and wind - or cast, lock, switch and wind or just cast, wind. It's simply not intuitive. Seems to me all these right hand crankers are victims of a marketing paradigm, except the left handed ones. Efficiency dictates that I crank with the left hand. The damned rods are too heavy to trust to a single hand cast for one thing. I tried it off Garry's boat and felt like I came within an inch of chucking my shiny new Quantum in Whatchamacallit Lake. I like two hands for baitcasting. Mebbe when I grow up I'll be better at one handing but for now I'm a two hander. I like where my left hand is positioned for getting to the crank to start the magic when the lure bounces off the dock and sinks to the right depth.

 

If it gives right handers intestinal gas issues, tough. That's why we're out in the open air. As long as yer downwind of me, let 'er rip. Just don't spook the fish.

 

JF

[addict]

usually crank it with my right but if im feeling frisky ill crank it with the left

[jace]

Us Canuckian boys grew up playing hockey. I guess when the coach said I need as many players who shoot left as right a bunch of us just said "Yup, OK coach." In fact I think most of us just felt more comfortable with our power and control hand on the top of the stick. For me it translated into baseball too, although while I played I wasn't a bad switch hitter. But I couldn't shoot right in hockey to save my soul.

 

 

sounds like me. Although they sayyour power hand up front and pivot on the weaker arm, it feels awkward to me when i shoot puck right handed. It could also be that i'm weaker on that side of my skating too which throws in a whole new bag of reasons. golf i'm right though. hehe. baseball right, i'm slightly in more control right hand bike turns unless it's a trike or quad. ahah.

 

 

For distance, i need to cast both hands but it can be either side. My right thumb is smarter than my left thumb but it doesn't cause any problems. For pitching and flipping, i'm MUCH faster with the rod in the right hand but that's only becasue i started on a spinning rod ages ago, long before they called it pitching and flipping.

 

So how do you cast a pistol grip casting rod two handed?

[Clampet]

I'm right handed and reel with my left. My right arm provides improved casting accuracy and strength for better control. All my left hand has to do, is turn the handle in a circle. (And bail the boat ).

[Greencoachdog]

So how do you cast a pistol grip casting rod two handed?

 

Aren't pistol grip rods for children?

[jace]

Aren't pistol grip rods for children?

 

 

No, but they're becoming less popular. You can still find the StCroix pistol grips without looking too hard. It wasn't too long ago when pistol grips were all you saw on "bass" fishing gear. In the last 2-3 years split grips have taken over and they're all the rage and kitty's butt in the must-have rods. If you watch the custom rod scene, you'll be surprised how fast the big manufacturers pick up on the newest popular ideas in the custom rod market. Besides the split grip, the latest things to make it into factory rods is Japanese hard EVA grips, rods with no foregrips (like Kistlers and TD), using just skeleton seats (no insert) with a fully exposed blank, and tiny single foot fly guides for running guides on spin/cast rods.

[Clampet]

Aren't pistol grip rods for children?

 

That's so gay, not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Garry2Rs]

If you are a Pro, use what you like!

If you are a rookie learn to cast with a right handed reel if you are right handed, and vise-versa.

I would be pleased to teach you using my equipment and I'm sure many other experienced guys would make the same offer..

As a beginner you don't know what's comfortable or efficient etc. All you have is an idea based on doing something else.

The world is full of typists who, on the first day of school thought they would never be able to type with there weak hand....

Once you are able to cast using "standard" equipment, you can make up your own mind what is right for you.

Okay let's talk basics...

With spinning tackle you hold the reel at the reel seat, unless you are a rookie...grin.

You hook the line on your finger and release it as you cast. This is a coordinated move and is easiest for most folks when they use their strong hand. There is no need to reposition the hands after the cast and so it makes sense to reel with the weak hand.

The same is true in fly fishing, although most fly reels are set-up to crank right...

This is not true in bait casting!

With most bait casting reels, unless your trolling, the preferred way to hold them is called "palming." If you can't picture it already, all it means is that you hold the body of the reel in the palm of your hand. The purpose is to eliminate the wobble caused by cranking. If you hold the rod handle in casting position, like a pistol grip, the reel wants to torque up and down as you crank. This is very tiring on the wrist of the hand holding the rod.

You also look like a rookie...hahaha.

By passing the rod from your casting hand to your weaker hand, you automatically take the reel in the palm of your hand.

If you cast right, reel left there is no good way to change your hand position to this more comfortable and efficient grip.

There are times when you see Pro's using wrong handed reels. This is usually for Flipping and Pitching...Short, underhanded casts. The bait is swung toward the target generally in thick cover and shallow water, and the problem is you can "get bit" and be snagged before you can get the reel back in gear. Some reels come with a flipping switch, that lets you put the reel in gear without touching the crank-handle. So far these are all on mid-price reels not top-of-the-line models, so some Pro's use reels that crank on the wrong side so that they can drop the reel into gear as the bait is falling.

One last thought...

About 20% of the world is left handed. I read that 40% of the bait-casters that are sold are left handed.

Most of the reels for sale on E-Bay are left handed...I thing about 20% of the people bought the wrong reel!

By the way I am looking for a used left handed reel or two for my left handed clients.

[Greencoachdog]

No, but they're becoming less popular.

 

... and that would be because they're just aboot useless!

[Greencoachdog]

The ones that really make me laugh are the ones that hold a spinning rod upsidedown (reel on top) and turn the crank handle backwards!!!

Edited June 30, 2008 by Greencoachdog