Lefty/righty paradox

[sly_karma]

I'm a left hander in most things, except for activities I learned as an adult. For example, I consciously decided to use a computer mouse right handed because I could see those first designs were biased toward right handers. Using a fishing reel was another of those, as I didnt fish as a kid. As well as liking having my dominant hand on the rod, it was easy to see most reels were right handers.

What seems paradoxical to me is seeing most people happy to use a knuckle buster or level wind with their right hand, but for spinning reels the same people will switch the crank over and reel with their left.

Makes no sense to me, what's the story?

 

[Rain City]

I'm a left hander in most things, except for activities I learned as an adult. For example, I consciously decided to use a computer mouse right handed because I could see those first designs were biased toward right handers. Using a fishing reel was another of those, as I didnt fish as a kid. As well as liking having my dominant hand on the rod, it was easy to see most reels were right handers.

What seems paradoxical to me is seeing most people happy to use a knuckle buster or level wind with their right hand, but for spinning reels the same people will switch the crank over and reel with their left.

Makes no sense to me, what's the story?

It depends on if you're casting and have to switch hands. Most guys prefer to cast with their dominant hand. I fish level winds and moochers right and light spinning reels left.

 

[IronNoggin]

Every thing fishing related - left.
Except politicians.

 

[JWS]

Im left handed, first learned to fish as a kid, reeling with my left. I picked that up from my old man…who is right handed. I was forced to switch on the ocean, every mooching reel I first picked up was right handed. Every set up I have now (mooching, levelwind, centrepin, fly) are right hand retreive, except my spinning rod.

 

[Samnjoe]

I'm left handed . Hockey golf bat right.
Hold a fishing rod in my left hand and reel with my right. Why do right handed fly fishermen cast with their right hand then switch the rod to their left to reel in the fish? That is crazy!!!

 

[sly_karma]

Why do right handed fly fishermen cast with their right hand then switch the rod to their left to reel in the fish? That is crazy!!!

There's no understanding a lot of things that the feather chuckers do! Like buying a $$$$ reel and then stripping it out in a big mess that they'll have to deal with in the first frenzied moments of a hookup.

But it seems us lefties have, as usual, adapted and come up with a better outcome!

 

[onefish]

Lefty here who always reels with the right hand. Like my handedness, politicians can be of any stripe, there are good people, and A holes, on all sides.

 

[Macdeep]

Ya, not sure where I learned to reel, but I assume it was because of how all my dad and grandpa's stuff was set up... I'm right handed, grandpa right handed, dad left handed - we all reel right handed.

Yes, I was/am that guy who flipped the old spinning reel upside down to reel in.

 

[Samnjoe]

There's no understanding a lot of things that the feather chuckers do! Like buying a $$$$ reel and then stripping it out in a big mess that they'll have to deal with in the first frenzied moments of a hookup.

But it seems us lefties have, as usual, adapted and come up with a better outcome!

I fish about 70 days a year. About 1/2 of it is chucking flies. ALWAYS hold rod with left and reel with right. Why would any righty switch hands to reel?

 

[scott craven]

I fish about 70 days a year. About 1/2 of it is chucking flies. ALWAYS hold rod with left and reel with right. Why would any righty switch hands to reel?

Strange as it it seems I also cast with my right and reel with my left.
Everything else is right handed.

 

[Aquaholic]

 

[sly_karma]

View attachment 122259

I spotted a left handed store in San Francisco and went in to see if there was anything useful. One of the items was a tape measure, with numbering printed back to front when compared to a conventional tape.

This is very baffling, because tape measures are already printed correctly for a lefty. Try it with your own at home: pencil in left hand, tape in right. Hook tape on to something off to your left, pull it across in front of you so you can mark whatever imaginary length you're measuring. Which way do the numbers read? Left to right, and the numerals are the right way up. A right hander reverses this, because their penicl needs to be in their right hand, which results in the tape running right to left with numerals upside down.

There's your market for the so-called left handed tape.measure. The most used tool in the entire construction industry works best for about 10% of the people in it! I like it a lot, no complaints from me about scissors and can openers and measuring cups that are always back to front for lefties.

 

[sly_karma]

It depends on if you're casting and have to switch hands. Most guys prefer to cast with their dominant hand. I fish level winds and moochers right and light spinning reels left.

This doesnt explain why I see people being fine reeling baitcaster/level wind with their right, but spinning reels mostly with left. The latter are almost always built to be switched left or right according to owner preference, but overhead reels have to be purchased left or right due to design - and RH greatly outsell LH. Look at the buy/sell ads on this forum, very rare that anyone bothers to mention their Avet or Penn is RH, it's just assumed.

 

[Trophy 2000]

This doesnt explain why I see people being fine reeling baitcaster/level wind with their right, but spinning reels mostly with left. The latter are almost always built to be switched left or right according to owner preference, but overhead reels have to be purchased left or right due to design - and RH greatly outsell LH. Look at the buy/sell ads on this forum, very rare that anyone bothers to mention their Avet or Penn is RH, it's just assumed.

I am right handed and I own LH Avet MC and Penn Slammer just for any time I am casting buzz bombs etc . All my mooching reels , jigging level winds are all RH . Growing up as a kid learning to cast on a spinning reel was reeling LH so what I am used to .

 

[Aquaholic]

I am right handed and I own LH Avet MC and Penn Slammer just for any time I am casting buzz bombing etc . All my mooching reels , jigging level winds are all RH . Growing up as a kid learning to cast on a spinning reel was reeling LH so what I am used to .

Yes, same here. Years of left hand retrieval.

 

[spring fever]

I am abidextruos when it comes to fishing reels-years of practise I guess.

 

[Rain City]

This doesnt explain why I see people being fine reeling baitcaster/level wind with their right, but spinning reels mostly with left. The latter are almost always built to be switched left or right according to owner preference, but overhead reels have to be purchased left or right due to design - and RH greatly outsell LH. Look at the buy/sell ads on this forum, very rare that anyone bothers to mention their Avet or Penn is RH, it's just assumed.

Majority rules and most guys don't own the whole gamut of reels. You go on someone else's boat, you use what they have. But most guys had a snoopy spinning reel as a kid and needed their dominant arm to cast. Maybe that's all it is.

 

[RiverBoy]

i’m a lefty thru and thru. mooching reels, baitcasters etc are left. my wife and kids are righty thru and thru.
but: both my sons prefer left handed reels. my wife is right handed with her trolling setup but lefty with her jigging setup. i tried to talk her out that but she said it felt awkward; esp fighting fish. she tried my lefty setup. boom. so she jigs left and prefers it. makes no sense.

 

[Samnjoe]

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My kids grandkids and all of my fishing buddy's hold rod in left-hand reel with the right. whether they are right or left handed. The other way (wrong way) must be pretty rare.

 

[Squire]

I grew up with a trout casting rod and a Mitchell 300 spinning reel. Thousands and thousands of casts with my right and winding with my left kind of built it in to muscle memory.

When I first started salmon fishing at around ten, my father’s salmon reels were just bigger spinning reels. The first mooching reels I used were with guides as my work life took me away from the ocean except for sporadic then biennial fishing trips. The guides rods were set up as righties and I never changed over for one simple reason: spinning reels have a 4:1 to 5:1 retrieve ratio and mooching reels are 1:1. When a salmon swims at the boat it is much easier to wind a mooching reel in at 1,000 rpm with your dominant hand. Lol

When I got back in to the salmon fishing life in 2018 of course I outfitted myself with modern mooching/downrigging rods and reels but I also acquired a salmon sized spinning rod and reel for old school drifting and casting.