Switching right to left retrieve

[spring fever]

I would like to switch a mooching reel from right to left hand retrieve. Out of all the common mooching reels amundson , islander, Daiwa, trophy, and shimano-which can be changed? and also which is the easiest. I need to change one of them over for a friend and these are the reels I have available. If somebody has done one your knowledge would save me a lot of time and I would appreciate it. Thanks

 

[ryanb]

Amundson, Shimano and Daiwa can be switched, can't comment on your others on your list as I have no first hand experience.

 

[littlechucky]

Islander MR3 can be switched. Very easy.

If I recall correctly you only switch the clicker and re spool the line.

 

[RiverBoy]

if you’re really in a pinch and don’t feel like screwing around you can come grab one of my lefty mooching reels. i’m in willow point area of Campbell River
DM me

 

[brutus]

I would like to switch a mooching reel from right to left hand retrieve. Out of all the common mooching reels amundson , islander, Daiwa, trophy, and shimano-which can be changed? and also which is the easiest. I need to change one of them over for a friend and these are the reels I have available. If somebody has done one your knowledge would save me a lot of time and I would appreciate it. Thanks

just google the reel you want to do,there are tons of video(how too)most of them are easy to switch,just did some some amundson fly reels for a friend

 

[Rockfish]

I assume he has not done this type of fishing before. Most of us left handers living in a right hand world have learned to be very flexible and can do a number of things right handed with equal ability. You may want to let him try both a left and right hand set up and see what he prefers or if it makes any difference to him. If it makes no difference to him or he can adapt to the right hand reel quickly, leave them all right handed as he will be able to grab any rod that goes off. I started fishing right handed as a child as that was all that was available to me and still fish mostly right handed. Since I am equally good either way, I leave all the rods set up for the right handed as my fishing buddies are right handed so that they can grab any of the rods that go off. Sometimes being able to play fish left or right has its advantages. Occasionally if my arm is getting tired one way or just want to switch it up I just turn the rod upside down and reel with the other hand.

 

[saltcod]

I'm a lefty too but.. in my boat you better be able to reel left handed. My kids are righties, but they both reel left. something about no right handed reels around when they were growing up. I cast right, reel left. So do my boys. I have no problem on anybody else's boat using right, but I prefer to handle the rod with my right ( stronger) arm. I throw right, golf right, shoot right, hammer right, wrenches, whatever. How weird is that?

 

[Rockfish]

Not weird at all, very view people have complete ambidexterity, but most lefty's have adapted to do many things very well the same way right handed people do them. I write with my left, golf right handed, shoot a left handed bolt action rifle, use a right handed mooching reel but have to adapt a spinning reel to left hand use. I hammer left and play tennis left, baseball is a combination, I use a mitt designed for the left handed and throw with my left arm but bat right. My point to Spring Fever is not to assume that his friend will automatically need to have a left hand reel just because he is predominantly left handed.

 

[saltcod]

Yeah, 'bout the only thing I do left is write, and I can write right handed if need be. Skilsaw right, Rifle left. Actually can hammer left or right. When selling anglers new to fly fishing, even if right handed I always encourage them to reel left , cast right. Us lefties are typically way more versatile and close to ambidextrous. I get a kick out of the guys that you hand a right handed hali combo to and they turn it over and reel it backwards!

 

[ryanb]

I'm a righty but reel left. Years of right handed fly fishing made me get used to reeling left... Just didn't make sense to reel right when you hold the fly rod with your right hand...

All the right handed newbies I've had on my boat don't seem to have much trouble (with reeling that is).

 

[hippaisland]

Islander MR3 can be switched. Very easy.

If I recall correctly you only switch the clicker and re spool the line.

This is correct. Although you probably don’t want to respool your reel for a buddy if it’s just the day.

 

[ericl]

I'm a righty but reel left

For me it was using a spinner from a young age. I usually have my rod at waist height, but when the fish runs at you both hands go above my head to take-in slack.

 

[Rockfish]

Shimano's are easy to convert to lefty. Remove the two screws that hold the line guide in place, them move it to the left hand position, you will see one of the empty screw holes so that you reinstall it so that it faces the correct direction when you reverse the reel. Then you need to re-spool the reel to change the line direction coming on and off the reel. It has been years since I have done it but I think that is correct.

 

[Kildonan]

I’m also a mixed up lefty/righty. Some things righty, some things lefty, most things either way equally. I can adapt to any reeling scenario.

Golf though, I drive right but putt only left. Hockey, left only. Hitting a ball with a bat, doesn’t matter. Sometimes I pick up eating utensils and have to think for a moment which way to go. Lol

 

[spoiler]

I’m also a mixed up lefty/righty. Some things righty, some things lefty, most things either way equally. I can adapt to any reeling scenario.

Golf though, I drive right but putt only left. Hockey, left only. Hitting a ball with a bat, doesn’t matter. Sometimes I pick up eating utensils and have to think for a moment which way to go. Lol

I'm also a lefty but it seems natural to cast left-handed and reel with my right. Same with fly fishing, cast left-handed and reel./play fish with the right.
Most of the ABU Garcia reels are right-hand retrieve which it perfect for me but one of my right-handed friends has to get the left-hand retrieve!

 

[spring fever]

Got a shimano done-cleaned it at the same time-pretty easy-thanks.

 

[Steve95]

After fishing all my life with the rod in my right hand and reeling left, when I moved to the Island I found it quite a surprise that most reels I looked at were set to operate with the right hand. I am right handed but every reel in my possession is set to operate with a left hand retrieve. Why would you work a fly rod and have to switch hands to reel ? Same with a spinning reel, most are left hand retrieve but some are reversible for left handed people. When faced with buying a couple of trolling rods and reels for my boat, I just picked up a couple of Daiwa's and changed them to LH retrieve. It was funny when I had a friend on my boat who told me it was no problem, to realize he had payed out half the line, trying to reel in a fish, lol.

 

[eldplanko]

On a moocher, I’m pretty sure you need to re-wind on all the line when switching handedness... otherwise the line comes off over the top.... not exactly easy