LH verses RH Baitcasters

I use both...normally I throw spinners and cranks on lefties but, have found for Carolina riggin' and jig fishin' I'll use RH because it breaks things up and your arms aern't as tired at the end of the day.

I'm like Tee and use both depending on fatigue level or application. A RH BC really comes in handy when flippin for me. The lefty seems to get tangled in the handle when I use it. For just about any other application I use a lefty. I also find it much more "natural" to fight and guide fish with the rod in my right hand.

It is my opinion that a reel that cranks on the left side is a RIGHT handed reel.

I'm very predominantly right handed in everything I do - not ambidexterous in anything at all and I reel on the left side. It makes no sense to cast with your right hand and then switch hands to start reeling. Furthermore, most of the work and finesse in fighting a fish is done with the rod-holding hand and not the reel crank.

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-03-06 AT 11:42AM (EST)[/font][p]I throw right and reel right with each, I don't see the big deal about a hand change...IMO the most important action you can put on a crank bait is a 2 to 3 second pause after the splash. Anything else is going to be sinking, the only thing I reel immediatly is a buzz bait and even at that there is no time crunch or anything like that. I just let the follow through on the cast meet my left hand just in front of my sternam, I've actually changed hands before the lure lands without any conscious effort.

Fishgurl - "Ambidexterous"? Gaining more knowledge is one of the reasons I enjoy this site so much. I never realized I would also be increasing my vocabularly knowledge as well..."Ambidextrous"...Now all I need to do is learn to use this word in a sentence....just kidding fishgurl!...

Thanks for all the responses fish heads...

Yeah - I had a typo in that one, unfortunately. I know what it means even if I can't spell it.

'gurl,

I don't want to pick a fight, but... surely you don't think you are right, and almost the rest of the world is wrong about what is a left and right handed reel do you?

I was but a weeeeeee child (borrowed that irish accent from my maternal grandmother... everything else is german) in the early 60's casting an open faced reel on the Ohio river. Everyone in my family, save 2 are right handed. All of our reels cranked on the right side. Our 2 lefties had to learn to adapt. One did, my brother, was a good river fisherman, my other a sister, was never one to enjoy the outdoors anyway...LOL

I'm kind of like the other guy that said he has his rod switched by the time the lure gets to the water. I normally switch hands while the lure is in the air. I guess when you have been casting one way for over 40 years, it's kind of hard to change. I'd like to try a lefty just to see if it is better, but I can begin reeling my buzz bait as soon as it hits the water. What does concern me is flipping. In that case, I do think a left handed reel would be an advantage. However, I don't do much flipping.

and by the way, I can't spell ambidexterous either. How close was that one?? LMAO.... Dang, wish we spelled phonetically here in America.

Danny

I pretty much agree with fishrgurl. On short flipping and pitching you really need the rod to stay in one hand until the lure enters the water. You need that gentle upswing and thumb action on the spool to let the lure swing up and then fall into the water without a ripple. Not saying it can't be done while switching hands but it would definately be more difficult (if you have switched hands before the lure hits the water how did you feather the spool and let the lure swing upward for a soft entry?). I wold say over handed casting would be less of a disadvatage switching hands. But most people get used to fishing one way and its hard to change. I would bet money that the average person could set the hook faster, harder and fight the fish better if the rod were in the more coordinated hand (if he started that way). Just my opinion. Most of the pros switch hands so I don't think its the most important thing in fishing. But if your just getting started in fishing or want a little bit of advantage I would strongly reccomend right handed people give the left handed baitcaster a try to see if you like it better before using a so called right handed baitcaster. I know this is all just opinion but how you right handers can say you can feel the lure, set the hook, react to a tick or strike and fight a fish with you left hand better amazes me but to each his own. The right hand does most of the work when working a worm, jig, etc. On a crankbait its the opposite hand that does most of the work. Good disscusion. Once you go left you never go back.

Danny I agree with you also. On pitching and flipping it can be an advantage. I think alot of people (right handed) use right handed reels because they started fishing that way and until the last few years those of us that wanted to use left handed baitcasters had very few options. Most of the reel manufacturers only made low quality left handed reels and the top quality reels were all right models. But in the last decade there has been a great increase in the quality of left handed reels. Shimano and others are now making most of the reels in right or left and as a result many more right handed anglers are using left handed reels. And I bet that many of you left handed people got used to right handed reels because that was all you could find in the past. And once you get used to fishing one way it is hard to change.

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-04-06 AT 04:55AM (EST)[/font][p]I haven't seen anyone else mention this, but I've gone to a two-hand cast much of the time. I use a RH baitcasting reel; my LH is on the butt of the rod. There is no "switch-over" this way.

I started using this method when I needed very long casts with crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Now about the only time I don't use two hands is when flipping and pitching.

I think it helps my accuracy. It also takes less effort. At the end of the day I'm much less tired now than when I casted RH-only.

Still use RH cast, LH crank on spinning gear.

I cast RH and reel LH with spinning. I wish I had done the same 25 yrs ago with baitcasting. However, in the past few years I've practiced casting a baitcaster with my LH and reeling right handed. Being able to cast from both sides makes for an easier day on my casting arm(s). I'm still uncomfortable casting to small targets with my LH though.

Ambidextrous with a computer mouse, and nothing else. Got tired of swapping those southpaws' mice over when I'd work on their computers.

I'm RH and reel on the right side with casters, and on the left with spinners. Too old with too many 100's of thousands of casts behind me to change now.