Thank you all so much for your help! I'm going to practice a bit both casting left handed and also casting right handed then switching hands and see if I feel like I could get used to either method. I played with the new rod and reel today for a few minutes outside practicing casting both ways. Only thing I can tell you at this point is that it's probably going to take me more time to learn a baitcaster than I had anticipated. But that's ok.