Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing which hand?

In the past couple years I've started seeing something that is weird to me .. right-handed people reeling with their left hand. We never did that. Traditional way was to have the rod in the right hand casting and fighting fish when we were using the left to manage loose line but switching the rod to the left hand if we were reeling in or fighting fish on the reel. The only people who had the handle on the left side were the crazy south paws. When did reeling from the left become a thing for right-handers?

Which "handed" are you, and what do you do? Just curious ...

Been reeling with the left for over 50 years. I guess I should point out I am right-handed.

I,m LH but prefer to reel a Fly reel RH side

I reel with my left hand flyfishing.

Right handed, reel with my right hand. To do otherwise feels totally foreign.

I’m right handed, cast with right and reel with right. My dad taught me how to fish and all his rods were set up that way. At some point in time my dad switched and now he casts right and reels left.

Went fishing with my brother in law and he brought all the gear. He thought I was right hand cast left hand retrieve so brought a rod rigged that way. Once I got a fish on the reel, I couldn’t make my left hand work the reel to save my as.

Im right handed

Cast right, reel left.

That goes for everything- fly fishing, spinning, bait caster

This^^^^^^

I am with the old timers. Cast with my right, manage line with my left, real with the right.

Cast (sort of!) with my right, reel with my left. Right arm is stronger and I don't want to be switching hands when I am in the thick of it!

Why would you switch hands back and forth on the rod? That seems ass backward. i'm left handed, cast left reel right with everything.

+1 I’m exactly the same.

Most all saltwater fly guys I have been around reel with their dominant hand. The few trout guys I been around reel with nondominant hand.
Doesnt seem to be a steadfast rule. Im a saltwater guy. Every reel I have for salt is set up for my dominant hand. For tarpon and bonefish you can end up in your backing. If the fish turns and runs back at you. You need to reel a lot of line in quickly. Generally you get a long run at hook set so there is plenty of time to switch hands. Right or wrong after 25 years I doubt I will change up. PS my one trout set up is nondominant. The shop that set it up just asked if I was right or left hand. I commented that all my salt setups were dominant reel and the guy just looked at me and said “well that aint the way we do it for trout” since I was there to learn I just rolled with it.

Left handed and I do it the same way. Leads to some confusion when you ask how to spool the line or set up a reel.

I'm anything but ambidextrous. The important stuff must be done right handed. Switching hands to wind a reel has become second nature, I do it without thinking. I've little background in spinning reels, it's been around 50 years since I last manipulated one.

I am left handed and use a right hand reel. I never change hand positions.

To me the reel is a line storage device not something that I use to reel in the fish.

I developed a way to deal with the line when I fished the Madison river for trout. I didn't use the handle on the reel. I would strip in line as I fought the fish then using the palm of the hand would spin the rim of the reel taking up the loose line far more quickly than reeling. Of course the reel has to be the style with a rim that revolves with the spool. Oh sure I would crank the handle at times but when the action is fast, IMO, it is just too slow to deal with slack line.

An alternative to reeling is the vivarelli reel. It is lightweight and a pumping action takes up the slack line.

https://francovivarelli.com/shop/

Right handed, cast (sort of) right handed, reel with left hand.

Spinning gear is left hand retrieve.

Only have one baitcaster, and its right hand retrieve, but after using it a short while, I wish it were left hand retrieve, but it is fine as is.

Thats how I learned to fly fish..simple matter to transfer the rod to the left hand once a fish was on, and when I started all reels were set up for right hand reeling. Took some effort but most could be converted to left hand. I just never did.

I'm definitely a right cast/left reel guy. I tried to convince the GF this was the best way but she insisted on doing the right/right switch hands thing. Well, guess what? I have 1 less rod and reel than I used to now.
End of July we were fishing red salmon and she hooked a fish and as she went to switch hands, it made a run and the rod went flying out of her hands, never to be seen again.

Probably 75% of my fishing is with spinning reels. I'm right handed and reel left. I want my dominant hand handling the rod to set the hook and fight the fish. Same way with the fly rod.

Same

Likewise. It just never made sense to me to see someone cast with their strong arm and then switch hands to use the reel. For most fish it doesn't matter, based on their size, it just makes sense to cast with your strong arm and fight using leverage with our strong arm.

Yes

Reel and handle line with the left on trout rods.

Depending on wind direction I'll cast with either hand on top with my two handed spey rods. Wind those too with the left hand.

Same here.

All the old timers that taught me used their right hand to play the fish and reel. Worked for them, works for me.

Because it is, by gosh!

Right handed, cast RH, and reel LH.

Been doing that for as long as I can remember...