On the Reel or Not

[PennypackFlyer]

I know that there are several of you out there that learned fly fishing prior to the introduction of left handed equipment. So, How many of you switched?

From my younger days, I remember that to wear a nice belt buckle you had to learn to put your belt on a certain way otherwise the buckle was upside down. Also, I had to spend $100.00 more on guitar equipment just to get it set up for a lefty.


The good thing about being a lefty in a guitar shop is the fact that you don't have many choices and spend less time shopping.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

I grew up using spring-loaded automatic reels my dad had lying around. THey were unnecessarily heavy and complex. Switching to click and pawl was a big upgrade. All were left hand wind.

When I started fishing salt water in SW florida, I bought my first disc drag reel. I had it set up for right hand wind on the advice of guides, shop employees, and experts who wrote the books I used as references (Mark Sosin, Left, etc.) all of whom fish salt extensively. It was a unanimous recommendation.

Today, all my reels under 7 WT are left hand wind, all above are right hand wind. I've had them set up like this for decades. I do not have an issue switching. During most trips I either use all left or all right hand wind so there is little mental adjustment for me.

A more extreme example from my salt water experience that demonstrates the value of both playing a fish from the reel and right hand wind is False Albacore fishing in the Fall at Harker's Island. I've done this a handful of times. Each albie is a torpedo that swims up to 35 MPH! They almost always make a few hundred yard runs when first hooked. The main challenge is clearing the line from the deck as the bullet train away. Then, they head back and you need to recover line as quickly as possible. Large arbor reels and right hand retrieve help a lot with this.

 

[redietz]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
I know that there are several of you out there that learned fly fishing prior to the introduction of left handed equipment. So, How many of you switched?

Not me. I tried back in the 80's to switch to LHR, but just ended up shifting the rod twice -- once into my left hand, only to discover that the reel handle wasn't there for my right hand to grab, and once to shift it back.

Another disadvantage of LHR for a right handed caster is the the reel handle is then in a position to tangle with the line. Never happens with RHR.

 

[tomgamber]

Fly-Swatter wrote:
I grew up using spring-loaded automatic reels my dad had lying around. THey were unnecessarily heavy and complex. .

That's interesting because i picked one up for 2 bucks at a yard sale because that weight balanced out an old heavy glass rod I had. Its perfect for panfish. Can't see using or it for much else though.

 

[afishinado]

Fly-Swatter wrote:

When I started fishing salt water in SW florida, I bought my first disc drag reel. I had it set up for right hand wind on the advice of guides, shop employees, and experts who wrote the books I used as references (Mark Sosin, Left, etc.) all of whom fish salt extensively. It was a unanimous recommendation.

Today, all my reels under 7 WT are left hand wind, all above are right hand wind. I've had them set up like this for decades. I do not have an issue switching. During most trips I either use all left or all right hand wind so there is little mental adjustment for me.

A more extreme example from my salt water experience that demonstrates the value of both playing a fish from the reel and right hand wind is False Albacore fishing in the Fall at Harker's Island. I've done this a handful of times. Each albie is a torpedo that swims up to 35 MPH! They almost always make a few hundred yard runs when first hooked. The main challenge is clearing the line from the deck as the bullet train away. Then, they head back and you need to recover line as quickly as possible. Large arbor reels and right hand retrieve help a lot with this.

+1

As I posted earlier, my trout rods are LHR, but my heavier rods for big freshwater fish like salmon, steelhead and muskie, plus my saltwater rod outfits are RHR since I'm right-handed and I use me dominant hand to reel.

Look at the video below. The rod is set up as RHR. As Fly-Swatter noted above, nearly all SW experts recommend RHR for RH anglers. In the fight with a big fish as in the video, any angler will switch back and forth to each arm many times. When it's time to reel in line, your dominant hand will likely be a lot more proficient to take in line quickly.

As with everything......YMMV.

 

[jbewley]

I am only curious here, but if some of you have SW rods set to RHR, why not have all your rods that way??

Jim

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Jim,

There's no good reason why not. My excuse is mainly habit with a bit of laziness. As with most things, when the benefit of switching my smaller reels to RHR outweighs the "cost" in effort, I will do it. It's just that the benefit for short running, smaller fish is much less than that for large, fast, long running fish.

For anyone not entrenched in habit nor inhibited by laziness, setting up all reels the same way makes a lot of sense.