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Posts: 366
| I imagine that when baitcasters were invented, most lures were simple cast and retreive, and therefore reeling was where most of the coordination was required. The other hand simply held the rod, and I'd be willing to bet that very few anglers palmed the reel as they do now. The majority of people are right handed, so they put the handle on the right. Now a days we work jerk/twitch baits with a flurry of action. Throw in thumb bars and figure eighting and the reeling hand is the one that is hardly doing anything technical. So now companies are making left-hand reels, because there is a demand for them.
Hooksets are something that can be debated till the end of time because it is more about personal preference and feel. There is also the aspect that hooksetting is what, 0.5% of what we do when fishing? Granted it is a pretty important 0.5%, but it isn't the whole game. When people weight lift do they have a heavier dumbbell in their dominant hand, than the one they hold in there other? To be honest I usually set the hook with both hands by palming the reel and gripping the handle, and the leverage is provided by the torso twisting away from the fish. |
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Posts: 375
| in the "perfect world" on every cast i am more "comfortable" with my right foot to be out in front of my left while reeling with my left hand because my "base balance point" is on the right "power side" of my body which i have more control over as is with my stronger right arm. i prefer to keep "things" as consistant as possible and deal with whatever hookset angle / side knowing and feeling that my body is at it's most solid and most powerful position. my goodness, i don't beleive i typed that...the engineer in me coming out concerning musky fishing...lol...i guess it's what WE do...lol.
Edited by STUSHSKY 12/9/2008 2:44 PM
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Posts: 897
| This is silly, who cares which side you reel on. To each his own, do what works for you. The only thing that sucks about being a lefty is finding reels. You pretty much have to order everything online unless you get lucky.
I'm a righty and reel with a left handed reel because I can work baits better, set the hook better, and fight fish better that way. I've tried using right handed stuff and have caught fish, but I also lost a lot more fish because I wasn't used to setting the hook and fighting fish with that set-up. Could I learn to fish right-handed, sure, probably will have to after a few more years of wearing my body out with double 10's. For now, I'm just gonna do what is working...
Someone above mentioned endurance and hook setting power. For those of you who still palm your reel, try using the foregrip for a couple days next year and see how your endurance and hook setting power compares. The boys up at AML turned me on to this last year and I've been using the foregrip ever since. Makes a world of difference for me in both categories. |
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Posts: 225
Location: Nordeast Minneapolis | This is a little funny... a buddy and I were recently having a discussion about why it would be that spinning rigs would typically have the reel handle on the 'left' and casting rigs on the 'right'. Bear in mind, this quote is from Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. But here's what the interwebs had to say:
"Early reels were often operated by inverting the reel and using back winding to retrieve line. For this reason, the reel crank handle was positioned on the right side of the reel.[1] As a result, the right-hand crank position for bait casting reels has become customary over the years, though models with left-hand retrieve are now gaining in popularity."
The source cited is 'Henshall, J.A., Book of the Black Bass Cincinnati: J.A. Henshall (1881)'. So I guess all you folks reeling with your left hand are doing it right, and the rest of us aren't.
But I don't care. I like reeling with my right hand (on a casting rig) and you're not going to get me to change!!! 
But I may just pick up a giant spinning rig to use once in awhile. |
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| What hand do you guys reel with on a fly reel?? That matters about as much as comparing what side you reel with on a spinning reel when asking about using a baitcaster. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | Guest - 12/9/2008 1:24 PM
If your right handed and using a left handed reel...that means your hookset is going towards the left (non dominant) side of your body. its actually a weaker hookset. foot work and hips are more important than your arms on a hookset.
I think the main reason that baitcasters were made right side cranks is because of the thread direction. Right hand thread on the left side would loosen up when cranked. Nowadays we use reverse threads on left side cranks and that doesn't happen.
For guys using their right hand cranks for years, don't change. But for gosh sakes if you are teaching a youngster or the gf or wife (that is right handed), get them a left side crank. It would take them years to develop the mechanics that you have acquired over the years. That is why I say they would be miles ahead with a left side crank.
And for those who say "you are only setting the hook .05% of the time", do you really want to chance a big fish, maybe the only fish you've had hit all day???? This is what puzzles me about muskie anglers. They pay attention to every little detail like purchase the best rods, sharpen the hooks razor sharp, best leader, best line, proper knot, every little attention to detail to up your odds to catch a big muskie and not using your dominate hand to impart better action on your lures and better hook sets is not an option. Makes no sense to me. |
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| with many lures though Gerard the actual reel handle, not the rod imparts quite a bit of the action, lures like triple D's are best used with very little or suttle rod action and the reel handle and how you crank/twitch/pause is how the lure gets it's great action...I have zero belief that I will set the hook any less with my right hand on the handle as oppose to my left...I am right handed but palm the reel with my left hand and reel/crank with the right..been doing it that way since 1993 and find it to me second nature and almost not even a conscious thing switching in mid cast....to me, it is the way that is comfortable and i'm just as strong with my right arm as left..
I don't buy the idea that guys that do things this way are somehow setting the hook with any less force...
no trouble getting hooks where they need to be...imo....sort of agree with others who say it's silly...do what feels best and stick with it...i can't stand holding the rod in my right hand and reeling left...
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| fortunately, many of the best reels are offered in both right- and left-hand crank.
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Posts: 1462
Location: Davenport, IA | casting with my right and reeling with my reel feels natural to me. It does not take any extra time because I switch hands while the lure is in the air. When I'm bass fishing I pitch left handed. This just feels natural to me. I tried using left handed reels and could not properly set the hook. I do reel with my left hand with spinning reels, but the way the rod is held is different. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | Brad did you even read my entire post?? You must glazed over the part where I say "For guys using their right hand cranks for years, don't change............".
If I was starting out or instructing a right handed person I would not make them switch hands. No reason to and they will be at a point where you are now after years of fishing a whole lot quicker. Am I wrong???? |
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| yes, in part, I think you are..mainly with the last sentence about how you feel the dominant hand should be on the rod or reel to impart "better" action. I don't feel that is correct.
It's all in what's comfortable and that will determine how a person will choose to hold the rod/reel and with what hand...by saying a person can impart, as you say, better action on the lure by holding in in their dominant hand, ie, if they are right handed to hold the rod or palm the reel in their right hand, will somehow impose better action on the lure is false to me...it should be, what feels comfortable....i started doing it that way, way back when...probably before 93 with bass and pike rods..and think from day one, i was more comfortable that way....so i get the part you say, keep doing it the way you're doing it, but i don't agree with your statement about imparting better lure action by simply holding the rod in the dominant hand...do what's comfortable from day one...the rest will fall into place...that is what i was trying to say... |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | I'm saying you will get there quicker (falling into place, if you will) if you use your dominate hand/arm to impart the action on a lure. As stated here many times anybody can teach their body to do anything if they do it long enough.
I will also add that I love fishing behind some that switches hands. Many times I have outfished them, even using the same lure. They can't get a good sploosh or even work a jackpot in one place.
Make it be known that I don't care what others do or how they cranking their reels. This board is about giving information. And I believe most will say that the information I give is true. Take it or leave it - your choice. |
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Posts: 2378
| do what you feel comfortable doing...end of story. |
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | BALDY - 12/10/2008 10:10 AM
do what you feel comfortable doing...end of story.
Cane pole - can't get into the trees as far...
S. |
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| Wow - lots of interesting opinions (and plenty or irrelavent ones).
I *think* (but don't know) that my hook sets, especially, would improve if I held the rod in my right hand and reeled with my left. Have any of you who switched expereinced an improvement in hooksets? Or any other positive or negative results from changing? Don't give me your thoughts; give me your experiences. |
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Posts: 8775
| ROL:
I can set the hook equally well, either way. BUT. Fishing with a left handed reel makes it much smoother casting. I cast over my right shoulder, thumb the spool, engage the reel, start reeling, and tuck the rod onder my arm all in one motion. The power of your hookset, in my opinion, has much more to do with where the fish hits. Nearly all of my fish as of late have hit in exactly the same spot -- right on the outside turn of the figure 8, where your arms are extended, and all you really have to do to set the hook in the opposite direction the fish is going (torawds the fish) is swivel your hips and pull your arms towards your body. As far as turning yout torso goes, I doubt (unless you play baseball or something) there's a significant difference in strength.
What I have noticed switching back and forth is that you have to pay careful attention to how you are doing your figure 8's. I like to make sure that when I hit the "money spot" on the 8, I'm set up perfectly to drive the hooks home, and not in a position where I can't really set the hook because I'm off balance wth my arms across my body. Which side of the boat you are on changes how you figure 8 and how you would set the hook.
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Posts: 767
Location: Ames, Iowa | Go with what Stushsky said. That has always worked for me for the reasons stated. My left hand has learned to be very coordinated reeling hand, that is all I ask it to do. But it, it's wrist, and its left arm are not very coordinated at casting accurately, thumbing the spool, "feeling" the wind, working a bait, all of the subtle things that go into a cast and presentation. Never gave it a chance to learn those things. Hopefully I won't ever need to. 5 degrees in Ames, IA, about 180 days till Mn opener.
djwilliams |
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| we, european, will be glad if you ask for more left handed reels.
Please, as you are there, ask for a good left handed linecounter.
2 years ago I tried to switch to a right handed because of a pain in my right wirst after one hour of fishing, but no way, I can live with my wirst problem, but I can't fish with a right handed reel...
ah, the pain also is gone.
fabio
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Posts: 375
| gatoRRR,
although i only troll maybe 10% of the time, i have been using cabela's brand depthmaster gold left-handed line-counters and they have worked well for me!
stan
Edited by STUSHSKY 12/11/2008 2:33 PM
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Posts: 531
Location: Hugo, MN | Does anybody really feel that they can't set the hook properly with their "non-dominant" hand? I mean, c'mon. Somebody needs to do an actual test and show me how many pounds of difference there is in the hookset power each way. Somebody told me he actually measured how much weight could be lifted from the ground with a hookset, and it was around fifteen pounds, max. I'm not sure you're going to find more than a pound of difference between the two hands, and that's probably due more to mechanics and coordination. Just do whatever you feel is most comfortable, and encourage youngsters to do the same.
Not that it matters, but I cast over my right shoulder or sidearm, and switch to reel with my right just before the bait hits the water. It's easy. I feel my left arm does a fine job of setting the hook, and my right hand is more coordinated for reeling. I've tried casting with my left hand and it was embarassing. I also still have to switch my grip on the reel no matter how I do it. I thumb the spool with my trigger finger around the rod trigger, and end up palming the reel with the trigger between my pinky and ring finger. I guess that all depends on how you grip your rod or reel.
For you guys that are right handed and cast left handed so you don't have to switch hands, doesn't that mean you have to thumb the spool with your non-dominant thumb?
Welcome to the Winternet. |
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Posts: 102
Location: Bowling Green, KY | Just thought I'd chime in here with my two cents worth. I'm as right handed
as a person gets, and I reel right handed. I guess 20 years of bass fishing before
there were any left handed bait casters cemented this habit. While I understand
the logic of a right handed person using a left hand crank reel they feel absolutely
foreign in my hands. I like to palm my reels during the retrieve and there's just
no way possible that I see to do this with a left hand crank reel. Maybe if you had
hands the size of catcher's mitts you could maintain a palming grip on a musky
sized reel and reach over the side plate and still thumb the spool, but I can't.
I do use spinning tackle with the handle on the left side though. Palming a spinning
reel would be a little weird! LOL I can personnally can set the hook much harder
with a baitcasting rod, so I think hook setting power comes more with practiced
technique and muscle memory than which side of the reel the crank is on. Maybe
that's two and half cents worth! |
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Posts: 375
| musky vs. bass (panfish...:)) leave your "money" hookset to your power arm for muskies whilst grasping the rod on the foregrip! nufsed...jmo...lol
Edited by STUSHSKY 12/13/2008 3:33 PM
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | I'm right handed and have always used a left-handed retrieve baitcast and spinning reel.
Jed V. |
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Posts: 625
Location: ashtabula ohio | it is an obvious adavantage to be able to use both reels for the long day. anyone who hasnt yet...should. i agree it takes about a season or less to get it, but when you do you will be better off in any fishing situation... you guys [as usual} make threads like these confusing to some and ridiculous to most. |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | With the use of 100lb braid and stiff 8'-9' rods you do not have to use a Babe Ruth hook set, and reeling size 10/13 blades all day, as fast as I can, my right arm /hand will hold up all day long, my left arm/hand lasts for 2-3 hours only. I don't see any advantage for a musky guy. Now in bass fishing when over half of your hits happen when the bait hits the water yes, but in musky fishing over half of your hits happen by the boat. Do what feels right to you !!!!!! |
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