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Left hand (not handed) winding


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Been meaning to discuss this for a while.

I'm right handed, meaning I cast with my right hand, and like most righties I did wind with my right hand too. When I got the yak I got the irrits that the steering is my left hand, so after I've cast, every time I needed to adjust the steering I had to swap the rod to my right hand, adjust steering, then swap it back to left, repeat ad nauseum.

It got me thinking, why do righties wind right handed? Makes no sense when you consider pretty much every reel we use is geared, so it's not about more cranking powers, and you want your strong/accurate hand on the rod. It's just inefficient doing cast, swap hands, crank, when you can simply cast, crank.

So I changed the handle to left hand wind, and it took me all of an hour of fishing to be completely comfortable with it.

There's been a few interesting things that followed from it.

- almost all brand new reels out of the box with handle already fitted are left hand wind, at least the ones I've picked up in the last year or 2

- fly fishing was easier to pick up because hand swapping is risky with takes often as the fly lands.

- there's a lot less LH wind baitcasters, which isn't a huge issue as I can use RH, I just don't want to anymore :), but I expect most lefties buy RH wind baitcasters 🤣

- it's amusing immediately swapping the handle on a reel when the salesperson hands it to you as they always seem to swap it back when you're done testing

I feel like a goofball it took me 40 years to work out it's better for me and was so easy to change. YMMV ;)

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Normal is another word for average  @dmck ;) I'm supernormal* 🤣

*(it's a real word, I won that argument with my wife, and winning an argument with your wife proves you're supernormal)

 

@Des yeah that's a concern I have too, thumbs are more a problem, I look for reels with big round/EVA grips now.

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RH(or more correctly dominant hand) wind for me, the LH (non dominant) wind thing has been around for forever and frankly, to me, it makes no sense. Winding a reel is more of a fine motor skill job than holding a rod and often requires more stamina (ie chucking metal in the surf) also it is what you do easily more than anything else when fishing, sometimes you go fast, sometimes you need to be percise but you're doing it every cast.

Swapping hands after a cast (or while the bait/lure is still in the air) should be a fluid beautiful thing for a seasoned fisho, fighting a fish requires much more dexterity for the winding hand than the rod hand too, if you are waving your rod around like it's a magic wand and you are Harry Pottering fish is I'm sorry but you're doing it wrong.

I've tried the switch a number of times, I'm pretty coordinated and found it easy enough but it felt less natural and efficient to me.

Just my thoughts, if it works for you that's great but I reckon there's a reason people wind with the dominant hand and it's not due to some sort of fishing indoctrination or anything, rather that it is simply the best way for the majority to operate fishing equipment.

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I prefer my dominant ... and more dexterous hand holding the rod.

Stronger = less fatigue, longer casts

Dexterity = better and more subtle lure manipulations. More responsive to situations.

Whereas the non dominant (left in my case) merely has to wind and hold the net. Occasionally simultaneously. 

 

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Most  people start out bait fishing and the most difficult part of the process is winding the handle - so you naturally use your smartest hand to do it.

I made the switch to left hand wind when I started fishing lures that needed your smartest hand flicking the rod tip.

Just took a few sessions on the couch winding reels with my left hand, to create the muscle memory. It does feel very weird at first but I dont regret making the switch

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I grew up in the US, and using spinning gear (threadline) it was common practice to hold the rod with the right and wind with the left, so that's what I've always done. As I got to be a better fisherman I started using casting (overhead) gear too, but those are the other way around, holding the rod (and thumbing the spool) with the left and winding with the right, so I learned how to do that too. I say do whatever works for you and don't worry about it.

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3 hours ago, plankton said:

I grew up in the US, and using spinning gear (threadline) it was common practice to hold the rod with the right and wind with the left, so that's what I've always done. As I got to be a better fisherman I started using casting (overhead) gear too, but those are the other way around, holding the rod (and thumbing the spool) with the left and winding with the right, so I learned how to do that too. I say do whatever works for you and don't worry about it.

Yeah I had to hunt around for a left hand windD47FD53B-599C-4928-B28E-5DD989DBAFE4.thumb.jpeg.5c7a1c44c7693a306684fb91248e661a.jpeg

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I've always used the right hand for casting and retrieving a lure when trout fishing. It's something one gets used to over doing it for 57 years, by the time my lure hits the water I have the rod in my left hand and the right hand on the reel handle.    When trout fishing small streams and rivers it requires a lot of accurate casting in tight narrow bushy lined stretches of water,  casting right handed makes it a lot easier and save a lot of untangling line and lure from the bushes etc. If I were in open water fishing it probably wouldn't matter all that much casting left handed. Yes, I see your point too with fishing from the yak which is good and works well for you when steering it.

cheers

Adrian

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