I'm lying here reading the Reel News and there are some great things...Todd...loved your Marshall Fields article...still remember going there on an 8th grade field trip and it was as big a hit as the Field museum...in any event, I then got to Stu's article on "left-hand" 1500 series medalist fly reels...my head hurts. ...
So...I'm left handed, so I'm not supposed to have any sense about me anyway. However, I know that as a lefty, my comfort zone is to handle the rod with my left hand, with the right manning the reel crank. That's the "natural" way with spinning reels, with the reel below the rod...and for some reason, just the opposite is supposed to be true for the casting reel on the top of the rod. I can tell you for me, that's not the case. I freely admit that the right hand cranking with the casting reel might just have resulted from the lack of availabilty of a left hand crank in my family. but what feels most natural is to man the rod with my dominant hand...all the reel hand is doing is storing line...the rod hand is doing all the significant work, including directing the bait to the proper spot, setting the hook, and thumbing the reel if it be a caster.
But now comes the fly reel...Stu's results are overwhelming in favor of the "natural" crank side being the right side, given that the population is mostly right handed and the left hand cranks are so rare. However, this makes absolutely no sense to me, unless one was in the habit of changing hands when you crank. As much play as the cast has in fly fishing, I couldn't imagine doing it with other than my dominant side...and that means the reel crank for us lefties should be on the right side, not the left! I'm ( two words...five letters.)...at sea...
Re Right and Left hand Reels
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john elder
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This subject sort of came up before and there was some interesting discussion: Rightie/Leftie
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john elder
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Reel Geezer
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I have noted that in the past few years the manufacturers have begun to use the terms "right cranking reel" or "left cranking reel", rather than right handed reel.
A year or so ago in a major local sporting goods chain I inquired as to the sales ratio of right crank reels vs. left crank reels and learned that it is about 50-50 here in northwestern US.
And John, I crank my fly reels and spin reels with my left hand, and my baitcasters (at least most of them) with my right hand, and I'm right handed.
A year or so ago in a major local sporting goods chain I inquired as to the sales ratio of right crank reels vs. left crank reels and learned that it is about 50-50 here in northwestern US.
And John, I crank my fly reels and spin reels with my left hand, and my baitcasters (at least most of them) with my right hand, and I'm right handed.
Yo John-Read my little "Pfacts" article "Left Hand Pflueger Reels" a few issues back. I discussed the same dilemma. I cast a fly rod right handed, but if I play a fish from the reel (wish it happened more often!) I switch the rod to my left hand and crank with the right. This kind of discussion can get out of hand (no play on words meant here). Bad Bob (Who, by the way, is bi-handed. Wouldn't you have guessed it?)