# fly fishing reels



## newsharker (Oct 31, 2009)

Why are most fly fishing reels left hand retreve? I am a lefty but reel withh r/h reels. This feels strange. I am a newb.


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## Worm Drowner (Sep 9, 2010)

Because most of us cast with our right hands and don't want to switch hands to reel. Almost all fly reels are reversable, so you should be able to switch one very easily to a right hand retrieve.


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## FishinCowboy (Sep 8, 2010)

With fly fishing, you manage the line with your right hand, you reel very seldom.
My reels are changeable, as most are. but until you have got it down, I would leave it as it is, get your system down, then change to how you want it.
my 2 cents


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## newsharker (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks. Since I am a lefty I cast with my left arm and want to reel on my right. Ii know its kinda strange.


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## Dawg (Oct 4, 2010)

Nothing wrong with it, I am a lefty, cast with left arm, reel with right.


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## Pete A. (Dec 10, 2010)

I've been flyfishing and baitcasting since I was 13 (now 57), I grew up casting right and reeling right. I never feel comfortable with the whole spinning reel left hand deal. My right has had years of muscle memory retrieving. 

IMHO if you are a right handed baitcaster trying fly fishing you will be far more comfortable with right hand retrieve. It's probably second nature to simply switch hands and retrieve. That part will be easy for you, stay with what is easy. 

Save the effort/conscious thought for casting form.

Pete A.


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## devil1824 (Sep 4, 2010)

Dawg said:


> Nothing wrong with it, I am a lefty, cast with left arm, reel with right.


Same here. Made a world of difference when I switched.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

This subject is one of my "pet peeves" for want of a better word. The great Lefty Kreh, who has forgotten more about fly fishing than most of us will ever learn, says you should reel with your most dextrous hand- right handed/ right hand retrieve/ rod in left hand. His reasoning is that you can reel faster with your "better hand," so if that bonefish or kingfish runs right at you, you can get that slack line back on the reel as quickly as possible, so as to keep him from coming off the hook.

Hate to disagree with Lefty, but I, and my late/great friend Chris Phillips take the other tack. When the fish is in close, and you are landing it, there is a lot of dexterity required with the rod hand in maneuvering and landing the fish. We therefore feel it's better to have the "good hand/arm" controlling the rod. Ergo right handed, left hand retrieve.

Lefty is correct regarding faster retrieve with the better hand. However, my friend Chris and I fished together many days on the Jammer II just the two of us (one of my very favorite pictures is of Chris with two rods in his hands- one loaded up and going port, and one loaded up and going starboard- with him and his great smile on his face), and we consequently had many long conversations about fly fishing, and one day we were out at Salvador, and this subject came up. So when we got back in that day, we checked it out by putting out 100' of line, leaving it loose (like a fish charging you), and timed how long it took to retrieve it with our "good hand" vs. our "bad hand." It was faster with the good hand, but it was really and insignificant difference for both of us.

Bottom line *EVERY TIME* you hook a fish, you have to "play it" thus requiring the dexterity of the "good hand/arm." How often in your fly fishing career have you had a fish really charge toward you requiring that, what turned out to be, insignificant increase in retrieve speed?

Sorry Lefty. By the way if you ever have a chance to attend one of his casting demonstrations, do whatever you have to do, to go. He is amazing.

THE JAMMER


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## Pete A. (Dec 10, 2010)

Life's too short to have a pet peeve concerning a simple choice in which hand operates the reel. Possibly you should speak with all the bait casters of the world about this (got to be millions) who fight plenty of whopper fish with their "weak" arms. 

I keep my pet peeves for TSA, Obama, taxes,.......................... not against a fellow fly fisher. 

I only met Chris a couple of times at Houston Flyfishers meetings many years ago, a couple of times at FTU and actually attended one of Lefty's classes. I don't remember either getting in a twist of this subject, surely not enough to make it a pet peeve.

We probably don't drink the same soft drink either. But that's ok.

Pete A.


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## the hook (Aug 8, 2011)

Strange, as stated, but I hold the spinning rod and fly rod in my right hand and reel with left, but on the baitcaster, I cast with right, then switch hands and reel with right....I have lost 2 light/med set-ups to either weakies or blues on some hard hits when I had the pole in my left hand and couldn't get my right on for some reason or another....


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Pete A. said:


> Life's too short to have a pet peeve concerning a simple choice in which hand operates the reel. Possibly you should speak with all the bait casters of the world about this (got to be millions) who fight plenty of whopper fish with their "weak" arms.
> 
> I keep my pet peeves for TSA, Obama, taxes,.......................... not against a fellow fly fisher.
> 
> ...


Pete you are way off base here. This was not against a fellow fly fisherman. I m not in "a twist" about it. When I said pet peeve (which was probably the wrong choice of words), it wasn't meant in any where near the context you have applied to it. It's not that it bothers me, it's that it's a subject that is often discussed, and sometimes people just blindly follow without doing their own homework. Chris certainly didn't get "in a twist" about it, but I have seen Lefty three times, and he has mentioned the subject every single time-- twist???? Maybe.

The techniques in handling a fish in close with a fly rod are totally different than your bait casting example. I have been doing both for over half a century. The fly rod is much more unwieldy-- 9' vs. 6' or 7' presents totally different problems, which I feel are negated by using the strong hand/arm.

And again, How many times have you really been "charged" by a fish so as to benefit from that faster retrieve or your "good hand"??? It hardly ever happens, and even when it does, the vast majority of the time, the fish stays on anyway.

Yes people fight large fish with their weak hands all the time. People also fly fish, and pull the fish in by pulling in the line with their off hand, as opposed to getting the line on the reel, and reeling them in- totally taking out the ability to have use of the drag. Both scenarios are wrong, but people still do it.

Not trying to rile anyone or anything up. Just reflecting some actual experience in making up my own mind as to which was I would go, which happened to be corroborated by Chris, yet negated by Lefty. Just trying to point out there are benefits to either side, and people should do their own homework, as opposed to blindly following.

Also, as was said, we all actually "do the switch" if we fish with spinning equipment, and then go to bait casters. But I do think you would have to admit that in close, it requires much more dexterity with a 9' pole than with a 6-7' pole.

Regarding soft drinks, I am very partial to diet Mt. Dew. Mixed with vodka, we call it a vodkadew. Caffeine from the dew and alcohol from the vodka- what's not to like about that one.

By the way regarding Obama, TSA, and taxes, we are definitely on the same page.

Good discussion.

THE JAMMER


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## Pete A. (Dec 10, 2010)

I'm a Diet Coke-aholic. Gastly as they taste I'll keep good liquor out of those. Like my Scotch old and on the rocks with a bit of good cheese & a few saltines. 

I'm a youngster only been doing this off and on for 44 years, started when I was 13 in No. Louisiana. Still have a few automatics and white Shakespeare Wonder Rods. Those spring-wound clunker could care less which hand was which (forget about fish that required a drag!). 

Pete A.

PS.: traffic on 290 is big pet peeve of mine


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Wow when you said spring wound, I flashed back to my teens on the upper rio grande with my Granddad, when I started fly fishing. I remember pulling that lever, and totally jerking the fly out of many brown's mouths. Also had the shakespeare wonder rods.


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## newsharker (Oct 31, 2009)

So...here is another. My father shut my grandfathers fly rod in the trunk. It was a shakespear. My dad says it was I think red and black. It would be pretty cool to find one for my dad. I know its a little off topic.


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## Joe. T. (Jun 7, 2008)

im a righty and reel lefty.i would do whats comfortable.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Joe. T. said:


> im a righty and reel lefty.i would do whats comfortable.


Joe you have it right on there. An analogy I forgot to use earlier is shooting a shotgun. I once had a great friend when I lived in Reno, who was a Level ?? sporting clays instructor. He only had one eye, and I can't tell you how many 25 straight skeet rounds I saw him shoot with his 410.

Anyway one day he was helping me with my shooting, and he said, " Ok I want you to close your eyes and then just mount the shotgun, like you are getting ready to shoot." I did. He said, "Your body will naturally take your gun to the most comfortable position because it is natural. Now look at the angle your barrel is to a line drawn between your two toes. It's about 30 degrees to the right. You therefore want to be pulling the trigger when your body is the most comfortable, i.e. 30 degrees to the right.

So no matter where the target is coming from, place your body in a position so that when the target gets to where you are going to shoot it, you have that 30 degree angle." SAGE ADVICE. How many times have you seen guys do these elaborate stances to get set up, but when they actually pull the trigger, they look like a contortionist.

So bottom line, do what is comfortable.

Sorry about the diversion into shotgunning, but I think most of the people reading this thread can relate to that.

THE JAMMER


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

I totally agree with The Jammer. I'm right handed and I cast with my right and reel with my left. If you have a fish on and he's hauling buns towards you, you will never be able to reel fast enough to get you line back on the reel.


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## newsharker (Oct 31, 2009)

I would cast with my left and reel right. Never reeled lefty so even though I'm lefty my left hand is sorta goofy.


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## junkyfly (Jun 26, 2012)

have to agree the opposite hand retrieve is faster if you are fishing for a species that runs line quickly and you need to get control. I cast both hands to take advantage of wind conditions but have noticed it does take a second longer to change hands and retrieve when casting and reeling right handed. It is all about muscle memory in learning to reel with a non dominant hand. The more you practice the easier it becomes.


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