Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (Hardy Guy) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:43:24 GMT

Hey eric.
I could have used this little treasure in my bag of tricks eh?

Hardy Guy

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (eric baylis) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:08:29 GMT

thought you folks may like to know, this hardy guy fella, just landed a 925 lb blue fin tuna this week off nova scotia. well done hardy guy, big congrat's. eric

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (Hardy Guy) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:35:51 GMT

i eat chips, dry the dishes, clip my nails,, throw a frisbee and among other things reel flyreels with my left hand. I throw a punch, hold my beer, throw a ball, tie flies,, and among other things cast fly rods with my right hand. My right hand is by far my dominant hand. When i came to the world of Bluefin Tuna fishing i was a little dismayed to see the big Penn 130's were right hand wind. It only took me one fish to be glad i had my dominant hand on the reel. That is the only type...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (cross creek one) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:50:31 GMT

I will start by admitting that I am ambidextrous. However, I was trained to write right-handed in school, so I've got some preference for that hand. I've just never seen what the big deal is about which way a person reels. Is it really that hard to use the non-dominant hand to do something requiring so little fine motor skills as cranking a reel handle around in a circle? Seems like it should be personal preference when there is a choice, and live with the reel you've got when...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (kam4) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:04:55 GMT

Hi Gang,

Sure have heard alot of philosophical and physical and even psychological opinions so far on the rationale behind how one parks his reel on the old fly rod. As I originally mentioned when I prompted this subject, it always seemed far too practical for me to cast my rod right handed and reel right handed. I flyfish the spring creeks and mountain streams, but also haunt the coastal streams after steelhead and salmon and dolly varden.

During any typical days...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (reelmaker) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:42:45 GMT

Jr Spey hit the nail on the head...a lot of us read Lee W many moons ago......In my own salmon reel work...many more than half opt for LHW...play the fish with the stronger R arm
and reel with the left...trout,,salt or salmon...after 30 years it still works for me....if anybody wants to have a little nit picking talk....we can talk about what is really different and important to a LHW winder in terms of reelmaking.......any of you LHW guys ever notice how line gets caught under a...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (catskilljohn) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:41:48 GMT

This is a great topic...one I have always wondered/argued about. I too reel with my right hand. When I bought my first reel, a Pflueger Medalist, it was the natural thing to do. Having not spin fished before, I had no ingrained desire to reel left handed. Now everywhere I go guys are cranking with there left hands! I cant understand it, some of these guys are 20 years older than me, and they are comfortable reeling lefty!
I certainly agree with the spin fishing converts being more at...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (TomTrout) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:23:32 GMT

Ken,

I am a right handed caster who also retrieves with my right hand. The main reason I crank with my right is comfort. I get cramps in my left hand when trying to crank a flyreel with my left. For those of you who also spin fish the spinning reel has a much wide turning radius and easier to hold handle plus gearing.
Already mentioned is with the reel handle on the right side I get less of a chance of the line tangling around the handle. That's also why most reel handles...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (oldfishbrain) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:58:50 GMT

When I first started fly fishing (late in life) the store that I bought my first rod and reel at asked me if I am right handed and set up the reel as a left hand wind. Then I reasoned that the only situation where winding speed is important is when you have a big strong fish that turns around and starts swimming toward you. I could wind faster and with a smoother action with my right hand so I changed everything around and all my reels are RHW. There is no problem changing hands and (alas!!)...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (JR SPEY) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:15:03 GMT

SBoat wrote:

Hello Kenny, I'm sure there are more reasons for using RH vs LH if you're a righty, maybe if anyone else has a reason that they might be able to enlighten us all.

The advantage in saltwater fishing is very apparent. Cranking with your dominant hand allows you to crank considerably faster and for a much longer time. As pointed out, the rod switch becomes very natural in no time...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (Rockthief) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:14:51 GMT

drives me nutty as a rh person to cast r and reel r as well. That means I have cast then switch the rod to my left hand. That is too awkward. I like to cast and control the rod with my dominant arm and hand.

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (quashnet) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:09:02 GMT

My father owned and operated a saltwater charter fishing boat when I was growing up. We also fished freshwater, so this meant that I as a right-hander used Penn reels for jigging bluefish (RH), surfcasting reels for striped bass (LH), baitcasting reels for black bass (RH), spinning reels for bass and sunnies (LH), and fly reels for trout (RH). Each of these fishing methods had its own rituals, tricks, and secrets for success. So although it sounds like I ought to be ambidextrous with any...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (SBoat) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:59:08 GMT

Hello Kenny,

I think that JR SPEY has it figured out, it seems to be a freshwater thing, ease of retrieve for the right handed guy (or gal) using a LH reel. I use all LH wind reels for my freshwater trout fishing, also when I go out on occasion looking for bass and blues on Narragansett bay. When I'm out fishing on the stream I cast and hold the rod with my right and strip with my left, when I get a fish on I strip it in to net the fish unless there is lots of line out,...

Re: Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (JR SPEY) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:49:33 GMT

I think you nailed the primary reason. Also, Lee Wulff, who had an enormous influence on fly fishers when he was alive, also began writing about the reasons he felt that RH fishers should have reels set up for left hand retrieve in the 1950s. As has been noted numerous times, this preference for LH retrieve reels is mostly a freshwater thing. Most guys who fish a lot in saltwater prefer to reel with the dominant hand and this percentage increases when you start talking about reels for large,...

Right Hand or Left Hand Wind Fly Reels?

feeds@yuku.com (kam4) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:32:37 GMT

Greetings,

I am a 61 year old right casting Fisherman that has fly fished since the late 50's. It was never awkward for me to begin using my Grandfathers old Heddon Gem right handed reel and to this day, all my fly reels are right handed and perfectly co-ordinated to my needs. When I see another right hand casting angler with a left hand wind reel, it always appears oddly arranged to me.

I believe the rarity of old Hardy Perfects and other vintage fly reels...