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Right or left wind?

5K views 42 replies 29 participants last post by  bluejay 
#1 ·
I am left-handed and wind my fly reels with my right. I notice however that many (the majority it seems) right handed members of my local club wind with their right hand. Is this just local to my area?
I would imagine that for most the greatest effort in playing a fish would fall to your rod hand rather that the reel hand.
Am I wrong in thinking this?
Not an earth-shattering observation, merely a topic for a wee debate.
 
#4 ·
You're using the same logic as me and coming to the same conclusion (except that I'm right-handed and wind with my left). The argument I've seen for winding with your rod hand is that the reel handle is less likely to catch on your clothing.

I have seen people playing a fish with the rod in their rod hand and swapping hands to wind in, then back when the fish runs. That strikes me as weird.
 
#5 ·
I generally find logic plays very little part in people's tackle choices. I wind with my right hand. I could argue that it's because winding and palming is the most skilled part of playing a fish therefore using my, quite literally, more dexterous hand is logical, but the truth is I do it because I always have. Oddly I wind a fixed spool with my left hand which rather undermines my point!! I think it's because with a fixed spool outfit cast with my right hand, constantly swapping hands to wind doesn't work well.
 
#8 ·
Sensible, well balanced people do exactly that.
I wonder why I also wind that way?:)
For those right handed people who wind with their right hands to avoid snagging clothing, the answer is simple and out there.
Simply invest in a left hand wind Danielsson Control.:thumb::thumb:
 
#7 · (Edited)
I am right handed and wind with the right hand as do all of my family - the answer is that is the way my dad put the rod up when was a kid and it what I did with my own children. Lefthand winding would be very strange.
Do any of the other celtic countries or even England have the Ciotóg concept. The idea of a lefty being clumys or even suspect. The latin for left being sinsiter and right dexter.
There are lots of stories here of left handed kids being forced to use thier right hands at school (unfortunately often with the help of a leather strap before the abolition of corporal punishment.) Hopefully those days are past now.
 
#9 ·
Bearing in mind that I'm always worried about posting anything religious/political, was the above 'scourge' not a favourite of Catholic Schools?

However, back to topic. I'm right handed but wind with my left. Strong arm for playing the fish, right hand for palming and winding.

That said, all my codding multi's are right hand wind....and I get on fine with that too. Go figure:lol:
 
#10 ·
I'm left handed but have always held the rod in the right hand. I think this comes from when I first started float fishing as a child, the reels I used then where always for right handed people, I probably didn't even think you could swap the handle round then so it's always been that way.
 
#37 ·
Nonsense, I am right handed but the power in the cast comes from my left, bottom hand, but I also wind with my right as that is the right and proper way to do it, people who wind with their left should be beaten until they learn to do it the proper way. If they can't, send them to Australia
 
#14 ·
Like most, I fish right-handed and wind with my left - having said that, there are many times when I switch the rod to my left hand in order to hold the fly further out in the stream (from the right bank only).
As I strike off the reel, there is usually enough time to change the rod back to the right hand and tighten up.
Didn’t know I was amphibious, did you?
 
#22 ·
Look at the Peter O'Reilly RIP post and the video.
He is also winding the reel with the right hand...
I think it's also an age thing. Winding left handed is comparatively recent, as anyone trying to buy a lhw vintage hardy will know! Fishing is a very long practiced tradition in my family and we have been taught father to son / daughter using hand me down tackle going back to the 19th Century when left hand wind was as common as shooting with an over and under. Nowadays most people learn to fish lhw, as indeed most people shoot with over and unders.

It doesn't in any way feel awkward to change hands to wind up or play a fish; it's so instinctive you don't notice doing it let alone think about it.

We can try to rationalise our choice however we like but in the end it pretty much always comes down to the way we were taught.
 
#23 ·
I'm left-handed, left master eye (shooting etc), but have grown up fairly ambidextrous.

Most of my fishing is done with single handed rods, fly and others, and I cast the fly rods with the left hand, but spinning rods with the right hand :) :) So, single handed rod/reel is wind with right hand for fly, left hand for spinning.

With double handed fly rods, I cast off either shoulder, but always wind with the right hand. If I'm fishing the left bank, then I will normally fish off my right shoulder (double spey etc) and hold the rod in the right hand, so if a fish is hooked, then I change hands to play it !!! But its a very infrequent event these days :( :(

TL
Nick
 
#26 ·
Im very right handed and very right footed. Wind with my left hand though. One oddity, I swap the rod to my left hand to net fish, trout or salmon.

My daughter plays racket sports right handed but swings a golf club left handed. Writes left handed, casts a fly right handed but shoots left handed. The problem with her shooting is her dominant eye is her right. Odd creature.
 
#27 ·
I think we need to separate the ideal of being Right or Left handed as it explains so little.I am R.H.S. orientated,I'm Right handed yes, but my entire body functions better from my Right side,arms,feet,legs etc..My Left hand side is considerably weaker!.
My left hand is at times so weak the lack of dexterity is entirely visible and promenent.I cannot kick a football with my Left foot(I fall over-lol!)
As a consequence,I cast Right handed, the rods allways in my Right hand and I reel with the Left hand all the time.
Now,I've never ever ever had a reel handle tangle in clothing or net mesh or anything at all-ever(have I highlighted that part enough?),so I'm completely at a loss to understand this part or those who say they have suffered this?.
I'll also be brutally honest,I can't write Left handed, nor cast Left handed, my L.H.S. just doesn't function to the same extent as my R.H.S,thats it simple as.I have no leanings towards dexterity whatsoever at all with my L.H.S,period.
If and when I hook a fish the rods in my Right hand it dosen't move from my Right hand it doesn't need swapping and changing, it's a smooth continuous fish hooking and landing machine and without interruptions or undue fannying about(and very little in the way of stupid avoidable losses!).
My left hand is invaluable for nose picking and bum scratching(whilst fishing!),Pork Pie holding(eating on the go),gesticulating wildly and obscenely towards those on the far bank(especially those who'm I know!) and very little else.
I do envy those greatly with any degree of mastery towards dexterity with either side of their body.But to me it makes absolute perfect sense in that if you're Right handed then the rod go's in your Right hand and you reel with your Left.
Pedro.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Like many others I'm right handed and wind with my left - to me its more logical to play the fish with my stronger arm as it gives me more control, with a trade off that its marginally less optimal when winding.

I think the other main advantage is that you are at all times in control of the line.. well in theory unless you have a spirited fish on the end of your line, which may have other ideas :D. If you play a fish with your right hand but also wind with the right you are by defination going to lose some control.. albeit montenarlily when you swap hands. I find that particuarly when a fish is close and near netting/tailing/beaching its important to be able to react quickly/instantly by making small adjustments (eg. winding in a little more line to bring the fish into the net easier). I think having to change hands at times like this reduces your 'responsiveness' if that makes sense. People obviously seem to manage ok/get used to it but I wonder if they are making things a little bit harder for themselves.
 
#34 ·
LHW reels are not a recent innovation. I've been angling since the middle of the 1950s and fly fishing since the end of the 1950s. LHW reels were readily available then. Indeed my first fly reel dates from the early part of the 20th century and it is LHW. Most reels then had a simple check and the pawl could be moved to either LHW or RHW. Look at the Hardy Marquis if you have one.

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And by the way I am right handed. I hold a rod in my right hand and wind the reel with my left hand. I do this if I am flyfishing, spinning, sea fishing or coarse fishing.
 

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#35 ·
LHW reels are not a recent innovation. I've been angling since the middle of the 1950s and fly fishing since the end of the 1950s. LHW reels were readily available then. Indeed my first fly reel dates from the early part of the 20th century and it is LHW. Most reels then had a simple check and the pawl could be moved to either LHW or RHW. Look at the Hardy Marquis if you have one.

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And by the way I am right handed. I hold a rod in my right hand and wind the reel with my left hand. I do this if I am flyfishing, spinning, sea fishing or coarse fishing.
Me too! I also have left handed multipliers for the sea fishing.
 
G
#41 ·
At odds with many here, I’m left handed (writing etc), and also wind with my left. I cast right-handed with single-handlers, and off my left shoulder (left hand up) with double handers. None of it really feels awkward.


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