Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Reels are the hottest topic for TackleTour. Everyone wants to know what the latest and greatest is and how they compare to the old guard. What's the best for light stuff, or what's your suggestion for heavy cover. Do we really need different retrieve ratios? It's all in here.

Speaking of casting reels only... do you reel with your right or left hand?

I reel with my right hand
451
43%
I reel with my left hand
597
57%
 
Total votes: 1048

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ibobpeb
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by ibobpeb » Tue Dec 08, 2015 3:21 pm

Cal wrote:The excuse is often given by manufacturers that the left handed reeling market is not big enough. Let's find out what the skew is here on TT.

And of course, since many members eventually switch to one or the other, you can change your vote over time.
I'm right hand dominant but reel with my left hand. All my reels are lefties.

Well I'll be damned. Looks like the manufacturers be lying.

Hulkster
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Hulkster » Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:37 pm

I cast with my right arm, switch and reel with my right hand.

back when I learned how to use a baitcaster (late 90's) there were very few lefty's around.

I think thats when they started coming out with them, so I learned the 'traditional' way, which I still use today.

cmack
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by cmack » Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:44 pm

I suppose I'm a bit of an anomaly here. I have equal numbers of right and left hand retrieve reels. I fish bottom contact lures with left hand retrieve reels and moving lures with right hand retrieve. Being nearly 60 years old, there was little choice when i was young and I was perfectly comfortable switching hands. Still am. What got me to using lefties was when I began pitching many years ago and was having fish grab my lure the second it hit the water, so at 40+ years old I bought my first left hand retrieve reel a Chronarch 101A. Once I became accustomed to it, I could never go back. I have tried to use lefties for moving lures but can never seem to get comfortable with it. I am right hand dominant. I am also left eye dominant, which presents an issue for a right handed handgun shooter. I jut recently took the old 101A out of retirement, replaced the bearings and gave her a spit shine. I have put it on a spinnerbait rod and am going to attempt the lefty moving bait thing once more.

jtgibso1
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by jtgibso1 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:39 am

one day i tried my buddy's left handed combo.....
next thing i knew i sold my 8 RH reels and converted to LH, never going back.

Lafayette
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Lafayette » Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:32 am

In Europe, 100 % of right hand people reel lefty, only lefties will use right handle baitcast reel (for this reason they are difficult to find in European shops).
To be honest, it seems very strange to us to see American or Japanese anglers switch the rod from an hand to an other after each cast. It is especially strange considering you don t do this when you use spinning gear. :-k

smokindrags
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by smokindrags » Fri Jan 01, 2016 7:31 pm

I read hulksters post and it and think I wrote it.pretty much mirrors my thoughts.
I cast right change and reel right.
Bought my first baitcaster in 1991 still have the reel too.
Never reel used a lefty. I maybe don't want to as I may need to sell
and change to lefty.

Akir90
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Akir90 » Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:20 am

I retrieve lefty, and I am right handed. I never understood the swtich up every cast, though looking at the comments, there were very few options when they came out, which explains a lot.

goblue
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by goblue » Tue Jan 05, 2016 8:20 am

I'm right hand dominant, but old habits die hard... I've used right handed since I started using baitcasters and never made the switch. I see the benefits of a left handed reel, but could never get comfortable. It should also be noted
I don't own a single spinning reel, but if I did, I'd put the handle on the right side as well.

Olli25
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Olli25 » Sat Jan 09, 2016 3:13 am

I retrieve with my legt Hand. In Germany i whould say 90% of the anglers retrieve with the left Hand. If i look into the onlineshops you cant find many right handed Baitcast reels.

Sorry for my bad english ..
Best regardes
Olli

SteveSchmelzle
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by SteveSchmelzle » Sat Jan 09, 2016 4:27 am

Shimano has definitely ducked away from this thread.

Really goes against the crap that they are spewing.

"we ... uh ... just don't sell enough .... uh ... left handed reels .... to uh .... make left handed tooling .... ya, that's it...."

](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by TxHawgs » Sat Jan 09, 2016 2:43 pm

I'm right handed and reel with my left hand. Left hand Shimano Bantam mag plus was my first reel and that was it. Makes pitching so much easier, and whatever I'm fishing like a jig or a jerkbait it is much more comfortable and I can be so much more precise with little movements ex. hoping and shaking a jig, crawling a worm or twitching a jerkbait ect.

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Mothercanucker
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Mothercanucker » Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:03 am

So many lefties. Always felt like we were fewer. Lefties UNITE!

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Jdmbiggie
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Jdmbiggie » Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:04 am

i uses both but i perfer lefty retrieve on all reels

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Tony9
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by Tony9 » Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:36 am

I reel with my left (but I am right handed). It's been a lot easier to find good low profile reels now in left. Still hard to find good conventionals reels in left retrieve though.

SteveSchmelzle
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Re: Reeling Demographics... are you a righty or lefty

Post by SteveSchmelzle » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:45 am

as long as you like blazing fast gear ratio's it is easy to find a good reel in lefty.

a sub 6.1/1 gear ratio in left is virtually (no, it is actually) impossible.

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