Upside down

[JasonGotaProblem]

When winding is the most important, handle goes on the dominant hand side.

Just about everyone can wind faster and with more strength with the dominant hand.

Dominant arm for lifting strength is not as important, as lifting with two hands when pumping is an option.

If you are cast and wind fishing (e.g. working lures), and casting with one hand, most folks prefer to cast with the dominant hand, so having the handle on the non-dominant side means that you do not have to switch hands to wind after every cast. With  higher gear ratio reels and smaller target species, the advantage of the dominant hand in winding is not so important, and it can be useful to be able to start winding immediately at the end of a cast.

Fly reels are no different, except that you do not wind in on every cast and have an additional constraint:  If the handle is on the non-dominant side, it is more likely to tangle the line when shooting on the cast or clearing on a big fish.  So handle on the dominant side is the only way to go unless it bugs you too much and you don't cast far and/or target larger species.

The only caveat for all reel types, is that sometimes the difference is not substantial for a given situation, and once we get used to having the handle on a certain side, it can be hard to switch.  Left hand wind convectional reels  annoy me, but for some reason right or left spinners and fly reels work fine.

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Regarding the original choice for right hand wind:

I think that the original conventional reels were knuckle busters (no anti-reverse/drag).   Having the handle on the dominant side means being able to stop larger fish.  Since most folks are right handed, and us lefties are used to getting screwed, the handle goes on the right side.  Works out great unless you are a right handed violinist or a surgeon

But we all get our own guess at this one, since we were not around when the design decision was made.

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Regarding first conventional reel:

I would start out with a reel that is more easily castable.  A 4/0 will be no fun  in that regard.    Something smaller with an anti-backlash feature would be nice (like a bass or inshore saltwater sized reel).  Load it with mono to start out.  Lots of folk give up on conventional reels  after a couple nasty backlashes, and spend the rest of their lives fishing with training wheels spinning reels. 

-J

Solid post. I'm noticing a trend.

You're probably right about the senator. Theres probably a lot more beginner friendly stuff out there. I guess I just have refurb fever after the fun I'm having with the SS. And theres a ton of them for cheap on CL. I'll gice it more thought before I go out and buy my next toy.

[Ron Jones]

I have taught a lot of people how to cast a conventional. My absolute favorite to start on is the Beachmaster or Surfmaster (mid width.) If one of those isn't available then any Ambassador will do.
The Man