Why are reel manufactures ignoring left hand fishermen?

[Keta]

Breaking my left hand and it not really healing right has me looking at left hand reels, and building some too.  Why does the industry not address the 10%-15% of us that use the "wrong hand"?   Avet does but I'd love to have a LH Saltest, Thorium or Trinidad.

I picked up a Penn Battle II to try but I'm still not sold on spinners, we will see after I give it a work out.

[alantani]

well, i got 100 left handed 6/0 gear sleeves that were supposed to be right handed. if you want to hot rod a 6/0 or a 9/0, i can help you out! 

[Keta]

I have 1 more waiting for $ to get a narrow Tib 113H kit.  I have the LH gears.

[Alto Mare]

well, i got 100 left handed 6/0 gear sleeves that were supposed to be right handed. if you want to hot rod a 6/0 or a 9/0, i can help you out! 

[alantani]

yeah, it was a $2500 mistake!

[Slazmo]

I for one went lefty with all my reels in the last 2 years. The reason for that was the bearings in most spinning reels from Shimano and Daiwa have larger bearings in the LH side and the LH side has more reinforcing around that bearing also... All my (well most) reels are smaller spin (finesse to you all in the US) from 2lb main line 1000 size setup's to Curado / Abu 6500 size baitcasters then upto 30lb OH like the Saltist 40H etc.

Personally if I could get all my baitcasters into a left handed configuration life would be great! I personally hate being locked into the RH market with baitcasters and OH reels.

My dominant right hand makes a great casting tool, however swapping hands to hold the rod is just a wasted action and cast with the right and engage and wind with the left is how it should be. I try to convert as many people as I can and that usually doesnt start with "have you read the good book lately".  

[Tiddlerbasher]

Slazmo - I'm with you on most of your points, certainly baitcaters and spinners. In fresh water fishing casting with a dominant right hand and then swapping the rod over to the left makes no sense to me - you're just loosing precious time. Sea fishing is a bit different - for surfcasting I use left handed reels. For larger trolling/jigging/cut bait reels they are all right handed - no technical reason just feels better For larger fish both hands are on the rod alot of the time anyway (I hope)

[Reel 224]

Breaking my left hand and it not really healing right has me looking at left hand reels, and building some too.  Why does the industry not address the 10%-15% of us that use the "wrong hand"?   Avet does but I'd love to have a LH Saltest, Thorium or Trinidad.

I picked up a Penn Battle II to try but I'm still not sold on spinners, we will see after I give it a work out.

Keta: I think you answered your own question about left handed reels. "10%-15% of us that use the wrong hand". Marketing is the reason. Right is right and left is wrong. Just kidding. As a right hand person I find reeling with either hand doesn't make any difference for me and in some cases better lefty.

[Alto Mare]

We should practice as switch hitter in baseball do.
Most of us use the left on spinners and right on conventional, buy it gets confusing if your looking in a mirror

[CapeFish]

I am left handed but, I am not sure what I do the "right" and left handed way any more. All reeling in I do with my right hand regardless of type of reel, fly spin or multiplier. Fly casting, left hand, spinner, also cast over left shoulder, multiplier, I cast over my right shoulder though, probably because it is easier to thumb control the multiplier with my clever left hand (we fish the reel at the bottom)? If I had to switch to left handed reels I would have to teach myself all over again. I also can't use left handed scissors.

A strange phenomena is that we mostly fish spinners with the handle on the right hand side if you are right handed.

[Tiddlerbasher]

I thought most RH people fish spinners with LH handle position and cast with the right hand - at least everyone I know

[Jeri]

Hi All,

This is something I have noticed in southern Africa, regardless of reel type they all wind with the right hand. The spinners mostly come with the handle on the right hand side, unless the product has come from Europe, when they are then fitted corrctly on the left hand side.

I was taught on rivers and ponds to cast with my right arm to 'fine control' the cast, and that left my left hand to do simple things like wind the spinner handle. The right hand is also used as the predominant hand for casting fly - so the handles on the reel should be on the left to do the simple thing of winding the handle.

That said as soon as we go afloat, we are all happy winding with the right hand. It was a real task to swap over from right hand controlling the reel to left hand doing that jopb, when I came south to fish in the surf. However, once mastered it works and with the reel at the bottom of the rod seems to make sense for power casting. That said, now that I use a spinner for surf with braid - the handle has to be on the left hand side, as otherwise it just feels odd.

We all get used to whatever works for us at the appropriate time.

Cheers from sunny Africa,

Jeri

[Aiala]

Long live (angling) ambidexterity! 

~A~

[Keta]

Long live (angling) ambidexterity! 

~A~

Messing up my left hand makes it harder.

[Reel 224]

Speaking of spinning reels, most manufactures have them so you can switch the handle on either side. But Right handed people do use there left hand to reel the spinner simply because they use there right to cast and it's easier to retrieve with the left.

I agree with Sal though. We should learn to switch up. Ill be honest, for me it makes little difference.