Why does it seem like everyone uses Lefty Reels when using swimbaits???

[urbanhick]

I throw left handed and reel righty naturally, I guess I'm lucky. No problems like my friends had before they started making left handed crank reels.

[Chaozu]

Never made since that a right handed person would want to hold their rod in their left hand and have to set a hook and fight a fish with their odd hand. No right or wrong way but a lefty reel seems more efficient and less juggling in my opinion. 

[brootalititties]

I think it’s more of a modern fishing evolution than a swimbait thing, Swimbaits just happen to be one of the “newer” fishing trends or at least more recently popularized. Younger people in general I think found the idea of holding the rod with their non-dominant hand to be counterintuitive and the first time you do it it kinda feels goofy.
 

I started fishing as an adult so having no prior experience with a baitcaster that’s exactly what I did, this was before swimbaiting. due to a shoulder injury I actually switched to roght handed reels down the line because I felt casting and holdong/working the rod with my hurt shoulder all day was chewing me up so I figured it’d disperse a bit of the work load and honestly now I can’t imagine going back to left hand retrieve, it’s not nearly as weird as you would think to hold the rod with the non dominant hand, hooksets are no problem, none of the stuff that I thought would be an issue. The HUGE plus for me is being able to use my dominant hand to land the fish that has 6 treble hooks in its mouth, which if I had to guess is probably the reason reels are traditionally right hand retrieve in the first place

[SoCalBassBum]

Threw spinning rods as a kid so lefty came natural, growing up lefty model bait casters were extremely hard to find so right it was. Once lefty became more popular I switched back to lefty bait casters. It just feels natural, plus the whole had swap thing just doesn’t make sense.

[thebeardedbassman]

21 hours ago, Morph808 said:

I'm a righty and I switch hands and retrieve with my right hand for baitcasters, but for spinning I feel with my left hand. Grew up saltwater fishing and learned to fish with a spinning reel with handle on the left. Conventional reels for saltwater were primarily available only for right handed retrieves where I was growing up in Hawaii. Watched a lot of fishing shows in the 90s and wanted to be like KVD, Bill Dance, Hank Parker, Jimmy Houston, and Jose Wiebe and all those dudes switched hands after casting. Didn't think much of it and it being a problem. Good on the industry for getting more lefty options out there now, and for a certain stretch I did buy and fish with lefty baitcasters, but the feel to me just felt "off" on the retrieve. I just started practicing casting with me left arm as much as I can, except for those casts needing a lot of precision.

Exactly! There use to be no option, and it wasn’t that long ago. Grew up on the salt as well and all we had were right hand retrieves. Also tried for a while learning the left when they came out, but fishing 20 years prior to that …..I went back to right hand cause it just feels better.  Only wanted to learn left hand retrieve when I used to fish club tournies and did a lot of flipping. There were times the bait would get hit while switching hands after the flip…..not that much fun when that happens. I can do both now with ease, but prefer right. I know a lot of guys say they want their dominant hand on the rod to set the hook, but if a guy can’t set a hook on a bass with the rod in either hand, you might wanna try sticking to panfish…..just sayin. 

[MurdaJ]

9 hours ago, thebeardedbassman said:

Exactly! There use to be no option, and it wasn’t that long ago. Grew up on the salt as well and all we had were right hand retrieves. Also tried for a while learning the left when they came out, but fishing 20 years prior to that …..I went back to right hand cause it just feels better.  Only wanted to learn left hand retrieve when I used to fish club tournies and did a lot of flipping. There were times the bait would get hit while switching hands after the flip…..not that much fun when that happens. I can do both now with ease, but prefer right. I know a lot of guys say they want their dominant hand on the rod to set the hook, but if a guy can’t set a hook on a bass with the rod in either hand, you might wanna try sticking to panfish…..just sayin. 

Missing bites flipping is how I learned to reel a right hand bait caster while holding it in my right hand 

 

 

[Ceaser]

It doesn’t matter. People like to make up a lot of differences but either way works. You don’t miss bites or get overpowered. Just pick a side and go for it. The key is practice and experience on the water. 

[jmpatacsil]

I’m right handed and started with left hand retrieve. I guess I’m in the minority cause I switched to right hand retrieve and it’s much better IMO, I can manipulate the bait better on reel handle turns or twitches with my right than my left hand.

I still use a spinning reel left handed tho lmao

[Michael Ray Looney]

 Glad I'm ambidextrous