As a right handed person who has fished for 50 years I find it strange that when I walk into a store here on the Island, nearly all the level wind and centre pin reels are RH retrieve, which is actually for a lefty. After fishing for 50 yrs, I have always casted and controlled the rod with my right hand. My freshwater fishing gear, as well as fly rods have always been that way. Nearly all the spinning reels are the opposite and are set up what I consider the correct way for a righty, with a LH retrieve, so I find that a little confusing. As I am just starting out with saltwater setups I went to buy 2 downrigger setups, as well as 2 bottom setups today and looked at an endless array of RH retrieve reels but very little LH retrieve. Not a big deal with the downriggers as I got a couple of inexpensive centre pins for those and they are easy to change over but I wanted to put level winds on the bottom rods and I think they only had 2 reels. I'm sure I can find them online, just seems odd that they want to force both LH and right handed people to reel one way. And no, I don't want to fish with the reel upside down and wind backwards.
Right handed fishing reels
- Thread starter Steve95
- Start date
Stizzla
Crew Member
As fishtofino mentioned there are quite a few reels available that you can buy lefty, or switch the handles for left or right retrieve.
I had always been a lake spinning reel guy up to last year and used a left hand retrieve like you said for casting control and such, but last year when I switched to saltwater moochers, I use all righty reels. It was a little awkward the first couple of times, but now I can reel up jellyfish and seaweed with the best of em!
Best of luck in your gear search. It’s fun isn’t it?!
I had always been a lake spinning reel guy up to last year and used a left hand retrieve like you said for casting control and such, but last year when I switched to saltwater moochers, I use all righty reels. It was a little awkward the first couple of times, but now I can reel up jellyfish and seaweed with the best of em!
Best of luck in your gear search. It’s fun isn’t it?!
A company named Avet in California makes reels like you want. I bought mine online via a SoCal store called charkbait. They have great deals & super prices on spooling braid line. FYI the heavy duty reels typically do not have a level wind. If you go this route I'd get hollow core braid as it makes attaching the mono top shot "knotless; much smoother when the mono-to-braid connection is going thru the guides.
You are totally right, Steve! These westcoasters are a weird bunch; I was just as surprised by their strange and uncoordinated reel handling as you are when I came here. But let them have it, they are not so bad otherwise! Most mooching reel manufacturers have s switchable model now - except for the Trophy reels. For the levelwinds, go online for the LH reels. Over the years I have learnt to use the RH levelwinds for hali fishing. For every other fishery I stick with LH reels.
I suppose I could use a R hander for the bottom rod but seeing as that is the one that will do the most reeling and my freshwater spinning and fly reels, as well as the downrigger are all LH, why? After all, I have reeled with my left for over 50 yrs. Anyway I see a few on Charkbait and I also found some on Amazon. Looking at sizes and capacities I think I need an inshore/light offshore model. I just want this reel to match up to about a 7' boat rod and use it for bottom fishing, jigging etc when I am not trolling. It will be used for rock cod, ling cod and hopefully some halibut fishing. A couple of people have suggested braid. So what weight line do you use for braid vs mono ? The guy at the store put 30# mono on the centrepins and I was thinking about the same for this but if I use braid, would it make more sense to go to 50# as it is so much thinner ? Your feedback is appreciated.
Stizzla
Crew Member
You really need the braid for bottom fishing. Too much stretch in mono for setting the hook. I’d say now that we aren’t allowed to catch good sized halibut, 60lb braid is plenty!
I know the feeling. I worked my butt off with a plan to move out here to retire, so I could golf and fish. Finally getting set up to do some fishing and going to have to study regs every time I want to go out. From what I read, sport fishing takes a very small percentage but seems to always get hit and blamed for any issues.
Stizzla
Crew Member
Congrats! Sounds like you worked hard to get to be where you are today. I guess Steve95 doesn’t mean you were born in 95
Hopefully changes will come to help us get our fair piece of the pie. I think when @Derby runs for prime minister and gets elected in, that would be a good start. Enjoy retirement Steve.
Steve.
There was a thread on here recently about using a good, salt water style spinning reel for bottom fishing, jigging etc. Always thought that was a good idea as they are easy to crank with no rod twist unlike top mounted level winds. If I was looking for a new outfit, I'd sure look at that option.
I think I prefer a level wind set up myself for bottom fishing and jigging. I built a few rods when I lived back in the UK a long time ago and I would look at repositioning the eyes and do a spiral (acid) setup if twisting was an issue, although I think that is more for big game fishing. I'm sure some of the fishing stores could do it too.
Rain City
Crew Member
I'm right handed and prefer to reel with my right hand.
Also once I was taught the proper way of holding my pool cue and level wind It's been easy as pie. Butt in the gut, LEFT hand high up on the grip with the reel against your left forearm. I hold pressure against my forearm as I reel . Like I said before too though, my wife uses a belt with the cross lock thing so it keeps the rod from twisting... because she's a 90lb girl.
Also once I was taught the proper way of holding my pool cue and level wind It's been easy as pie. Butt in the gut, LEFT hand high up on the grip with the reel against your left forearm. I hold pressure against my forearm as I reel . Like I said before too though, my wife uses a belt with the cross lock thing so it keeps the rod from twisting... because she's a 90lb girl.
Sr SQ
Well-Known Member
For me I need to have all my single action reels ( fly/CP/mooching) have to be RH as I need the dexterity to manipulate the reel, I am just not coordinated enough with my left hand to palm and reel fast enough on a hot fish.
All the automatic (keep cranking!) type reels I buy are left hand because I prefer to have the rod in my dominant hand and the left just has to crank.
Lots of high end conventional reels are available in left hand.
Aver make a good reel I have a few setups on the boat for those that are challenged with the single action.
All the automatic (keep cranking!) type reels I buy are left hand because I prefer to have the rod in my dominant hand and the left just has to crank.
Lots of high end conventional reels are available in left hand.
Aver make a good reel I have a few setups on the boat for those that are challenged with the single action.
cj6530
Member
Modern braid has made level wind reels kinda obsolete. Level wind mechanisms used to be standard because thicker diameter old school mono required a wide spool to hold enough line capacity. Wide spools required the level wind to lay the mono nice and even on the spool. The wide spools also contributed to wobble which also can suck. Modern purpose built conventional jigging reels like the Penn Fathom FTH25N or Avet JX have narrow spools which lay braid nicely with your thumb and have significantly less wobble. Load it up with 5o 0r 60lb solid core braid and be done with it. Don't bother with hollow core braid unless your using 80lb or higher......which you won't be.
I use 50# hollow core braid with a 30-40ft 50# mono top shot. I had charkbait put on the braid & do the splice. 50# seems to be what most resorts are using. My feeling is that worst case & i have to break-off the line, 50# is easier than something heavier. Very few of the reels you will be looking at have enough drag to justify heavier line. I am 67 Y/O & like a lighter reel, so 50# gave me 400 yds or so of capacity.
cj6530
Member
I agree most resorts are using 50# braid....just not hollow core. 50# hollow core will be awful tricky to re-splice vs 80lb or above. Not sure you would be able to do it on a rocking boat. I use 50lb solid braid on my salmon and bottom fish reels and 80lb hollow core on a few of my Albacore trolling reels. The solid core braid to mono knot takes 1 minute vs breaking out the needles,jig, and workbench to splice hollow core.
Makes sense. 50lb should be lots and should be more than capable even if you ran into a 100 pounder. I'm just new at this type of fishing.
