Spin Rods - Master Hand on Rod or Reel?

[SeekingBarradise]

I’m predominantly a right hander and cast spin rods with the right & retrieve with the left.

I learnt this at an early age fishing narrow shallow streams casting predominantly sinking lures where you didn’t get time to change hands if you wanted NOT to lose lures.

Baitcast gear on the other hand is cast right handed & swap hands whilst the lure is in flight. Both methods feel natural to me even though they contradict each other.

I’ve tried left handed bait cast reels & they don’t feel right due to the weight forward axis point holding the rod behind the reel & narrower rotation of baitcast handles where as the balance of spin gear holding the foregrip generally balances an outfit perfectly.

Good observations 2manylures, the spin gear holding foregrip does balance good outfits out neatly, the result is that you are focused on the fishing and catching the fish as the setup is a good one ergonomically.

Cheers Lyndon.

[park]

I'm right handed but reel with the left and hold the rod with my right. This goes for both baitcast and spin rods. I honestly think it's the best thing my dad ever taught me and I was told to do it this way since I could hold a fishing rod so it feels natural to me.

I can however swap over if need be and feel comfortable to to do so but I do find that with my left hand on the rod I do lack finer technique control. As for the hand doing the winding, I find that winding takes less skill than rod work so either hand is virtually the same.

So in my experience I would say it's best keep your dominant hand on the rod and your less dominant on the reel. It's also easy for me to say as like I said I've always done it this way.

Shaun

[matt fraser]

Thanks everyone for their input, a lot of good info there.

GrahamDiwai W, it must be a US led thing that 95% of baitcasters are RH wind. I never realised that LH wind reels would cost more, I guess the only thing you could put that down to is manufacturing costs/numbers produced and demand.

As a few of the other guys mentioned, and I agree with - missing bites on the switcheroo has never been an issue, I do it mid flight as well. For me its all about control and reaction time. For me that means master hand on the rod.

SM, I'm surprised that you do the rod swap for your bream spinning. The main thing I found I was doing when winding right handed was striking throught the reel, and if I wasn't concentrating I missed strikes when my hands slipped off the reel handle. Since I changed over to left hand wind, I'm much more confident in my strikes for bream HB and SP. My right arm is already stronger than my left, so I may as well use it to my advantage.

To all the lefties who wind right handed and to the righties who have been fishing left hand wind for years, I reckon you guys are fishing the right way - master hand on the rod!

Shaun, I know I'll be starting my kids out on left hand wind

Now I know fishing is like your religion, and there is nothing worse than having someone trying to ram their religion down your throat. But I'm pushing boundaries here and challenging the non-master hand-on-rod anglers to give it a fair dinkum crack for a few sessions. At least on spin, because its easier to swap the handle over.

I expect many will see no need to change your habits. But if you are going to try it, you have to stick with it for at least three sessions - without swapping back at any stage. If you don't see an advantage after this time, then change back, but I'm hoping a few of you will see the light - and an improvement in your fishing

Cheers,

Matt

[matt fraser]

Hey Guys and Girls, dragging this one back up for an update.


Spin
A couple of months down the track I'm definitely fully converted to master hand on the rod for spin now, it is very natural, and I'm positive my increased reaction time, and strength in striking has resulted in more hookups.

Baitcast
Prior to the ABT Southern Tour I got hold of my first left handed baitcaster - an ABU Revo Inshore. I was determined to have a go at left handed baitcasting. Although I am loving my spin fishing for barra, I've still got a real soft spot for using a baitcaster for barra.

So in the prefish, I used it, it felt really weird, much harder to get used to than LH spin. I hooked a fish on it, and I suddenly felt very uncordinated. Lucky I still landed it.

In the first Awoonga comp, I swapped for the first few hours, between LH Spin/RH baitcast and LH baitcast. The bites started coming on the spin outfit, and I started feeling very comfortable with the retrieve and bites I was getting on spin, so I stayed with spin.

Second Awoonga comp, night one, I had respooled my spin reel and borrowed another couple of the same spin outfits off Scotty. Unfortunately I couldn't get comfortable with the right paced retrieves that session and only scored one fish.

last night at Awoonga I went back to the LH baitcaster and caught 3 fish, I was still feeling unco, particularly when fighting fish, but I got them all in. i was very happy with the feel and hookup, but unfortunately after three fish my wrist/forearm was stuffed, I had to go back to spin and RH baitcast. but didn't get another fish.

So the long and short is, I plan on trying to do more with LH baitcast, as the feel is better, and I'm confident of getting better hookups. When fighting fish i need to learn to lock the butt into the hip/gut so I don't put so much strain on the right wrist.

So that just means barra fishing.........

Has anyone got any spare brownie points they can lend me?

cheers,

Matt

PS it is definitely great to break up long sessions by using both spin and baitcast, just to use different muscles and give others a rest.

[NAGG]

Hey Guys and Girls, dragging this one back up for an update.


Spin
A couple of months down the track I'm definitely fully converted to master hand on the rod for spin now, it is very natural, and I'm positive my increased reaction time, and strength in striking has resulted in more hookups.

Baitcast
Prior to the ABT Southern Tour I got hold of my first left handed baitcaster - an ABU Revo Inshore. I was determined to have a go at left handed baitcasting. Although I am loving my spin fishing for barra, I've still got a real soft spot for using a baitcaster for barra.

So in the prefish, I used it, it felt really weird, much harder to get used to than LH spin. I hooked a fish on it, and I suddenly felt very uncordinated. Lucky I still landed it.

In the first Awoonga comp, I swapped for the first few hours, between LH Spin/RH baitcast and LH baitcast. The bites started coming on the spin outfit, and I started feeling very comfortable with the retrieve and bites I was getting on spin, so I stayed with spin.

Second Awoonga comp, night one, I had respooled my spin reel and borrowed another couple of the same spin outfits off Scotty. Unfortunately I couldn't get comfortable with the right paced retrieves that session and only scored one fish.

last night at Awoonga I went back to the LH baitcaster and caught 3 fish, I was still feeling unco, particularly when fighting fish, but I got them all in. i was very happy with the feel and hookup, but unfortunately after three fish my wrist/forearm was stuffed, I had to go back to spin and RH baitcast. but didn't get another fish.

So the long and short is, I plan on trying to do more with LH baitcast, as the feel is better, and I'm confident of getting better hookups. When fighting fish i need to learn to lock the butt into the hip/gut so I don't put so much strain on the right wrist.

So that just means barra fishing.........

Has anyone got any spare brownie points they can lend me?

cheers,

Matt

PS it is definitely great to break up long sessions by using both spin and baitcast, just to use different muscles and give others a rest.

Good read there Matt ...... Its not often that we here how someone is going with such a major change in set up .

I reckon I would be totally unco - if I changed away from master hand ( rod hand)

Chris

PS ..... totally agree with breaking up your use of outfits ( alternating between spin & baitcast) ........ best thing I learned off Ausfish this year

[yellahunter]

i too wound the reel with my dominant hand for many years,
but a few years back when i got right into plastics i decided to make the switch,

sure it was unco and quite difficult in the beginning but now i would never go back,
he rod in my dominant hand has helped me catch that many more fish (believe it or not), as i can control the plastic or even hardbody with that much more control and when needed finesse.

i guess everyones situation is different and it may depend on how strong you are on your non preferred hand. I was no where near as fast or controlled when jigging with my second hand.

i reccommend the switch to anyone, just hang in there the first few weeks

cheers,

Ben