Casting left handed

[sagefisher]

Casting left handed:

The Home page has a nice photo of Ladyfisher practicing her left handed casting, which is something that 90% of us should do, the other 10% are already left handed so they should practice right hand casting.

A number of years ago I injured my right shoulder. It was damaged enough so I could not cast with my strong arm, ie: right handed. So, rather than give up fly fishing, I started practicing casting with my off hand, my left hand. It took a while but I finally got so I could lay down a dry fly line within a couple of feet of my target at 60 to 70 feet. For a couple of years that is all I did was cast left handed. Now I cast mostly right handed again, and I must admit my left hand casting has suffered. This photo reminds me that I need to keep up my practice casting with my left hand, because there are many times when it would be better to cast that way than cross the rod across your body to make a cast.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

Okay, I am one of the 10% that are natural lefties, but I have done a little, VERY LITTLE, casting with my right hand and found it not as hard as I expected it to be.
That said, it was quite a while ago, which means I should probably start it again, if I can find a time to even go fishing to try it!

[Wes]

i used to cast lefty from a drift boat. switch hands depending on the position in the boat (front/back) and side of river. kept hooks out of the oarsman's ears.

[flybugpa]

everyone who is serious about this sport should learn how to do it, along with a couple other casts, it can make or break a day of fishing

[billhouk]

My left arm is there to offset the weight of my right arm so I don't fall over. I can't do anything with my left because I'm clumsy. So, in those situations where a left handed cast is necessary I turn around or cast cross body.

[Cold]

I (very) occasionally execute an off-hand cast. As a natural lefty, its my right hand that gives me the issues, and I'm far more apt to simply face downstream and use a back cast as the final delivery cast, flipping the fly upstream behind me.

I have noticed that on a few small streams in the area I tend to catch some nice fish in tree-crowded pools that make life difficult for a right handed caster but leave a wide open opportunity for a southpaw.

Its also nice being a lefty when fishing small streams with a friend. Recently a buddy and I went out with our ultralights, and he and I had no problem simultaneously working a long pool of a stream only about 10-12 feet across, he with his 2wt and me with my 1wt. Also, as we moved upstream, we could really cover the entire stream, as water that was inaccessible to one of us was often perfect for the other.

[Eight Thumbs]

I'm a natural lefty who casts right handed because many of the early, cheap fly reels I started fishing with couldn't be changed for left handers. The same thing happened with my early fly tying vise which couldn't be changed to a left-handed configuration. I also tie right handed. As a result, when I have to cast left handed I'm not quit as challenged some of the other responders. BUT, I too need to practice left-handed casting more often. 8T

[Cold]

Never really thought about the possibility of tying backwards...that is...left-handed, with the vise to the right of the fly. I guess it was just one of those things where all the tutorials I saw were oriented for the right handed tyer, so that's how I learned. So I guess my trading card reads: Ties Right/Casts Left.

[NJTroutbum]

BillH...LOL! I hear you. I can manage a cast left handed. Barely. Maybe 20 ft. Can't roll cast at all. And my line management while doing it is something they would show on YouTube:^) It throws everything off....real bad.

[fritz]

The ability to casti with both hands (arms) is a must when you can't decide whether to use the bamboo or graphite rod on an outing. Joan Wulff recommended learning to cast with both hands in her casting video. Besides, this will double your chances of catching fishing too.