I have a Sage 1680 and couple other smaller fly reels. They all have the handle on the left side which is opposite than what I normally use with other reel types. I’ve noticed that most of the reels I have seen all have the same thing. Is this standard with fly reels? Normally when I am fishing with a baitcaster I reel the line in with my right hand while holding the rod with my left. WIth my fly rod/reel I have to strip with my left, (which is perfectly comfortable for me), but reeling with my left feels awkward. I have tried turning the reel to put the handle on the right side but then I have to reel backwards and that feels just as awkward.
Not all, but most fly reels can be converted from one side to the other. I would suggest you check with a fly shop in your area for more info on the various reels you own.
Welcome to Fly Anglers on Line.
Tim
Welcome to FAOL.
As Panman said, most fly reels can be converted to a right hand retrieve.
However, I would encourage you to give yourself some time to get used to left hand reel. IMHO it’s worth the extra work. I am a 100% right handed person, and I have gotten used to left hand reeling. It didn’t take that long really. I think it helps out particularly when you suddenly have that BIG one hooked, you don’t have to risk switching hands.
Modern conventional wisdom :lol: sez to hold the rod with your off hand and reel with your dominate hand
(I of course prefer to do it the other way around, the way that Tim#2 describes )
If you bought your reels new, or used in the box, you should have paperwork that should describe how to change from left to right hand retrieve.
In most cases with disk drags, this only involves reversing the ratchet gear on the spindle. Some times there is a plate that holds in the ratchet gear that must be removed. Often the ratchet gear will just pull off and then you turn it over, replace it, and then reverse the backing/line
With click&pawl drags you need to switch the angle of the pawl ( the little triangle things)
Got it? 8)
Modern conventional wisdom does not always come to us unbiased. Please tell me where you saw that statement so I can have “dialog” with that person or persons. That makes as much sense as “the only good casting rod is a (insert name here).” That sounds like another statement meant to make fly fishing look like it’s hard to do. I tell people to do what comes most naturally to them, and they will have a more enjoyable fly fishing experience.
Joseph the Unconventionalist (if there is such a thing)
Joe,
The gentleman I heard that from is named Bernard “Lefty” Kreh
Call him up, I’m sure he’d value your opinion
Lee Wulff wrote that the dominate hand should hold the rod and the off hand should reel.
Since that’s the way I do it anyway, I prefer to agree with him
I’m not concerened with conventional wisdom or with what some fly fishing “legend” says is best. I’m concerned with what is comfortable for ME.
Thanks for all the replies guys. I took it to BPS yesterday here in Katy and Mike swapped both of my reels at no charge.
s1rGR1nGO:
Great. Looks the the problem is solved. I assume that BPS is a store that is fly fishing wise and worth doing business with.
Good luck with your fly fishing.
Tim
BPS = ( Bass Pro Shop)
as i understand it, fly reels were manufactured with the handles on the right hand side. the reasoning being , most people were right handed and could retreive line quicker with your right hand. over the last twenty years or so their seems to be a switch towards retrieving with your left hand. i , and maybe incorrectly , attribute this to the advent of the sprinning reel which were mostly left hand retreive when they hit the market. so many people were introduced to fishing with them that when they moved up to fly fishing they naturally wanted a left hand retrieve reel.
me personally , i retreive with my left hand and have done that since the midsixtes. reason i was brought up in a spinnig reel and am used to retrieving with my left hand, and dont beleive i can do it quicker with my right hand, and dont like changing my rod hand.
whats all this got to do with thequestion of changing the side that you reel on , nothing really.
i would search out your rell make and model number on the internet, and you maybe able to find information on swapping the side.
if thats the bps in katy texas, i live about 5 minutes from it
Me too John. I live off of Franz and 99. Maybe we can meet up and do some casting around here somewhere in a local pond or creek.
With the Sage reel, you can always just ask the Company. Here is the link to their contact us section.
http://www.sageflyfish.com/default.asp?p=38
Jeff
that would be fine with me, maybe i can help with your casting or your gear setup. i m not a pro, but figure ive absorbed a little knowlege after flogging the air for 50 years
I actually heard Lefty Kreh address the question of what hand to reel with. He said to “reel with your right hand if you are right handed and with your left hand if you are left handed.” Some one then asked him if that would work if you hooked a Bonefish. His response: “Don’t worry about that, you will have plenty of time to switch the rod to your other hand while the fish is taking out 100 yards of your line!”
Although Lee Wulff held the opposite view on which hand to reel with I did observe on a few occasions that he casted with his index finger outstretched along the top of the cork grip. Not many people copy that style although I find it works fine for me.
So I compromised and reel like Lefty and cast (in my dreams) like Lee! :lol:
Bob
analogbob, the purpose of the index finger on top of the rod handle is to limit your backcast. it helps when fishing narrow brushy streams with limited casting space.
I agree, John. It is also a very efficient method of use for short casts, and I have no trouble using it for casts of 50 feet or so. And I did see Lee Wulff at The Northeast FF conclave use it in a casting demonstration. He effortlessly laid out 90 feet of line with it; in fact he draped the line over the backdrop at the far end of the casting pool. It is a natural grip for me that I always used since I was a kid. I never could get used to the thumb on top grip. The rod grip kept turning in my hand. After I saw Wulff using it I decided to stay with it.
Cordially,
Bob
I’m a Southpaw. Sometimes I reel left-handed, sometimes right-handed. I have reels set up each way and they can change quickly. Also, I reel “backwards” often. By that I mean that the line spools out closer to the rod rather than off of the bootom of the spool. I often get corrected for this. I finally started setting my reels up “normally”, just to avoid yet another explanation.
Ed, who values Joe V’s unconformist ways.
I’m so corn-fuzed by all the answers and opinions here, that next time on the water I’m going to try holding the rod in my teeth and winding up line with my left foot!?!
It’s been said, here already, “What ever floats your boat, or makes your cannon ball, is what you should do”. Couldn’'t, agree more with that!
Personally, since I’m “a righty”, I hold-right and reel-left. Mainly, because, since my right hand is the dominant force, I want my rod in that hand to feel the action of my nymphs, as they bounce along the stream bottom, or even something as simple as feeling and judging the head shakes of a larger fish when fighting it.
Just, like, “hand-eye coordination”, we refined apes have, and can feel, better with our dominant hand, over that of our “off side hand”. Try it, if you don’t think that’s right! When you go to feel something like the fine finish on a piece of wood, or want to feel for nicks and scrapes in a fly line, which hand do you immediately use? So, that being the case, I like others, find it awkward and time wasting to switch hands, just to take up line.
I also like the post made about “why, fly reels were set up originally, with the handles on the left”. I’m sure the spinning reel reason is a very valid one, but I was sure Marryat fly reels did it just to drive their customers insane. If you’ve ever owned an older Marryat and tried to convert it, right to left, you’ll know of what I mean?!
Then, of course, there’s chaps, like the one in our fly club that any time he wants to pick up line on his fly reel… he turns the whole- shebang upside down, fly reel on top of the rod, now, and reels the whole thing by cranking backwards? Even, when playing a fish, on the spool, he reels in line this way. “Whatever floats your cannon ball”, or, however that goes…