WHEN LEFT IS RIGHT... OR IS IT?

by Steve Starling

Steve Starling tackles the sometimes confusing issue of whether we should crank fishing reels with our left or right hands... And comes up with some very interesting conclusions.
"Jeez, mate, I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous!" It's an old joke, but a good one... The fact is, very few people are truly ambidextrous - in other words, equally as comfortable using either hand when undertaking complex tasks.

Most of us have a clearly dominant hand. Toss a ball unexpectedly to someone, and one hand invariably comes up quicker than the other. Similarly, people will tend to instinctively fend off a blow with one particular arm. This right- or left-handedness first emerges in very small children, when the favoured arm reaches for a proffered treat or toy. Later, it's that same hand which guides a crayon or pencil across a piece of paper, and goes on to hold a pen, wield a paint brush, swing a hammer, punch a keypad or steer a computer mouse.
For whatever evolutionary and biological reasons, a significant majority of humans are born right-handed. And, as with most minorities, "lefties" or "southpaws" have been persecuted in various ways over the years. In Mediaeval times, left-handedness was even viewed in some communities as a mark of the devil, and strongly discouraged! Left-handed children were shunned or punished, and many were "trained" to favour their right arm instead, often being forced to use eating utensils and other tools that would only operate correctly if gripped in the more "Godly" right hand.
Today, left-handedness carries much less of a stigma, although some lefties still feel rather disadvantaged by a society that regards right-hand dominance as the "norm", and continues to build most devices - from scissors to bolt-action rifles - as if everyone were right-handed. Even the way we read and write disadvantages lefties, and if you doubt that, you need only watch a left-handed person awkwardly curling their wrist so as not to smudge the ink and obscure their work as they take notes or fill in forms.

REVENGE OF THE SOUTHPAWS
On the other hand (if you'll pardon the dreadful pun!) southpaws actually tend to shine in certain arenas, and are disproportionately represented amongst the ranks of modern day sporting superstars. Most likely this is because their mode of attack or angle of delivery with a ball, bat, racquet or fist tends to catch right-handed competitors unawares... As an example of this, just look at the difficulties some otherwise brilliant bowlers experience when facing left-handed batsmen on the cricket pitch!
I'm not aware of any statistical surveys on the subject, but it's even possible that southpaws might make better anglers - on average - than the rest of us. Certainly, one of the greatest there's ever been happily wears the tag... Although if my given name was Bernard, I guess I'd probably prefer to be called Lefty, too!
I have a theory that part of the reason southpaws tend to shine in so many sports is because they've always had to try a little bit harder. Being slightly different can work to an individual's advantage over time. That's as true in fishing as in any any other pursuit.
Certainly, most forms of fishing tackle were traditionally built for a right-handed world. It's tough to find a lever drag game reel with its handle on the left side, and even in smaller overheads or baitcasters, only one or two models from each manufacturer are offered in left-hand drive, and even these must usually be ordered in advance.
Threadline or spinning reels are much less of a problem, as most modern varieties worth their salt can be quickly and easily converted from right- to left-hand drive. In fact, a casual observer looking at a batch of brand new spinning reels on the tackle store shelf could be forgiven for thinking that the southpaws are taking over the world, as most eggbeaters come out of the box these days with the handle factory-fitted on the left-hand side! However, there's a very good reason for this...

LEANING TO THE LEFT
For many years now, fishing writers, television presenters and other angling communicators in this country have been enthusiastically espousing the benefits - for right-handed anglers - of using left-hand drive threadline reels. This trend appears to have come out of America during the 1960s, and was firmly established here by the late '70s... So much so that I felt like some kind of pariah for still using a right-handed threadline back in those days!
Eventually, I bit the bullet and made the change. I won't claim that it was easy at first, but within a month or two, I'd become reasonably comfortable cranking threadline reels with my left hand. Today, I wouldn't go back, and I'm unhappy using these reels any other way, especially in their smaller sizes.
My "conversion" was certainly less traumatic than that of a close mate, who resisted the switch until several years later. In retrospect, the middle of a red hot spawn-run trout bite probably wasn't the ideal moment to change the ingrained habits of a lifetime!
From memory, Ian dropped something like 16 good fish in a row before getting it all together. For him, teaching his left hand to turn the handle and his right arm to work the rod was like patting his head and rubbing his stomach. It still brings a wry smile to my face when I picture him stumbling backwards across icy river stones in a vain attempt to keep a tight line to a cartwheeling rainbow, while attempting to crank his reel the wrong way against a stubborn anti-reverse mechanism. We both began to doubt if he'd ever get there, but by the time trout number 17 finally hit the gravel, Ian was over the hurdle... He hasn't looked back since.
Okay, so why is it that those of us who've made the switch to winding our threadline reels with our non-dominant hand think it's such a great idea? And, just as importantly, why don't we all agree that it's equally advantageous to do the same thing with every other style of reel? Why, for example, do most of us still happily use right-hand drive baitcasters, overheads and Alveys? And why are we split roughly 50/50 over fly reels?
To answer those questions, we need to explore the entire area of angling ergonomics - a flash-sounding term that really means "the way things work", or, more specifically, how certain bits of machinery and tackle function in relation to the human body.

SWAPPING HANDS
I've heard all sorts of arguments as to why it's more efficient to operate threadline reels - especially on single-handed outfits - by cranking them with our non-dominant hand (the left hand, in the case of a right-handed person). For me, however, one line of reasoning stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Think for a moment about the way you hold a single-handed spinning outfit prior to making a cast... Most "righties" grip the rod in our dominant (right) hand, with the reel stem emerging between our index and middle fingers, or perhaps our middle and ring fingers. This allows us to drop the tip of our index finger down and either pick up the line or trap it against the lip of the spool prior to opening the reel's bail arm.
Okay, go ahead and complete the cast, straightening or lifting that index finger to release the line at the optimum moment. The sinker, bait or lure sails through the air and plops into the water.
At this point, we are faced with two quite distinct options: If the reel's handle is attached to the right side of the housing, we must quickly swap hands before commencing the retrieve; placing the outfit in our non-dominant left hand, then reaching for the crank handle with our right hand.
If, by contrast, the handle is on the left, we simply bring up our non-dominant left hand (which has not been involved in the execution of the cast) and grasp the handle. Obviously, this second option is much faster, smoother and more efficient than the first.
And there, in a nutshell, is why so many of us prefer to operate single-handed threadline outfits in this way. Those fractions of a second lost while swapping the outfit from one hand to another, and the occasional fumble involved in that action, can be enough time for a spinner to sink in a set of shallow rapids and become snagged, or for a bass to smack our floating plug and not be hooked because of slack line. Cranking the reel with our non-dominant hand streamlines the entire process and makes it far more efficient - without reducing our capacity to hook and fight a fish.
In my book, the same story also applies to larger threadline reels used on double-handed rods. Here, while the non-dominant casting hand grabs the butt end of the rod to add power to the cast, the dominant hand assumes exactly the same grip as it does when making a single-handed cast, and can easily and efficiently remain there during the retrieve. Therefore, there's no need to change hands. At the completion of the cast, the left hand moves smoothly from the rod butt to the reel handle, and the butt comes up under the angler's armpit, or alongside the elbow.

DIFFERENT STROKES
When we move to other styles of tackle, the picture changes somewhat. Take baitcasters or plug reels, for example. Whether used on a pistol grip or a straight butt, the preferred casting grip sees the angler's dominant hand wrapped around the rod just behind the reel, with the dominant thumb in the correct position to depress the free spool button or bar and trap the spool before the lure or sinker drops to the ground.
Look closely at this baitcaster or plug reel casting grip. It is definitely not the best way to hold such an outfit while retrieving line, striking or playing a fish. Some people do hold their baitcasters this way for those operations, but most of them are relatively inexperienced or have never encountered big, strong fish on this style of tackle. The fact is, this "pistol-style" casting grip is far too weak and inefficient for serious hook setting and fish fighting. If you don't believe that, go out in the backyard right now, tie a line to something solid and try pulling on a plug outfit (especially a single-handed one) using that grip...
The grip most of us prefer when retrieving line or working a lure with a baitcaster is the so-called "palming" grip; with a hand wrapped around the non-handle end plate of the reel and several fingers extending forward, under the foregrip. This is a comfortable, effective and reasonably powerful grip. However, in true heavyweight applications - such as when targeting extra powerful fish like big barramundi, heavyweight Murray cod or Papuan black bass - it might be necessary to go for an even stronger grip, by wrapping the non-reeling hand right around the foregrip itself, in front of the reel.
Regardless which of these options you choose - the "palming" grip or the "power" hold - it's obvious that a change in grip is necessary after each cast with a baitcaster... And the best way to quickly and efficiently achieve this shift is to smoothly pass the outfit from one hand to the other.
There, in a nutshell, lies the reason why a vast majority of experienced right-handed anglers prefer left-handed threadlines and right-handed overheads. We can summarise it in two simple sentences:

If the optimum fish-fighting grip with any outfit is exactly the same as the optimum casting grip, it is more efficient to crank the reel with your non-dominant hand. By contrast, if the optimum fish-fighting grip is different in any way to the optimum casting grip, it makes better sense to swap hands and crank with your dominant hand.
Re-read those two sentences a couple of times and think hard about them. Try applying them to various forms of gear you use. What about sidecasts? Or closed-face reels? You might even find that you don't necessarily agree with my observations - at least, not in every situation - and that is certainly your prerogative. The fact is, there are few hard and fast "rules" in fishing. In the end, you need to do what feels right and works for you. However, I've studied a lot of anglers over many years, and I'm personally convinced that the answers to the left-versus-right debate do lie in those two sentences.

WHAT ABOUT FLY GEAR?
To my way of thinking, fly fishing tackle falls into exactly the same category as single-handed threadline gear. In other words, the optimum casting grip is the same as the line retrieving, hook setting and fish fighting grip (up to a point, anyway). For this reason, I prefer to crank fly reels with my non-dominant (left) hand, and to keep my dominant hand on the rod's foregrip... This makes good sense to me.
The only area of fly fishing in which this issue becomes a bit blurred is at the heaviest end of the scale; with rods and lines of 12 weight and above. Here, I can see some merit in moving the power hand to the reel handle. Many of these heavy fly rods have additional fighting grips anyway, so the angler's hold on the outfit does alter during a battle with a big fish. And, especially on species such as billfish and tuna, the cranking power and speed required can be significant. There's a reasonably strong argument - put forward by Lefty Kreh, amongst others - that you're better off doing this kind of serious power cranking with your dominant hand. Personally, I'm not convinced either way yet. I've tried both approaches, and I can see plus and minus points on each side of the argument... Which brings me to my final observation:

PLEASE YOURSELF!
As the old song goes; "If you can't please everybody, you might as well please yourself". This is as true when discussing fishing as it is in most other areas of life.
I know some awfully good anglers whose chosen fishing styles run completely counter to every argument I've put forward in this article - and who still catch plenty of fish!
The bottom line is that you need to be happy with your gear, and comfortable with the ways you've chosen to use it. That's far more important in the long run than abiding by any "rules" put forward by so-called experts!
All the same, I hope I've given you a few interesting things to think about in this special feature, and to discuss with your mates. Please donÕt hesitate to disagree with me and do it your own way if you wish - after all, it's a free world!