River jigging with bait cast rod/reel ?

Iv'e always used a spinning outfit for walleye fishing in the river with jigs but I see some use a bait casting outfit with a flipping bar on the reel,I guess to stay in contact with the bottom easier when depth gets deeper(just push the bar). You that use a bait cast for jigging, do you use a left hand reel( rod held in right and reel with your left which seem awkward to me) or do you hold the rod with your right and when after fish strikes and you set the hook, switch hands and reel with your right? Spinning outfit feels natural, rod in the right,reel with left. Doesn,t seem natural, rod in the right and reel with the left with a casting outfit. Or is it just me? Thank!

Hold in R hand crank with left.

When I cast I have rod in my R hand therefore I never have to shift hands. Learnded this muskey fishing. You get a few extra casts in each day.

With my spinning gear it is the same. Cast with the R. Hold with the R and reel with my left hand.

[Mattman]

I use left handed casting reels. I hold and reel the same as I do my spinning rigs. No switching hands...rod is always in my dominant hand... Only way to fish as far as I'm concerned.



Matt Davis

Better to have and not need than to need and not have!

[REW]

I am left handed and use a conventional bait casting reel.
Since I am left handed, I cast with my left, hold the rod with my left and reel with my right hand. No switching hands.

Many of my friends who are right handed, use a left handed bait casting reel. They cast with their right hand, hold with their right hand, and reel with their left hand - no switching hands.

Left handed reels are available on most brand name reels.

Take care
REW

[BCLII]

I use left-handed casting reels. Cast and hold rod with my right hand, reel with my left hand. I do the same with a spinning rod and reel.

[no1son]

I cast with my right for both spinning and baitcasting and then reel with my left for spinning and with my right for baitcasting. Years ago my first baitcasting reels were a direct drive with no free spool. I learned on those to use my right thumb to avoid backlashes. There were no left handed reels available in the appropriate price range then. It's pretty hard to break that pattern for me. I am not comfortable casting with the left arm, and reeling a baitcaster with my left doesn't feel natural either. If I were starting on baitcasting now, though, I would get a "left-handed" reel, cast right armed and reel with the left hand just like spinning.

[Jim Ordway]

I use a pair of them while bottom bouncing in rivers and lakes. I have one left hand and one right hand reel. I have the handle facing inward on both rods (while holding a rod in each hand) so that I can crank with the opposite hand and not have to switch hands on the rod.
Take care,

[neverenough]

I cast, work bait/lure/jig etc..., hook, and fight fish, with the right hand. I crank the reel and steer the boat with the left hand.

[IOWA RIVERRAT]

I use a left handed baitcasters. Hold rod in right hand my dominant hand helps give a better hookset.

[Crankbaiter]

My 2 cents--
Id like to know who the guy was who decided to call a baitcaster that is set up the same as a conventional right hand spinning reel (hold with R hand reel with L hand)a "left handed reel".
If your right handed and have never used a baitcaster then a left hand reel will feel correct. After all the reeling is the easy part the strength you need to control the rod is in your right hand (if your right handed)so why would you want to reel with your strong hand and control the rod with your off hand? Never have understood that.
If you have ever used blade baits every day for a week out on the Columbia you will learn to appreciate the time savings of not having to switch hands to make a depth adjustment 7000 times a day like you do when you use a right hand reel.
Be bold, go aginst the grain, buy a left hander, use it for a week and youll never go back