Reel orientation

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Hey folks...

The other night while enjoying a practice session as the sun set I made a new (to me) observation. I was casting with my left hand. I am slowly nursing it back into action from a pretty good case of tendonitis that flared up more than 6 months ago. I won’t belabor how much I missed being able to cast with either hand, but once you get there you get spoiled by the convenience.

Anyway, I was working on getting my legs vertical on the backcast and I was paying more attention to that than what my hand was doing when I realized a distinct difference in feel and an improvement in accuracy. When I switched my attention to what I was actually doing I realized that I had allowed the reel to swing almost 90 degrees out from the target line. That happened when I was concentrating on parallel and vertical legs on the backcast, but I was maintaining it on the presentation cast also.

Feedback from the rod, and accuracy were both significantly better, so I wondered if it was a left hand only thing. To check it out I immediately switched back to casting with my right hand, which is significantly more adept, and I found that the cast felt much better in that hand also.

It felt like the central mass of the reel moved into the reel seat when the reel was 90 degrees to the target line. Where as, when the reel was in line with the target, it was displaced from the rod… which is how it always has felt although I never noticed.

I think I now actually prefer to cast with the reel rotated out. Finishing the stroke with wrist rotation feels much more natural and as if the rod is pivoting around a central point in my hand.

Has anyone else played with this?

[nicholasfmoore]

Hello!

It's often called 'Chinese style', and that's straight from Simon G, i don't know why

The mass of the reel does feel different, and it gives the rod a different feeling IMO. I had to do this with old 3 piece rods to stop the line sticking to the blank when hauling.

I noticed that Jerry Siem does this naturally, he does a PUALD with the reel hanging down, then the reel swings out to the right. I don't think he's intentionally using torque twist, but i have noticed that many people do it. Check out 8:15.



All the best

[Geenomad]

I think I now actually prefer to cast with the reel rotated out. Finishing the stroke with wrist rotation feels much more natural and as if the rod is pivoting around a central point in my hand.

Has anyone else played with this?

Hi Gary
Would guess that your grip is normally thumb on top? Rotation of wrist outwards probably has a couple of pleasing effects. One is that the casting begins to look and feel a bit more like a natural throwing action. The second is that the range of movement of the arm changes with the orientation of the hand. Thumb on top imposes a kind of block which we can naturally try to overcome by rotating the wrist outwards or, much worse, by extending the lower arm outwards and off track.

I have played with the reel sideways thing without the wrist rotation outwards and inwards and it didn't feel "right". The orientation of the reel tells me whether I am on track or reverting to older habits so I try to keep it vertical for standard/typical overhead casting. I seem to use different grips for different things and gear weight but the "normal" is something between a V grip and a 3 point grip. There are times when I want the movement to be more restricted (thumb on top) but mostly I want it to feel free and easy.

Cheers
Mark

[Lasse Karlsson]

Reel in line, and the line has a tendency to get stuck along the blank due to friction, and theres usually some slack.
Reel out to the side, line only sticks in the rings and theres usually less slack.

Cheers
Lasse

[Lasse Karlsson]

And check out this dude, he used to do it alot, the reel out to the side

http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/dirtyharry.shtml

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

I still do with 2-piece rods, or more like 45 degrees now not 90. I certainly cast like that for many years. I straightened up when I started competing in distance.

Cheers, Paul