Going fishing with Kotare

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 9

Going fishing with Kotare

When Admiral Hickling’s book, “Freshwater Admiral,” first appeared, some years ago now, I couldn’t understand why he made no reference to left-hand winding.

He went thoroughly into the preparations a beginner should make; he talked about putting the rod together and casting, and how to swim the fly through the water, and play a fish; and all based on the understanding that the reel should be fastened so that the handle or handles are on the right-hand side. I wrote to the Admiral asking why he had made no mention of the practice of winding with the left hand. He replied with a delightful letter which said, in effect, that he had never before heard of anyone who was naturally right-handed using

the reel so that the left hand did the winding. Chances are that you are right-handed too, and that you will fish with the fly-rod in your right hand most of the time. But where are the reel handles? Do they face right, or left? Nine anglers out of 10, it seems, fish with the handles positioned for right-hand winding. To me, this is the less efficient way. Every time you want to recover line you must change the rod over to the left hand so that you can get to the reel handles.

No hand changing Let’s say you have just completed a cast, weren’t able to shoot that last couple of yards of line, and want them back on the reel. You have to change hands to do it But if you habitually wind with the left hand, no rodchanging is necessary. What happens when you hook a fish with right-hand-wind gear? You set the hook, maybe let the fish take out what loose line is around, and then as soon as you can maintain a taut line from the fish to the reel you change the rod over to the left hand and use the heel of the right hand, and fingers, to control the ebb and flow of line. But why introduce a change of rod-hand if, by winding with the left, you can both cast the line and play fish, with the right hand holding the rod? When they use landing nets, righthanded fishermen usually like to control the last delicate manoeuvring of the fish for netting with the rod held in the right hand (which means that the rod is handed from right to left when the fish is hooked, and then back again to the right so that the left hand can unship the net and hold it out for the right hand to guide the fish into it). Hence the usual practice of carrying the net on the left-hand side, ready to be swung into use by the left hand when the time comes. But if you wind with the

left hand the rod stays in the right hand the whole time. At the last moment, when the fish is ready for netting, the left hand naturally leaves the reel and goes for the net, leaving the taut line trapped against the rod with the index finger of the right hand in case of sudden dashes by the fish. I had been fishing for 15 years before I changed over to left-hand wind, and I firmly believe that the mechanics of my fishing improved from that day on. After all, the more efficient you become in handling your gear, the greater the pleasure you get out of the sport. But how does a righthanded person teach himself to wind with the left hand? And what happens to the right-handed reels that you may have paid a lot of money for?

The left hand learns surprisingly quickly. If you’re not happy about exhibiting a new clumsiness on the water, practise at home. I know my right hand could still beat my left hand in a winding competition, but it wouldn’t alter the way I fish now.

Perhaps a new reel

Possibly you are an allround angler anyway, and your left hand will be well used to winding a threadline reel, most of which have their handles on the left If you do use a threadline reel with the handles on the right, and it’s of the kind that allows a change round, why not make the change anyway? As to expensive fly-reels with handles on the right: if there is no special line-guard you should be able to wind the line the other way. Some line-guards are reversible. If it’s a medium to good reel, the ratchet inside ought to be reversible so that the light and heavy checks can be swapped round. If all else fails and your reel can’t be changed round, there’s only one thing for it —buy another reel. You were wanting a new one anyway, weren’t you?