I have seen a fair number of folks who insist on holding their open-face spin reels upside down and reeling backward. Some of them were pretty darn good anglers. Has anyone built a spiral wrapped spin rod for a person like this? Just curious.

You're kidding???

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

I've seen this too and it's most curious. I've even explained that the reel retrieve can be changed from right to left handed, etc and it doesn't seem to matter. It's got to be the most uncomfortable fishing position ever. But no, I've not built a spiral wrap for anyone that uses a spinning reel like this.

terry

Nope. "Upside down" spin fishermen are a discreet [if shrinking] population, and their preference causes them to give up a major advantage of open-face spin rods - the guides being on the most efficient position on the rod. Anglers who select components by the milligram commonly order elaborate rod-art, thus surrendering their quest for the lightest rod possible. Nobody questions the logic of this contradiction. Why is a spiral-wrap spin rod beyond belief?

It was a practice that was begun years ago when spinning reels were only available as left hand retrieve models. To retrieve with your right hand, you had to flip the reel up on top.

I'd have to stop short of calling such folks "pretty darn good anglers" as putting a spinning reel up on top creates a tremendously unstable fishing outfit. They may get by and even catch quite a few nice fish, but a "pretty good angler" would use or acquire his or her tackle a bit better. It certainly can't be considered any sort of a "savvy" practice. It's cumbersome and offers zero advantages.

...........

GOOGANS,Bennies,Shoobies They are also fun to watch on the Beach! Some of the casting Styles are Hillarious. The 10 yard running cast , the Hop-skip and jump cast, and the classical Ballarina cast standing on one foot with the rod extended at arms length. I've also seen the 360 degree spin cast and the Backward over the shoulder toss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2012 11:58AM by Barry Thomas Sr.

I've seen the sort of contortions Barry Thomas describes and it was the first image that crossed my mind when I read Phil's post.

I may be way off base here,but it seems to me that the kind of fisherman that would fish a reel upside down would not be the kind of fisherman that would bother to invest in a nice custom rod.

I recall seeing news video of the two former Presidents Bush fishing from their powerboat off Kennebunkport.
George Herbert Walker Bush, the senior, was winding a rather large black reel backwards while it was perched over the zero axis of his rod.
It was a sad day for sport fishing in the United States.

By now these upside-down spin-fishers should be pretty well limited to retirement areas.

Back in the early fifties, when spinning equipment was first making it's onto the North American market, most folks had learned to fish on bait-casters. Folks who had been raised on a top mounted reel that cast right and reeled right automatically turned the new rods upside down, which meant they had to crank backwards...

At that time there was an English reel called am Ambidex, that only had a half bale but the handle could be mounted on either side. It lost favor and disappeared when the French Mitchell 300 came on the scene. It was many years before other reel makers figured out a reversible handle was a good idea.

In the party boat fleet we call it "coffee grinding".

Capt Neil Faulkner

What??? I'm not the only one that does that?

I had stopped wondering why people did certain things a long time ago

I just look and shake my head

Bill - willierods.com

I think most of them got the idea from a Kool cigarette billboard that ran years ago. Upside down spinner...six feet tall for the world to see. I thought "man those New York ad execs need to get out more".
Anybody remember that billboard?

Hay
NY is a fun city

That was not the Camel - was it - Been a while

Bill - willierods.com

Watch those same folks swing a baseball bat. Hands criss-crossed wrong with about 7" of space between them. A febble downward chop swing as the wrong foot steps forward. But a smile on their face at any contact. Don't attempt to teach them to fly fish and giving them a simple bow & arrow could result in the loss of their eye. Coordination & intelligence are definitely related!

The customer is always right...Build it the way they want it. I dont see spiral wrapping being any great advantage in this case because no matter how you wrap it, the reel always wants to flop over anyway, and when I've seen people fish this way the rod is rocking side to side while they reel. A total lack of balance no matter how you build it.