I started fishing with fly rods and am right handed. I have to cast with my right hand so all my reels have always been set up for left hand retrieve. Thats just me though. I have noticed that a lot of people use right hand retrieve because they don't know that you can change it. Most fly reels ( and spinning reels) come set up that way so they just use them as is. I also can say they catch fish just like anybody else.