I had rotator cuff surgery (right shoulder) July 27. Will be in a sling for 3 more weeks (6 was total) and approx. 3 months rehab. Even though I’m left-handed, surgeon was non-commital about when I could resume fishing; said he was concerned about my being in a boat with a weak shoulder. Does anyone have any experience fishing after this surgery? 

You should be good 90 days or so after the surgery provided there aren't any hiccups. 

Didnt have surgery, but did have a rotator cuff injury on my left shoulder. I began casting backhand - right handed as a means of getting around it but sometimes setting the hook still caused pain.

I have no experience yet. Wishing you a good recovery and hope you can get out as soon as possible. Do a bit of a rehab is you have to. Mine is bad also (dealing with it a long time) and it needs to be done soon. Good luck, be safe. 

I had my rotator cuff (completely torn) surgery on December 13th. I was fishing at the end of February. I could easily roll cast my baitcaster. Pitching was very limited in the beginning but the more I was out fishing the easier it got. My surgeon went in Orthoscopicly and did a cut on the outside of my shoulder. He had me out of a sling (except in public and when I slept) in 5 days, providing I kept my elbow at my side.

 

If it scoped the recovery is fairly easy, opened up to do major repairs the PT regimen is longer. Use common sense and a spinning reel.

Both my shoulders required surgery with screws and Kevlar to reattach the tendons. Age is a major factor, under 50 shouldn't more then 8 weeks, over 50 add a month for each  decade.

Tom

My problem won’t be casting, as I cast left-handed and only reel with my right. Problem, doc said, would be accidentally straining or re-injuring my rotator cuff while handling the boat. Anyone else’s doc talked to them about this?

2 minutes ago, WRB said:

If it scoped the recovery is fairly easy, opened up to do major repairs the PT regimen is longer. Use common sense and a spinning reel.

Both my shoulders required surgery with screws and Kevlar to reattach the tendons. Age is a major factor, under 50 shouldn't more then 8 weeks, over 50 add a month for each  decade.

Tom

I had a surgeon who operates on most major and minor league sports in my area.He drilled holes in my shoulder ran thread through the hole and tier that to the tendons. Faster recovery and more likely the adhere to the bone completely.  I'm 54 years old and I was back to lifting weights at the end of march

2 minutes ago, Maggiesmaster said:

My problem won’t be casting, as I cast left-handed and only reel with my right. Problem, doc said, would be accidentally straining or re-injuring my rotator cuff while handling the boat. Anyone else’s doc talked to them about this?

I'm not really sure what he ment by handling the boat, with the exception of using the winch 

Had my right one rebuilt and and if you rehab it properly there should not be a problem after a couple of months, but the rehab sucks!
Truth be told my accuracy increased and my mechanics had to be perfect.

After long days on the water it can still bother me.  I found a roll cast with a BC was my friend in the beginning......ELBoW by your side always

11 minutes ago, Maggiesmaster said:

My problem won’t be casting, as I cast left-handed and only reel with my right. Problem, doc said, would be accidentally straining or re-injuring my rotator cuff while handling the boat. Anyone else’s doc talked to them about this?

This helps

https://www.amazon.com/customerpicks/Explore-suicide-knobs-for-boat/7ffd77455be9187ef9aa

Had two rotator cuff surgeries. First was just a subacromial decompression. Recovery was easy with no repair and could be fishing again quickly. Second was a full thickness tear with four bone anchors. 6 weeks in sling and the risk of pulling an anchor out and needing a revision surgery was high. So very much depends on what work was done. I will say that if you had a repair and anchors then i would err on the side of caution since a revision surgery has less chance of success than the original surgery. 

2 hours ago, Maggiesmaster said:

My problem won’t be casting, as I cast left-handed and only reel with my right. Problem, doc said, would be accidentally straining or re-injuring my rotator cuff while handling the boat. Anyone else’s doc talked to them about this?

I've got everybody here beat with shoulder surgeries. Picture your shoulder working great and then, all of a sudden, things went awry.  I've had 3 shoulder surgeries, rotator cuff not being one of them. Last one was having my rhomboid and trapezius muscles reattached to my shoulder blade. Permanently crippled and still fishing.

11 hours ago, Maggiesmaster said:

My problem won’t be casting, as I cast left-handed and only reel with my right. Problem, doc said, would be accidentally straining or re-injuring my rotator cuff while handling the boat. Anyone else’s doc talked to them about this?

It’s the chance you take. You won’t know until you try. When you head out for that first time bring someone with you. If a problem arises at least someone will be with you to help get you off the water and secured for the trip home. The doctor just doesn’t want you to strain or be re-injured. He is only suggestion what to do. You’ll have a good idea whether you can do it or not. I suggest you bring someone with you so that you can get the boat on and off the trailer. 

No surgery but injuries . As I age it seems no matter how much I baby it , the shoulder will ache when I fish ,  but not during normal everyday activities. I do suspect though , that having a pull start motor is probably the culprit and not only the casting .

I’ve had two shoulder surgeries, one on each side. Some of the recovery depends on what they had to fix and some depends on your condition before surgery. I had a major tear in my right shoulder. Hurt like heck to move it and I couldn’t get my elbow raised above my shoulder. Recovery was 5 weeks in a sling and 3 months of daily PT exercises. It took a month before it was strong enough to lift anything over a pound. 

My left shoulder wasn’t torn as bad and I was able to work it out before surgery about every other day. The left was in a sling for 5 weeks, but I hardly had to do any PT after the sling came off. 

No surgery, but took 9 months to heal from a rotator cuff tear from kayaking. Luckily most of the time was during the off season. It hurt so bad that I could not do anything with my dominate arm. Physio hurt but helped a lot. Take it slow and easy, you don't want to re-injure yourself.