What's with the old reels?

If you notice in some of the pictures I've posted, the reels I use look kind of ... old.  Before this year, I had a Mitchell 300A spinning reel that I bought new maybe 20 or 25 years ago.  When I was a kid, my buddy Jason Weyerman always talked about Mitchell 300 reels as being good reels, and I finally bought one I think when I was stationed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

However, doing some research over the winter, I found out this was an "inferior" Mitchell reel made in Taiwan.  The most collectible, Mitchell reels were produced in France from 1939 to 1989.  Ideally, they are the ones with "Mitchell" and other markings etched or cast into the reel rather than a plastic plate glued onto the side (Garcia was the American company that distributed the reels in the states).

The most important thing is that the reels were virtually identical through all those years.  You could take the main gear from a reel produced in 1982, and it would be interchangeable with a reel from 1960.  Need a new bail spring?  Just about any one for that model could be used.  And all the spools were interchangeable for each particular model, even the ones made outside of France.  This is what I was aiming for, using 300 models and lighter 308 models, and everything being interchangeable.  Need to switch from six-pound fluorocarbon to 10-pound mono?  No problem.  Just slap on an extra spool that has it.  Handle breaks?  Switch from another reel (or have extras).

The collection grows.

So I went on an eBay binge and began buying Mitchell reels.  The best deals were buying them in lots, targeting what may look like a good French-made reel in with other reels that could be flipped.  I went after the 300 models as well as the smaller 308 models and kept the "good" ones.  I probably had 15 reels at some point.  Mostly "good" ones and some other Mitchell models.  I also had really cool D.A.M. Quick spinning reel that was manufactured in Germany.  West Germany.

I found Youtube videos on servicing the reels and took apart every one of them and cleaned and re-lubed the internal gears -- even the ones I knew I was going to flip back on eBay.  For the most part, the reels didn't need any replacement parts.  I think one 300 needed a new main gear, and another needed a new internal mechanism for the anti-reverse.  The 308 reels were the most problematic with weak bail springs, or they needed some tweaking.  But most were still solid.

The Mitchell Reel Museum web site had tons of information on dating the reels.  The French-made ones were stamped in the heel with serial numbers, so narrowing down the year of production was really easy, especially for the 300-series reels.  The site also has an active forum

Craigslist find, 1960s Mitchell 300!

The best find I had was not a reel I found on eBay but one I found for sale on the Baltimore Craigslist.  It was a Mitchell 300 that was advertised as "used a few times" with the original box.  Going by the picture, it looked in fantastic shape.  I contacted the guy and got his phone number on a Saturday in November and arranged to meet up with him in Ellicott City Sunday morning.  We met up, and the reel was as advertised.  He said his dad, who recently passed away, bought it and only used it a few times.  He had the original receipt which was dated 1967.  All he wanted for it was $30.  It's all I could do to calmly fork over the money and say goodbye as quickly as possible.

The only issue with it was a bent handle.  I tried bending it back in a vice but it broke, so I had to buy a new-old-stock (NOS) handle on eBay for about $10.  The guy asked me what I was going to do with the reel, probably wondering if I was just going to flip it.  I told him I was going to fish with it, which, honestly, at the time, that's what I was planning on.  But with the box and the original receipt, I decided to just keep it and not use it ... but definitely not selling it any time soon.  A search of eBay for completed listings showed reels in similar condition with box/manual easily went for $100.  But I would rather hold on to it as the showpiece of my collection.

So there you have it.  I'm down to four Mitchell 300s in regular rotation of use, the 300 from Craigslist and two 308s.  All made in France.  I do have two French-made 300s that look kind of beat but work flawlessly that I may sell.  Or maybe designate one for catfish duty.  I also have a Garcia 3000 made in Japan that works fine, and a Mitchell 1040 made in Hong Kong that needs a part I haven't been able to track down.  The Taiwan-made 300A that I had since new that started all this?  I sold it on eBay for, surprisingly, $20.

A Mitchell 300 with a serial number that puts it at a 1962 manufacturing, used to land this nice 15-inch Little Patuxent smallmouth.

It has been reelly (see what I did there?) fun using the old Mitchell reels to catch fish.  I've mated them with modern rods except for an older Shakespeare Ugly Stick, and two older lightweight rods -- one Berkley Performa IM6 and a Rapala Xtreme Ultralight, both with cork handles.  The latter two with the 308 Mitchells are a hoot because it feels like you're reeling in five pound fish!