Mitchell 308A

Somewhere In The Middle

By: Jan Hannstra & Dennis Roberts 

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Sometimes, we as collectors strive to determine exacting information as to when a reel was manufactured and issued into circulation. Unfortunately, these two don’t always match up. Recently, EBay auctioned off a Mitchell 308A in the Green MS  (Mitchell Sports) box. It was determined after examining the reel that it was the first offering by MS of this model. Prior to MS, Browning, who controlled the Mitchell brand (1980-1983), packaged their reels in the familiar blue box. In the few short years that Browning was involved with Mitchell, changes in reel designs became the norm. In 1983, the last year of Browning’s involvement is when this particular version was manufactured. What makes this reel so unique is the fact we had no knowledge of this version’s existence until now.  At the very end of Browning, MS quickly changed the packaging to a green box but retained the Browning warranty & paper work. Since this is a transition version of the 308A, and lays somewhere in the middle between Browning and MS, is it possible that the same model was issued by Browning in the blue box a few months prior to the MS release; something to ponder. The reel has been sold in Japan, Netherlands and the US, but yet, only now has it come to light. That is why we estimate the reel had a very limited production run; less than 3 months.  In light of this new find, we thought it would be a nice idea to examine the entire spectrum of known Mitchell 308A’s issued from beginning to end! 

Garcia Mitchell 308A 1977-1978

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MITCHELL’S

Aftermarket Tournament Reels

By: Dennis Roberts                                                                                                       Epilogue 

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 We conclude our series of the tournament reels with a review of aftermarket samples of modified reels to that of  quasi tournament casters. These custom “home built” competitive casting reels became icons of a bygone era. Only recently has competitive casting come back in vogue with professional casters experimenting with “turning” special tournament spools for their casting reels; i.e. Daiwa, Shimano, Mitchell to name a few.

Three tiered spool

  The builders of these special spools and in some cases, multi tiered line guides, produced very efficient and competitive versions of the original factory offerings and drew on non-conventional wisdom in their design. Read more

Is a Spool Just a Spool?

Not to the Collector

 By Mike DiMattio  

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 Have you ever wondered if your collectable Mitchell reel has the correct spool?  Well I have on many occasions and this is what prompted me to do this analysis on the Mitchell 300 spool.  What is amazing is that even though many modifications were made to the spool over the years, the spools are completely interchangeable.  More specifically, a 1947 spool can be used on any model 300 up until the year 2002 when a total reel design change occurred.  Think about this for a moment, that’s a period of 55 years during a time when Mitchell produced approximately 20 million model 300 reels.  The number of spools made during this same period had to be at least triple this amount.  

Spool design 1939-1947

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Modified Mitchell Reels

  Distance & Accuracy Competition

By: Bill Burke                                                                                                                                              Part 4  

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About the Author: Bill is a resident of Paris, Kentucky and was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Casting Association (ACA). He has been selected to the United States Casting Team having competed in nine (9) ICSF World Casting Championships. He is the current ACA record holder in the Seniors Distance Plugs Combination event which comprises the total distance cast in feet for the 2-Hand 5/8oz Spinning Distance event, the 2-Hand 5/8oz Revolving Distance event, and the 1/4oz 1-Hand Spinning Distance event. He is a National Champion many times over in the ACA Senior Division. While he is not a machinist by profession, he has been machining custom distance spools and manual pickups for tournament distance casters for over 40 years.   

Many Mitchell reel collectors have been led to believe that the Mitchell reel with the added intermediate gear was manufactured for the left handed professional caster. In truth, it was manufactured for right hand casters only. I am pleased to see that Dennis Roberts addresses this issue in his article “Mitchell’s Wedding Cake Tournament Reel, Part 2” listed on this website. Here Dennis gives a very clear and accurate description of the importance of the distance caster’s selection of the proper reel depending on whether or not he/she is right handed or left handed.   

Confusion is added by the fact that eBay sellers and collectors describe the Mitchell 301 as a reel for the left handed caster. This description has nothing to do with the way line is spooled or comes off the reel during the cast. It only means it is held in the left hand and cranked with the right hand. For example, in distance casting, the Mitchell 301 is used by the right hand caster.   

I am aware that the true purist Mitchell collector wants only factory original reels, but the main reason the aftermarket existed was so that distance casters could have access to various top quality Mitchell reels in order to make the necessary conversions to a competitive caster.   

Being a competitive tournament distance caster for over 45 years, I have seen the many ways that right handed casters, having no access to the older tournament reels with the intermediate gear, longer shaft and conic spools, have adapted.   

406 3 tier MP system

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Lubricants & Greases  

For Your Mitchell Reel

By: Ed Scharf:  

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  My hobby is fishing and collecting old fishing reels.  But my career for 37 years has been as a maintenance reliability engineer in the chemical manufacturing and power generation industries.  During that time, lubrication of mechanical equipment has been an important part of my everyday work.  So it was natural for me to apply my knowledge of basic lubrication techniques to fishing reels.  I decided to write this article to convey some lubrication technology information in an easy to understand way for Mitchell fishermen and reel collectors.  

The technology in oils and greases has come a long way since the days of the first Mitchell reel.  Gone are the days when grease products would dry and gum up the inside of your reel.  Gone are the days when we need to worry about corrosion inside the reel.  In this article I have outlined 3 categories of lubricant products.  I discuss the latest technology in grease, oil, and protectants, that can be used in Mitchell’s or any other fishing reel. Read more

 MITCHELL’S

Skish & Arenberg Tournament

Casters

By: Dennis Roberts                                                                                                                     Part 3 

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In Part 3 we explore Mitchell’s tournament caster that was designed purposely for Skish and Arenberg event; accuracy casting. The prior two segments in this series dealt with distance models and their unique qualities. We will now examine the more refined “art” of accuracy casting and the reel that was engineered for this event. The premise for accuracy competition is to cast a pre-measured weight into a designated area consisting of colored hoops or target rings; depending on which discipline you are involved in. How close you come to the target or placing your casting weight in the hoop increases the score in your favor. The accuracy events are disciplined competition requiring good eye-hand coordination and targeting skill. 

Second Version Casting Reel

The standard size body and short spool dimensions, “short-stackers”, make for a good balance between reel and spool that enhances handling during the cast.  Mitchell made this tournament grade reel for accuracy casting during the early to mid 1960’s. It was a derivative of its big brother that was used for distance competition. The reel itself was similar to the original tournament model utilizing the extra gear as a reversing gear to change spool direction opposite from the norm. Read more

The 300 PRO-Matic

A Case In Point

By: James Partridge & Dennis Roberts

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From the time the 300 PRO-Matic reel (a mix of the 300 Pro body and 440A rotor) came into existence up to this writing, the debate over the particulars of its engineering or lack of has been ongoing. Many articles, including segments in books and on-line website exchanges, have collectively contributed to a better understanding of this reel but have also deepened the mystery as to the how’s and why’s of its construction. We thought a more arranged approach of events and engineering protocols might be in order to assist with demystifying this reel.

300 PRO-Matic

JL Bunel, a well established tackle / sports store located outside of Paris, marketed the PRO-Matic exclusively. As to why JL Brunel decided to sell the PRO-Matic is a mystery and quite frankly, is not that relevant in determining what constitutes a legitimate 300PRO-Matic and the many fraudulent pieces that are now so prevalent in the hobby. Prior to 1999, the PRO-Matic was not well known except to a handful of collectors. A Bunel PRO-Matic reel can be identified by using the information contained in this document. Read more

Mitchell’s

“Wedding Cake”

Tournament Reel

By: Dennis Roberts                                                                                                                             Part 2

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"Wedding Cake Reel"

This article continues our review of tournament reels issued by Mitchell in the early 1960’s. Carpano & Pons of France - Mitchell Corp. extended their well-defined reel manufacturing operation to encompass specialized reels custom designed for distance and accuracy competition. The sport was at its peak and requests for special spinning reels to cast further and more accurately was in great demand. Mitchell excelled in this area and produced several models.

Mitchell’s three tiered tournament reel; unofficially named the “wedding cake”™ by D. Roberts ltd, was developed by Mitchell’s R&D team; circa 1962. With the help of professional casters, Mitchell produced an improved design from their first version with an internal system that was considered “state of the art” for its time.  Mitchell, utilizing a 300 body, made some modifications that resulted with the addition of an extra gear for changing direction of the rotor. (The following is an excerpt from Part 1, First Issue Tournament Casters.)

This additional gear provided a change in rotor direction to a clockwise rotation during retrieve. The extra gear on Mitchell’s tournament reels was implemented for the benefit of right hand casters.  We will first look at how the line comes off a Mitchell 300 during a cast without the extra gear. Read more

Mitchell’s

First Issue Tournament Casters

Dennis  Roberts                                                                                                                   Part 1

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Second version with lever reverse and foil covered spool

It was approximately in 1961 when Mitchell introduced their first tournament caster reel. Designers focused their efforts with experimental versions in four areas; the spool, gearing, locking mechanism, and retrieval system. Considering the requirements of professional casters, Mitchell engineers made changes in these areas based on performance requirements; distance was paramount.  The sport of distance casting was at its peak and requests for special spinning reels that go further and more accurately was in great demand. Mitchell excelled in this area and produced several models. Their main modification was the inclusion of these multi tiered-monolithic spools that along with other modifications, collectively resulted in an extremely fine distance casting reel.  Reels were sold or given to professional tournament casters actively involved in the sport.  There are two versions one with an early chevon anti reverse and the second having a lever. A total of five different spool types were produced during the years of production.

When Mitchell experimented with tournament casters they realized the spool would be the key component. A conic shaped spool was tested having a pronounced angle of 79º≈. It was determined this geometry was perfect for maximizing distance during casting. Their main goal was to develop a design that allowed line to “spool” off the reel with a minimal amount of friction and at an angle of incident that would be conducive for maximum distance. Read more

GARCIA MITCHELL 402

High Speed Salt Water Reel

By: Ed Scharf

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This article is a documentary of the first version Mitchell 402 Salt Water spinning reel.  It includes information about the Mitchell 402 and documentation of its history. I would like to thank Dan Hawks, fellow Mitchell reel collector and Mitchell historian, for helping me with the historical information presented here.  

The Mitchell Salt Water Reels

The cover of an early "Salt Water" instruction manual.

Carpano & Pons of Cluses, France began manufacturing the Mitchell “Salt Water” spinning reel about 1951.  It was larger but similar to the popular “Mitchell” (300) spinning reel and designed for ocean surf fishing.  In the early years there was no model number designation, only the inscription “Salt Water”.  In 1956, the salt water reel was designated model number 302.  The 302 was painted black and had a gear ratio of approximately 4 to 1.  The Mitchell 302 was quite popular during that period and was known to be very well made and durable when used in salt water.  It was also used for heavy fresh water fishing.  The model 302 reels that were imported into the United States were designated “Garcia” on the reel as the Garcia Corporation was the sole importer of Mitchell reels to the United States.

1964 Advertisement

In 1964, Garcia began advertising a “high speed” version of the Model 302.  It was called the model 402 Salt Water.  The 402 had a gear ratio of approximately 5 to 1.  Like the 302, it was a large reel, weighing 19-1/2 ounces.  It was painted a dark blue-green color referred to by many collectors as “Midnight Blue”.  The 402 was marketed from 1964 through 1977.  Mitchell referred to the 402 as the “King of Saltwater Reels”.

Marketing advertisements for the 402 first began in 1964.  The ad shown to the left appeared in the 1964 Garcia Fishing Annual Catalog.

Actual production of the 402 started before 1964, possibly as early as 1962.  The Garcia Corporation began importing the 402 into the United States in the second half of 1963.  According to factory records, during the production years from 1963 through 1977, there were approx, 189,313 Mitchell 402 mfg.

Over the course of manufacturing, various improvements / modifications were made to the reel proper. These changes were minor and encompassed the reel body, handle, and materials used in construction.

It is difficult to pin down the dates of manufacture of the “402 Salt Water.” Serial numbers were not conclusive for accurate dating.  It appears that the Model 302 and 402 reels were sequentially numbered as a group. This makes it even more difficult to determine the date of issue. Read more