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