Lubricants & Greases  

For Your Mitchell Reel

By: Ed Scharf:  

_____________________________________________________________  

  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 

________________________________________________________________________ 

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