Mitchell 300 (old school version)

[bea413]

This thread caught my eye since I am surfing instead of fishing lately (visiting family). I have used a Mitchell 300 since the early 70s and liked it a lot. Now days people look at you funny when they hear the clicking, but...........who cares. I had excessive stiffness during pink season, so I had to get a different reel.

I cleaned up my old Mitchell completely, but I need a side plate screw and a new bail. The plating mostly peeled off the bail, probably because I was careless about cleaning the salt off it.

I think the old girl still has life, if anyone knows where I could get a bail and a screw, and the proper lube. I think I used too stiff of grease before. Thanks

[The Quadfather]

This thread caught my eye since I am surfing instead of fishing lately (visiting family). I have used a Mitchell 300 since the early 70s and liked it a lot. Now days people look at you funny when they hear the clicking, but...........who cares. I had excessive stiffness during pink season, so I had to get a different reel.

I cleaned up my old Mitchell completely, but I need a side plate screw and a new bail. The plating mostly peeled off the bail, probably because I was careless about cleaning the salt off it.

I think the old girl still has life, if anyone knows where I could get a bail and a screw, and the proper lube. I think I used too stiff of grease before. Thanks

Hold on Brutha, I am the one who started this thread. I've got chicken curry on the boil, and too many spoons in the pot. Once I finish. I will direct you to the needed supplies.

[The Quadfather]

Check your PM's. message sent.

[Lou Smith]

Quadfather,

Thank you. After reading your thread, I dug out my old hardly used (a little North Dakota walleye catching) Mitchell 300 (lefthand), gave it a grease change and oil job, and paired it up with a new Shimano Convergence CVS-L100M2B. The inside is all metal gears and the grease was like new, but changed it anyway. This will be my gear for first-time steel hunting.

[The Quadfather]

Lou, is it a 300, or a 305? Hard to see last digit in pic. If it's a 300, what is the reel seat #?
I can tell u a ruff idea of its vintage.

[Lou Smith]

The paperwork is for a 300/301. The number on the body is 300, and the reel seat only says "Mitchell Taiwan". If memory serves, I bought it back in the early 80's, maybe late 70's?

[The Quadfather]

The paperwork is for a 300/301. The number on the body is 300, and the reel seat only says "Mitchell Taiwan". If memory serves, I bought it back in the early 80's, maybe late 70's?

You can do some reading on:
http://mitchellreelmuseum.com/index.php ... &Itemid=62" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is the link to the history of MItchell/Garcia. The early, classic ones were made in France. The company was bought out a few times after the 1970's. It makes for some good reading anyway. You can pick up the classic ones from Ebay, for not all that much. It will never be as smooth as a 12+ bearing high end modern reel, but I could care less, it's just a great reel. I fish the modern stuff as well as this one.

[pizzaman]

One of the first things I ever saved money to buy was a 300. Think it was about $30 in maybe 1977? Loved it and everyone was using them back then. Found a 308 a couple years ago on closeout when they closed K-mart and spent another $30 to give it a shot. Pretty happy with it and it came with an extra spool as a bonus.

[bea413]

Thanks to "The Quadfather", I figured out that my reel was built in 1970 according to the information found in the Mitchell Museum Forum under;
http://mitchellreelmuseum.com/forum/vie ... d68e20c4ab" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

My serial is 9648870.

Interesting, and confirms my memory of early 70s for a change. Sometimes that doesn't happen. I cannot remember how much I paid, but I still have most of the papers, box, spare spool and container and second spare spool with no container. Maybe I will find a receipt in the papers tomorrow???

Now we will see about some parts.

[racfish]

I have many extra spools for my Mitchell. Back then you got two spools. One had a shallow and one deep spool. They came in a plastic spool case that I use still. Ive been sorting all my gear. I have an old Penn Reel with real wood trim on it. Looks like teak wood. Its fun going through my old gear looking at my past through my fishing gear.

[fishmanjh]

I caught many a Steelhead on the Mitchell 300 with a Sammy Special on my Eagle Claw rod.WOW this brings back memories.

Me TOO !!! First Steelhead rig, as a kid at around 66' when I fist started on the Cedar River in Maple Valley. Caught my 1st 20# Steelhead as a kid with that rig. Still have that combo in the garage. Recently refinished the rod. Finally Dad bought me a Abu Garcia casting real in the early 70's ...

[skagit510]

That reel brings back memories. Good on you quadfather for collecting them. People forget that fly gear is not in the least the only collectible fishing stuff. Get yourself an old glass Fenwick and fish that thing.

[obryan214]

gotta couple of them, 1 still gets used every so often, strapped to a modern rod.

[racfish]

I caught many a Steelhead on the Mitchell 300 with a Sammy Special on my Eagle Claw rod.WOW this brings back memories.

Me TOO !!! First Steelhead rig, as a kid at around 66' when I fist started on the Cedar River in Maple Valley. Caught my 1st 20# Steelhead as a kid with that rig. Still have that combo in the garage. Recently refinished the rod. Finally Dad bought me a Abu Garcia casting real in the early 70's ...

OMG We probably fished side by side on the Cedar. I caught my first 18 lb steel behind the Fire Station on Dorre Don Road.

[fishmanjh]

I caught many a Steelhead on the Mitchell 300 with a Sammy Special on my Eagle Claw rod.WOW this brings back memories.

Me TOO !!! First Steelhead rig, as a kid at around 66' when I fist started on the Cedar River in Maple Valley. Caught my 1st 20# Steelhead as a kid with that rig. Still have that combo in the garage. Recently refinished the rod. Finally Dad bought me a Abu Garcia casting real in the early 70's ...

OMG We probably fished side by side on the Cedar. I caught my first 18 lb steel behind the Fire Station on Dorre Don Road.

We lived on Jones Road, opposite the Maintainece Barns on the Maple Valley Highway. Also my HS Girlfriend lived on Dorre Don, and I fished that stretch a lot. That late Run of BIG Natives were awesome.

[mav186]

I wanted to thank Quad for starting this thread and eventually ended up graciously donating an entire reel to me, when all I requested was a couple of side plate screws! You're awesome!

This thread caught my attention because I knew I had an old Mitchell 300 that was from my Dad. My Dad passed away when I was 3 yo and the few things I have of his, mean the world to me.

After reading all the posts and viewing the videos, I pulled the reel out of his fishing box and set out to tear it down, clean and reassemble. For me it's a bit surreal taking care of something that belonged to him. It was an exiting journey through time. During this process, I discovered some great surprises along the way. Like while I was cleaning the plastic handle where you wind with your index finger and thumb, I could see where the textured surface was worn smooth. I also discovered a Mitchell 'Field Repair Kit' containing numerous small paper packets containing individual spare parts w/ hand written part numbers in French. Something else that struck me was when I opened up the repair box, on the inside of the lid I could see where he had placed an internal gear, likely when he was cleaning or maintaining the reel.

I can tell you, the reel turned out beautiful after a complete tear down, thorough cleaning, lube and reassembly.

For me, this was so much more than just cleaning up an old reel...it was the type of project that had the power to literally draw a Father and Son closer...even decades after his death.

Thanks,
Mav

[BARCHASER10]

Got my first 300 in 1960 when I was 16. During the 60's I had two of them. Wish I would've kept them. But then I wish I would have kept lots of stuff I had back then, a 1955 and a 56 Chev 2dr sedan, 1967GTX, 1969 Z28, Win mod 97 and 95 (real rare), bunch of other old guns etc. etc.

[racfish]

Got my first 300 in 1960 when I was 16. During the 60's I had two of them. Wish I would've kept them. But then I wish I would have kept lots of stuff I had back then, a 1955 and a 56 Chev 2dr sedan, 1967GTX, 1969 Z28, Win mod 97 and 95 (real rare), bunch of other old guns etc. etc.

Hahaha. For me I also had a 69 z-28. My old Ranchero,63 Chevy panel truck. The list goes on.

[BARCHASER10]

Sold the Z28 in 1974 when I was living in Billings, MT and my job had me traveling all over eastern and central MT. I was single, living in an apartment and needed a car that could take the winter roads and for hunting and fishing, so I bought a 1974 Blazer. Got 1200 bucks for the Z and felt lucky to get that.

[Terry Fortier]

I collect, repair and use the old 300 series of Mitchell reels exclusively. My goal is to find the reels that are lightly used in spite of their age.