I was visiting my folks recently and my Dad gave me his Mitchell CAP that was given to him a few years back by a friend who passed. It's certainly seen better days and am looking forward to giving it a good cleaning. The bail snaps back on retrieve and the anti-reverse is working.
It does appear that someone was inside this reel and it wasn't my Dad. Doesn't appear to have any grease. Perhaps a light oil, but it certainly looks better inside than out.
I had been reading on another website that the Mitchell Cap was the precursor to the 304. Is that correct as I am seeing what may appear to be planamatic gears?
I remember, a little over a year ago, telling my Wife I didn't see myself collecting these reels after I got my first 308. This is now my 4th Mitchell. Do gifts count? :-X
Thanks,
Matt
Yes, the Mitchell Cap was pre 304. The early 304s had planamatic gearing. Prior to Garcia being etched into the body they added a yellow Garcia Product sticker. It was installed on the body above the handle. A lot of them eventually wore or fell off.
Waaaasssup!, Matt. Yeah looks like the Planamatic gears. Looks like a "fisher", just me but I don't worry about the external stuff, unless I haveta dig out corrosion. I've looked at CAP reels recently, I like the no-wasted-space design of the gear-box. You maybe can get some interesting facts from the Mitchell Reel Museum site as I think it's still up.
Here's some information.
-Steve
One of my dock queens is a 304 on a 10 Ft EC rod, my favorite
Crappie rig.These round body Mitchells are simple and smooth :fish
Thank you everyone for your replies. Lots of great information.
Matt
So what version/year did the 304 go to regular Gearing and you had to get a 314 for the planamatic gears?
A bit of history on the Cap and Mitchell 304 found here: http://www.mitchellcap.info/
Quote from: jtwill98 on March 24, 2024, 02:37:45 PMA bit of history on the Cap and Mitchell 304 found here: http://www.mitchellcap.info/
That information was put together by Jim Seiler years ago. I have a color PDF of the original 122 page research document Jim did. It was given to me to review for accuracy & mistakes back in 2016 prior to it's publication in book form. There's a lot of good information in that 122 page document. ;)
Quote from: Midway Tommy on March 24, 2024, 10:57:46 PMThere's a lot of good information in that 122 page document.
I would love to see it if Jim would grant permission for you to share the document.
Quote from: jtwill98 on March 25, 2024, 02:02:01 AMQuote from: Midway Tommy on March 24, 2024, 10:57:46 PMThere's a lot of good information in that 122 page document.
I would love to see it if Jim would grant permission for you to share the document.
Jim passed away in 2002, as I was informed. It came to me to review as a result of his daughter's approval. It's more or less what you are seeing via that link except that I can scroll right down the 122 pages, read the type with the photos and not have to be annoyed by having to click on a photo link. There's about 65 pages of Cap, Mitchell & Garcia catalog pages at the end.
Hello,
The C.A.P. reel has certainly existed since 1939 and was sold by La Canne à Pêche (hence C.A.P., since it was the reel that this company created) in Angers and Lyon, France (where a branch of La Canne à Pêche was located). Improvements to this reel were entrusted to Carpano & Pons in 1939, but production didn't begin until after the war. Meanwhile, La Canne à Pêche contributed to the commercial success of the Mitchell reel, and since relations between the engineers in Cluses and the owners of La Canne à Pêche were very good, and since the latter had increased their profits tenfold (from 1949 to 1952 according to the document I have) thanks to sales of the C.A.P. reel and the Mitchell reel, they allowed Carpano & Pons to sell the C.A.P. on their side (especially with the improvement of the C.A.P. to the CAP 304), but not without receiving royalties.
I would also point out that the name "Mitchell" was only attached to the "CAP 304" starting in 1958 for the French catalogs of La Canne à Pêche. It is therefore best to avoid using the word Mitchell to refer to the C.A.P. reel before the CAP 304, which is itself the undisputed work of the Cluses engineers.
The C.A.P. reel is not only the precursor of the CAP 304, but also of the Mitchell. If you want, I have a brochure from the Cluses Archives from 1993 (based on the testimonies of former Carpano & Pons employees) which states that Maurice Jacquemin was inspired by the PECOS reel of the Pêcheur Ecossais and the C.A.P. reel of La Canne à Pêche to create his own reel.
I'm adding two links to the INPI (French National Institute of Industrial Property) regarding the C.A.P. reel :
https://data.inpi.fr/dessins_modeles/FR30511-001?q=La%20Canne%20%C3%A0%20P%C3%AAche#FR30511-001
https://data.inpi.fr/dessins_modeles/FR30510-001?q=La%20Canne%20%C3%A0%20P%C3%AAche#FR30510-001
This story about the yellow Garcia sticker intrigues me. Do you know the exact date it appeared ?
Kind regard
Paul Rochard
Thanks Paul, looking forward to much more of the history, that you have, keep well cheers Don.
I know it has been said already,but please clarify what would be the years of production for a Mitchell 304 with the raised letters C.A.P on the non handle(right) side of the reel ?
Thank you,
James
Hello James,
The letters C.A.P are, by default, engraved on the side where the handle is not located. Here, we are only talking about the CAP 304 / Mitchell CAP 304, I can not say that I know exactly all the changes of the CAP reels since this quickly becomes the work of Carpano & Pons. Nevertheless, I can share with you these few images from the catalogs of La Canne à Pêche from 1953 to 1958 (of course it is in French). You can see that the CAP reel only got a name change in 1954 (T.54 is attached to its name, just like in the 1955 catalog, then it is N.L. in 1956). The CAP 304 reel appears in the 1957 catalog showing that production was in progress, you can see that the name "Mitchell" is not found on this page or on the body of the reel, unlike the image in the 1958 catalog.
I have little explanation for this, but it may be following the death, in 1957, of Léon Rochard, the brother of Emile Rochard who worked with him and to whom, in my family, the creation, or rather the realization of the C.A.P. reel from 1939 is attributed. Or it is simply a renegotiation between La Canne à Pêche and Carpano & Pons who had good relations to put the C.A.P. reel in the Mitchell range.
What great posts, Paul!
Glad you are here.
I'd like to add this page from the 1959 La Canne à Pêche catalog showing us the Mitchell 314 SuperCAP, but, more interestingly, on the right, there's a list of the Mitchell reel family, and you can see that it includes the Mitchell CAP 304 and the Mitchell CAP 314, but not the earlier versions of the C.A.P. reel.
Another thing, the CAP 54 reel is, of course, the same reel as the Mitchell CAP 304 ; even if you don't understand French, you can see that the description and specifications of the C.A.P. reel. The names on the pages of the 1954, 1955, and 1957 catalogs are completely similar ; this changes slightly to a more informative one in the 1958 catalog. Thus, "54" becomes "304", placing this reel in the same category as the famous Mitchell 300 reel. It was therefore, I think, at least at the time, though this is still debatable, that the C.A.P. reel truly entered the Mitchell family at that time, around 1957.
Please excuse me for harping on this point, but I insist on this distinction between the Mitchell reel, the Mitchell CAP, and the C.A.P. reel which was still owned by La Canne à Pêche.
I am trying to find out when the newer 340 came into play & what gear ratio it has? I read the handles will not fit the 304s?
Quote from: jgp12000 on June 03, 2025, 04:30:25 PMI am trying to find out when the newer 340 came into play & what gear ratio it has? I read the handles will not fit the 304s?
It is a cheap econo version of the 304 and came out in 1968.
On a different note, something that seems to have been getting lost in all of this discussion is the fact that Hardy's full bail patent expired during WWII and was extended until 1956 in some, but not all, countries, so there were an awful lot of inconsistencies during that time period, especially throughout the major manufacturers.
Whoa! Paul, I'll try to keep the reel names straight, which shouldn't be that hard given what you've written, thanks much for your contributions.But in my opinion, we in the USA are probably not as culturally sensitive as others in the world and that includes me. So you can "insist" if you want to, but I for one will not take it that seriously.
Quote from: Paul Rochard on May 31, 2025, 05:16:16 PMThe C.A.P. reel is not only the precursor of the CAP 304, but also of the Mitchell. If you want, I have a brochure from the Cluses Archives from 1993 (based on the testimonies of former Carpano & Pons employees) which states that Maurice Jacquemin was inspired by the PECOS reel of the Pêcheur Ecossais and the C.A.P. reel of La Canne à Pêche to create his own reel.
Here's an example from my collection of a Pêcheur Ecossais 1937 PECOS reel.
A used Mitchell CAP was my first spinning reel. It was handed down from my Dad to my older brother, then to me, about in the early 60s. I had "outgrown" my Shakespeare "closed spool" spincast reel, and I could fish like the big people.
I've looked though the family storage but haven't been able to find it, yet.