I haven't been able to get this Christmas gift to a friend, he's working south of the border temporarily and only came back to the states for a couple days for the holidays.
He's never owned a Mitchell, he's in his early 40s and uses mostly WalMart gear. I asked him what pound test he preferred and he said 8 lb mono. So I loaded it up with Stren. Then I decided to throw in a spare spool loaded with 12 lb Trilene and this medium action Ugly Stik.
He has caught a few catfish in the 30 lb range and he says they have torn up his Zebco Hawg Seekers and Shakespeare Tiger combos.
l've yet to have a fish strip gears from any of my Mitchells but have had my line busted by some unexpected stripers and some big unknown species while fishing for crappie and white bass.
Back in the day I only used to use Mitchell 300. Back then it was carp and pike fishing. Biggest carp 28.5lbs biggest pike 19.5lbs. Never did better those milstones :(
Didn't have a Mitchell 204, but my step-father had a 304, and his largest that I had seen delicious Papio. Don't know the size but it was yummy.
http://www.wou.edu/~haoki08/hidexweb/ulua.html
Dick Walkers 44lb record Carp around 1950. Named Clarissa and transported to London Zoo aquarium.
I caught a 31# channel cat on a Mitchell 308 and 4# line. Took over an hour but the reel was in good shape after the fight.
Quote from: richard on December 27, 2017, 02:41:11 PM
Dick Walkers 44lb record Carp around 1950. Named Clarissa and transported to London Zoo aquarium.
I used to be a junior member of the Zoological Society back then (1965). Although against the rules I was allowed to go 'backstage' and feed the fish - including Clarissa (at the time in September 1952 it was though to be a rod caught World Record fish). Fish the size of Clarissa were dream material back then. Dick Walker was the best known angler in those days. Not only course fishing but fly/game fishing as well.
Quote from: akfish on December 27, 2017, 03:12:04 PM
I caught a 31# channel cat on a Mitchell 308 and 4# line. Took over an hour but the reel was in good shape after the fight.
Actually I prefer the 308 over the 300. Can't forget the first time I hooked a freshwater striped bass. Was using a Mitchell 308 with either 6 or 8 lb mono.
Thanks for the responses. Actually I haven't used the Mitchell 300 series that much. Still have the first one I bought brand new in 1977 but lucked out and found several used ones for 3 bucks apiece last summer. Always preferred the D.A.M. Quick 220.
Most of the old pictures of freshwater fishing articles in outdoor magazines show the anglers using the Mitchell 300 for a wide variety of species from bass to pike to trout, walleye, etc.
I wouldn't want to get into any debate about which spinning reel is/was the strongest, or best built, or easiest to use, or most durable , or....
But, using a 300, for me, is a real treat; not only a prominent piece of history, but just reeling one in, the buzz of the antireverse, the feel of quality--a real treat.
Frank
I caught about an 11 lb shad on the Sac in 76 or 77.
My Dad got spooled on the same day on the same rig by a fish we never saw.
It was like he hooked a passing barge....
On a stock 300.
Grandpa had about a 1000 feet of river frontage just north of the Hamilton City bridge.
Hard to beat that for opportunity.....
I could never get used to the backwards rotation on a 300 so I avoided them at all costs. ::) I did, though, catch a large number of 8 to 12lb catfish on my original 304, and it was plenty of reel back in those days.
Used to use the backward rotation(anti-reverse off) as sort of drag, with my forefinger applying the pressure under that cup-rotor. Worked really well, and I just didn't trust the stock drag.
Gfish
We didn't have cf drags back then :(
My best was a 32 lb Pike. There was enough resistance through the gears that they did not overun(this was before baitrunners)Also as already mentioned a finger behind the rotor was a good drag that avoided the line twist associated with fish taking line off a spinning spool.Best line lay for the time.A classic like the ABU Cardinals IMO.
Back in the '60s when I was in school THE reel everybody had to have for local river stripers was a Mitchell 300. It was my very first spinning reel back then, too, for that very reason. Every year or so during the spring striper run there was some kid in my school who'd manage to land a striper in the 30 to 40+ range using Mitchells with heavy line and live or cut bait.
Quote from: festus on December 27, 2017, 09:14:31 PM
Quote from: akfish on December 27, 2017, 03:12:04 PM
I caught a 31# channel cat on a Mitchell 308 and 4# line. Took over an hour but the reel was in good shape after the fight.
Actually I prefer the 308 over the 300. Can't forget the first time I hooked a freshwater striped bass. Was using a Mitchell 308 with either 6 or 8 lb mono.
Thanks for the responses. Actually I haven't used the Mitchell 300 series that much. Still have the first one I bought brand new in 1977 but lucked out and found several used ones for 3 bucks apiece last summer. Always preferred the D.A.M. Quick 220.
Most of the old pictures of freshwater fishing articles in outdoor magazines show the anglers using the Mitchell 300 for a wide variety of species from bass to pike to trout, walleye, etc.
I use the 300's for most of my fishing, mainly pike and walleye, but also trout. Have caught quite a few pike in the 40" range on them. They are a reel that performs far better than they spec, I prefer them to the 308 myself.
I started with a 304 and then upgraded to a 300. I put years on those reels and took care of them but never caught much of anything. Ungrateful things. Some small spanish macks and seatrout.
Checked my memory, a 10 lb. Mad R. Steelhead. Actually got bit while allowing drift rig to go extra distance down river while letting it wind out in reverse.
Quote from: Gfish on March 17, 2021, 04:05:48 PM
Checked my memory, a 10 lb. Mad R. Steelhead. Actually got bit while allowing drift rig to go extra distance downriver while letting it wind out in reverse.
Greg!!!!
What section of the Mad River did you fish???
While attending Humboldt State Univ. in Arcata, CA in the late 1970s, I fished the Mad downstream of the Hwy. 101 bridge, and caught WAY TOO MANY half pounders -
16" - 18" rainbow trout. Man, that was fun!!!!
Your Delrin Washers are still making my Penn 500 drag smoother than a baby's butt!!!!!
Wayne
I don't know the biggest fish but have caught literally thousands of Spanish Mackerel in the 2 to 3 lb. size. Plenty of Speckled Trout and Redfish too. That's all we had. There were no Penn reels. My father would get me a new one every year. I would use the 300 on smaller fish and the 302 for King Mackerel and Cobia.
I started fishing the Pensacola beach pier with him around 7 years old. I kept fishing the beach pier and local bridges until I was 35 years old. I was still using the Mitchell 300.
Ok. The Mad "Muddy" River. Used to stay brown & turbid for 2-weeks after a good rain. I was at the Blue Lakes bridge hole( hooked-up just downstream from the bridge). Surprisingly few fishers there that day. Whenever the kings were in, there was no elbow room!
Anywhere below the state hatchery and up from the 101 bridge was good when the Winter-run Steelies were commin back. Especially right down from the hatchery. But, again, you had the squeeze in tight.
Here's a horrible quality i-Pad picture, of a instamatic picture, of the B.L. bridge after a storm got it. Seemed to be the early days of those global weather change, radical storms a-commin. That's me on the bridge, man, lookit all the hair I used to have...
77. something lb. blue cat weighed on certified scales. Caught by my grandpa... I & my grandpa's best friend were there. The story of this catch was wrote up in the Olathe Daily News Paper. I remember the feelings I felt & still feel those feelings I had at this specific time.
It was the second biggest fish I'd ever witnessed at this time, pulled from my favorite river by rod & reel. After this was over my grandpa went on a search for a better reel. The exact, same reason I came here... to find better gear that was Worthy Of The River.
In spite of all my short comings... my grandpa loved me ! & I miss him dearly... Jeff
It was in '72, I was 9 years old. My dad and I were fishing the Smith River with a 300 on a Garcia-Colon rod. I was throwing a Colorado spoon, think of a copper spoon with hammered indents on one side, with 10 lb mono. Anyways caught a 10 lb salmon casting from the rocks. I kept trying to pass off the rod to dad. Kinda of a bummer though, we were on vacation with the family and had no place to cook it. So we stopped at a restaurant and gave the fish to the owner who steaked it and cooked it for us......Bill
I used a 300 when I started fishing for King Salmon above the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in the early 70's. We were "flossing" the fish, that were stranded above the hatchery weir and below the base of the Nimbus Dam. The largest King I landed was 25#. At the time I didn't know that "flossing" was frowned upon by righteous fishers.
By the time I was fishing the Mad, Trinity, and Klamath Rivers (along with tide waters and Red Tail perch in the ocean waters, '73-'77), I had upgraded to the 410 and 302.
I was lucky enough to fish the first returns of the Washougal strain of steelhead on the Mad River. I have heard that the strain did well on the Mad (short coastal river, easy run to the hatchery). Some in the know commented that the Washougal strain at home were not as good a fighter. I was never lucky enough to land a Washougal strain steelhead tho' I hooked a few.
There was also the drought in the mid 70's, that exposed a lot of large salmon and steelhead to fishers in the falls and winters. A lot of the locals were not aware of the size of the winter run fish, often stretching clear across the tailgates of standard pick up trucks.
I experienced that section of river behind the Nimbus Dam, twice in 2000. Once was enough, but another guy from work wanted to go. Almost literally elbow to elbow, people drifting yarn or floss, combined with beads, tryin I think, to
"mouth snag" Steelies & Salmon.
Drunk people screaming across the river at each other, man what a circus!
I recall seeing a Fish and Game lady sitting up near a bridge with binoculars, prolly in contact with someone down there tryin to catch violators.
I would have guessed that AT caught a cow bluefin on one and landed it in less than 15 mins !! ......................... if he hasn't he should ! ;D
My daughter got a 12 lb steelhead on one while fishing for trout in the Skeena River.
Cheers:
Todd
Quote from: Gfish on July 21, 2021, 07:54:34 PM
I experienced that section of river behind the Nimbus Dam, twice in 2000. Once was enough, but another guy from work wanted to go. Almost literally elbow to elbow, people drifting yarn or floss, combined with beads, tryin I think, to
"mouth snag" Steelies & Salmon.
Drunk people screaming across the river at each other, man what a circus!
I recall seeing a Fish and Game lady sitting up near a bridge with binoculars, prolly in contact with someone down there tryin to catch violators.
That is an accurate description of the circus. During the two years that I fished that section, it was only because it was the only area that was open. The rest of the "lower" river (above the power lines at Ancil Hoffman park, as I recall) was closed for the natural salmon spawning until January 1. I tried to be there before sunrise and left round 8-830 AM. The "regulars" who fished early were very decent and orderly, and I learned very quickly to avoid the circus.
About a 14 lb Carp
I watched my grandpa catch a weighed 57 lb. blue cat below the Bowersock Dam in Lawrence, KS.
The conditions were ideal & he knew what he was doing. Having many years on commercial fishing boats in Canada.
No way I would willingly choose the Mitchell 300 series he was using if I knew fish this size were around ... Jeff