What's the largest fish you've heard of caught on a Mitchell 300?

Started by festus, December 27, 2017, 01:46:59 PM

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oc1

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.

Gfish

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.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

El Pescador

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

Never let the skinny guys make the sandwiches!!  NEVER!!!!

handi2

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.
OCD Reel Service & Repair
Gulf Breeze, FL

Gfish

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...
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Rivverrat

  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

Bill B

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
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

Jim Fujitani

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.   

Gfish

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.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Hardy Boy

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
Todd

Jim Fujitani

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.


Rivverrat

 
 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