Mitchell Saltwater spinners

[callelk]

If I'm going to throw liteweight lures, do I need to re-spool with lighter line for the "inshore game" around here. Huh
Thanks for your thoughts...  

when I was growing up  the guy who taught Me to fish was a chem engineer for Garcia Mitchel /Conlon in Costa Mesa  Calif  He used spinning reels for surface fishing  He used 302's  and its high speed varant  the # escapes My mind right now   and Langley spinators  870's
he used Garcia Royal bonel  its put out by somebody else now  its a very limp line
He told  me it was designed for the 302
if you can find some give it a try

The Hi-Speed 302 was the 402.........

I do remember using Royal Bonel at one point and there was another brand of extremely limp mono that I used but it has not been available for some years and the name escapes me.  I will see if I have an empty spool somewhere and if I recall it was made in the Netherlands.


Some of the limpest lines now for spinning are Stren Magnathin, Stren Easy Cast and Trilene XL.  For braids, I did like the Fenwick Iron Thread 14 lb but it too is no longer available that I am aware of.

[callelk]

FYI,

The "white" washer is the original 81 103 Teflon drag washer and the Penn 6-965 is below it.  You will note that the metal drag washer is the type that is swaged to the Brake Spring.  These are tough to find but I guess you could do the same with a stainless washer and Bellville spring.

I rough up the metal washer with a green scotch pad...

[alantani]

cal's grease?

[Walter_Lars]

CalElk its been a while since I have been fishing  as I am working as a long haul trucker  so I am not up on the currant brands
but the mention of the Old Garcias  brought back many good memories
I am sure they are better brands of limp line out now
Thanks for the Memories  that sounds like a song
now that I am home I am rebuilding My collection of reels and rods
Hopefully soon I will be out there again

[callelk]

cal's grease?

Hi Alan,

First let me say that this is a wonderful site you have here, very informative and it has helped me repair for example the clicker on my charter special without destroying my reel taking it apart

To answer your question; of course.  After browsing though your tutorials I purchased a jar of Cal's for drag washers.  In the photo you can see two acid brushes, one is for Cal's the other for "blue" grease. 

[callelk]

CalElk its been a while since I have been fishing  as I am working as a long haul trucker  so I am not up on the currant brands
but the mention of the Old Garcias  brought back many good memories
I am sure they are better brands of limp line out now
Thanks for the Memories  that sounds like a song
now that I am home I am rebuilding My collection of reels and rods
Hopefully soon I will be out there again

Walter,

Speaking of memories, though I did not find an old spool of the limber line that I mentioned, while going through my old tackle boxes I did find some beadhead flies that my dad and I used  for American shad fishing on the Yuba River in Marysville. 

I remember us purchasing 9', 4-5 weight fly rod blanks and installing conventional spinning reel seats and guides on them.  American shad have very soft mouths so we needed long, limber poles so as to not rip the hooks out of their mouths.  With 6# line on our 300's, we used to catch them by the bucket full.

They make suitable rods now in crappie rods....where were they then?  But I will admit, that is what got me into the rod building hobby which I still enjoy.

[Walter_Lars]

I remember us purchasing 9', 4-5 weight fly rod blanks and installing conventional spinning reel seats and guides on them.  American shad have very soft mouths so we needed long, limber poles so as to not rip the hooks out of their mouths.  With 6# line on our 300's, we used to catch them by the bucket full.

They make suitable rods now in crappie rods....where were they then?  But I will admit, that is what got me into the rod building hobby which I still enjoy.

I went to school at Chico State 79 and 80
I got a collapsible crappie rod no guide except for the tip
I tryed fishing for shad  up at tehama where the deer creek dumps in the sacto river  never could hook a shad
but I had good luck over at the gravel pits below oro dam for crappie using curly tails and the 15' crappie stick
I hooked up about 4-5 # largemouth on that rig    that was a great fight

[callelk]

Walter,

I will be in Chico the end of May talking to CalFire about building a few Type 3 Wildland engines for them.

We were shad fishing in the late 60's and I don't doubt that they have gone the way of the salmon.  At one time we caught  black crappie on Hogan Reservoir but that was during the mid 70's and everyone is bass fishing now.........

Back to it, I just finished cleaning and rebuilding two 400's, two 300's, a 350 and two 300 Skirted Spool Reels which I really like.  They are however a lot different than the old 300's.  One thing is the deep spool has twice the drag washers as the shallow and of course the bail is so much different. 

[blktwr2660]

Hi,guys it's me again was surfing the site and came across this post(Thank's Alan )I have a Number of these reels that i used to use back in my surf casting days a 300,302,306(ready for this)496 and the infamous 498(held 400+ of 20#,largest capacity for a spinner at that time)Haven't used them for some time but I think you guy's know me by now Don't believe in spending mega bucks on equipment to catch quality fish.All my Garica reels have manual bail's but instead of buying new reels want to rebuild these's(know that the weakest part of the 498 is the frame >:(Thats why we always had a spares)were can I find parts for thse great reels and what can I do to make them stronger.Again Thank You for this Great site.PS still working on those 9/0 pic's to follow soon. 8)Alan when you get around to it,For I truley Know What A Truley Busy Man You Truley Are

[callelk]

Hi,guys it's me again was surfing the site and came across this post(Thank's Alan )I have a Number of these reels that i used to use back in my surf casting days a 300,302,306(ready for this)496 and the infamous 498(held 400+ of 20#,largest capacity for a spinner at that time)Haven't used them for some time but I think you guy's know me by now Don't believe in spending mega bucks on equipment to catch quality fish.All my Garica reels have manual bail's but instead of buying new reels want to rebuild these's(know that the weakest part of the 498 is the frame >:(Thats why we always had a spares)were can I find parts for thse great reels and what can I do to make them stronger.Again Thank You for this Great site.PS still working on those 9/0 pic's to follow soon. 8)Alan when you get around to it,For I truley Know What A Truley Busy Man You Truley Are

blktwr2600

This thread is getting a little long in the tooth but I have just today read your post.

For Mitchell parts you can use these two sources (and of course eBay):

http://www.mitchellparts.com/
http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/mitchell-parts-c-21_30.html

You will be able to find schematics on both of those sites as well.

For Mitchell Reel history as well as a parts interchange, schematics, etc. go to:

http://www.mitchellreels.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=39

[blktwr2660]

Hi,Guys, Me again .Have put Biz on HOLD .Going back to what I love the most(outside of wifey) ,Fishing and Classic reels.Alan your the Man ,THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE .(I'M AMONGST CRAZY'S LIKE MY SELF ).CALLELK,This one for you .Thank You so very much for the heads up on MITCHELL REELS On the way to repairing and rebuilding my old MITCHELL REELS .(The Museum link is so cool  Thanks again)Does any one of a museum site for PENN or OCEAN CITY,REELS that would be so cool 

[callelk]

You can try this for limited info:

http://waynesreelcollectibles.weebly.com/index.html

[OldSchool]

This thread is long in the tooth but poor line lay on the 300 series mitchells can be the housing rotor shims. If too large or too many have been installed then line lay cones, in the case described it could well be 20lb line on the reel which is well beyond manufacturers recommendations.

Alternatively people re assemble incorrectly and put the baffle plate shim at the rotor housing then same problem or the rotor housing shim is almost undetectable on the body and its assumed a loose shim must live there and now becomes too thick so same problem.

The 300's have a number of shims and they can make or break how that reel performs. Shims are the silver bullet to really tuning these reels. Line lay, rotor play, noisy gears think shims.