Any other fans of the Garcia Mitchell 300 fishing reel?

Spent winter picking up a bunch more rods, reels and tackle. These are the keeper reels I've collected so far:

Light/Ultralight

ZQrbURC.jpg


More Mitchells

nCP8AHS.jpg


Misc.

bYe5BXv.jpg


And tackle

Lwcwv6z.jpg

HwUI0lK.jpg


I also got 14 or so vintage fiberglass rods from the '50s-'70s that match the reels. Now I need to concentrate on a fly fishing setup and then I'll be set for anything Michigan waters want to offer. :)
 
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-db- said:
Spent winter picking up a bunch more rods, reels and tackle. These are the keeper reels I've collected so far:

Light/Ultralight

ZQrbURC.jpg


More Mitchells

nCP8AHS.jpg


Misc.

bYe5BXv.jpg


And tackle

Lwcwv6z.jpg

HwUI0lK.jpg


I also got 14 or so vintage fiberglass rods from the '50s-'70s that match the reels. Now I need to concentrate on a fly fishing setup and then I'll be set for anything Michigan waters want to offer. :)
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Wow!!!!! 😀
That has to be the cleanest, best organized tackle box I have ever seen !
Congratulations ! 🙌
Nice DAM Quick reels also! From a 220, multiple 330, and a 440, plus spare spools, aficionado !
 
I'd like to find a couple DAM Quick 110s to compliment the other small reels. I've got an 8' Wright & McGill steelhead rod the 440N is going on.
 
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I wanted one of these when I was a kid in the early fifties but, could not afford one.
I just recently found one new in the box from the seventies for about $125. on ebay.
I would love to find a new in the box one from the fifties.
Thanks.
 
Swenson Bobcat said:
I wanted one of these when I was a kid in the early fifties but, could not afford one.
I just recently found one new in the box from the seventies for about $125. on ebay.
I would love to find a new in the box one from the fifties.
Thanks.
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Keep looking- there are plenty out there and with some smart shopping you can find them quite cheap. I didn't pay more than $50 for any of the reels pictured and got most of them for $20 or less each.
 
Still have my 300 from 1970's, but he Shakespeare wonder rod gave up the ghost. Also have the 308 version, now both of them on ugly sticks.
 
When I was a kid, I had a friend who had one, and I was always envious.

When I was in the Navy, I had a Penn. I can't remember the model #, but it was a smaller salt water spinning reel that I also used in fresh.

I didn't get my first 300 until I was in my early 30's, but it wasn't one of the older French-made reels. I realized it was the Ruger of fishing reels, and extremely loud. You know, the clickety-click as you're reeling. I know you can flip the reverse switch to quiet it, but I don't like using them like that.

Since then I spent four years working in a sporting goods store. That was a while back, but I still have more gear than I'll ever need. My favorite reel now is the Shimano Symetre.
 
guitar1580 said:
........

I have a 300A from 1988 that I bought new, and an older 300 from 1962. The older one is paired up with a vintage fiberglass Garcia Conolon rod. I had never taken the reels apart for major service, so last week I did some reading, and found some really good Yamalube marine grease, and completely took them apart, took the gears out, cleaned everything and re-greased.

......Josh P

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I have the same green rod and Mitchell 300 that I bought in 1975 at a Target store in Madison, WI. I was tired of using cheap K Mart rods and reels. The Mitchell was my first quality reel purchase. It went to Canada in 2015 fishing wall eye pike. It is going again this year, also.
 
WOW, what memories this thread has rekindled. I have the model 300 but my first and favorite is the 308. I bought it at the Western Auto store in Newnan, Ga. in 1965. Walked across the street to Johnson's Hardware and bought a Wright McGill Eagle Claw rod that has two slip rings on the long cork handle butt. You can position the reel forward or back on the butt and it changes the action from light to heavy. Forward stiffens it up for heavier fish and way back gives it a whippy feel for bream, crappie. Talk about fun. Still have both. The French models are my favorite and use the 300 for bigger fish or water that has a lot of structure and can handle the heavier line. My 14 year old grandson came to visit and when I got out my fishing gear he quietly asked his Dad how old it was because he had never seen anything like my gear. My son almost fell out of his chair laughing and then told me why. I told my grandson " don't worry about how old it is cause I will catch the first fish and the biggest fish". That is exactly what happened. He pouted all afternoon because his "new, modern" gear didn't get'er did. That gear has been with me for 51 years. Like an old friend. Thanks for the thread and the memories.
 
I have a bunch of them and a lot of spools for them. There was I time I bought everyone I could find at yard sales and pawn shops. Also have 3 of the 308s that I use on smaller rods. Love em and havve enough to last the rest of my fishing career.

I used to commercial fish salmon in Alaska and I always took a ultralight rod and a 308 and would hit the creeks during closures. Many of them were so clogged with salmon you couldn't make a retrieve without either hooking or snagging one. I would usually be near a creek mouth where it opened into the bay and never had to many problems landing the pinks, but I lost a lot of line to big silvers and kings when they went out in the bay. I didn't care because to me it was the thrill of the fight. Would also fish off the boat at times and just toss my catch in the fish hold.
 
Still have the one I bought in the late 60's. Still fish with it and the Abu-Matic 290 and Ambassaduer 5500 from same period. All mounted on Garcia poles. Good stuff like this and my S&W 10-5 and Brownings worked well then and still work well.
 
Does anyone know when the Mitchell spinning reels first appeared?

BTW, I think the Mepps lures are also French. They sure catch fish!

I gather from reading here that the 300 was discontinued about 1990? And that later ones were made on Taiwan, with plastic gears instead of metal? When did that happen?

What's a fair price for a Mitchell 300? Will $15 to $20 usually buy a good one at a yard sale? I suspect that sellers Online usually try for top dollar.
 
The Mitchell Reel Museum found online can provide everything you ever wanted to know about Mitchell reels.
 
Texas Star said:
Does anyone know when the Mitchell spinning reels first appeared?

BTW, I think the Mepps lures are also French. They sure catch fish!

I gather from reading here that the 300 was discontinued about 1990? And that later ones were made on Taiwan, with plastic gears instead of metal? When did that happen?

What's a fair price for a Mitchell 300? Will $15 to $20 usually buy a good one at a yard sale? I suspect that sellers Online usually try for top dollar.
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Looking at db's tackle box, in addition to the Mepps, he has some CP Swing spinners in there, which were French, and not sure, but I believe they were imported only, and not sure if they were made here. There is a guy who reproduces them here now, but at the time of the 50's imported only. Great trout lure in the smaller sizes! Back in the day, we used to strip the treble hooks off of CP Swings, and put them on Hula Poppers as the hooks were much sharper, and finer wire, than the typical Abrogast lures of the time. Gave better penetration and seemed to hold better. CP Swings had a lighter body than the Mepps so did not sink as deep and less hangups in shallow water, or streams. For lakes Mepps and Shysters were the best.
Anybody remember the furor when Rapalas first came to the US! They were from Finland and were the hottest thing in the water!
From an ad on eBay
MITCHELL HALF BAIL SPINNING REEL Pre 300 Made In France Early 1950's
Other ads say 1954, so maybe early 50's ?
 
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Engineer1911 said:
I have the same green rod and Mitchell 300 that I bought in 1975 at a Target store in Madison, WI. I was tired of using cheap K Mart rods and reels. The Mitchell was my first quality reel purchase. It went to Canada in 2015 fishing wall eye pike. It is going again this year, also.
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Walleyes are a member of the Perch family, not the Esox genus of true pike. Of course, the Muskie is a member of the pike genus, I think Esox masquinongy (sp?) I'd have to look up the genus for the Walleye. It would include the Sauger, but probably not much else, unless both are under the basic Perch classification.

I got a pretty bad nip on my thumb once from a Walleye in Colorado, but saw a re-run this week on, River Monsters. Jeremy Wade showed the skull and teeth of a VERY large Muskie from a remote Canadian lake. That thing must have been huge. I'd truly hate to be bitten by one. One did attack a boy wading in that lake, and the injury was pretty serious. But that fish wasn't nearly the size of that one whose jaws were found after it died in the lake. It may have been six feet long, with a huge mouth.

I don't know why some people call a Walleye a Pike. Just look at them, and you'll see the relationship to the perches.
 
WALKINGHORSE-

I certainly remember the arrival of the Rapala lures and prefer the Finnish originals to the plastic US copies.

I like them, but have personally had better luck with the Mepps lures.

What stories have we here of success with Rapala? Lauri (?) Rapala knew how to carve a good lure. I'm not surprised that they're popular.

I see that you have some Dardevle lures. I like them in the basic red & white, and have one that pretends to be a frog, judging from its colors.

When my kids were younger, I took them to get tackle boxes. My son showed the one he wanted and explained how the size was right and how the trays were just what he wanted for different-sized lures, etc. My daughter showed her choice and explained, "It's a really pretty color." So much for gender differences...

The son has since fished a lot more than I have, but favors the same sort of rods and reels.
 
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I still have one someplace. Bought it in the late 60's I think. Replaced most everything with Penn reels that I still have and use. Those Mitchells were the top of the line in the 60's. Classics for sure.
 
My first good reel was a Mitchell 300 mounted on a Shakespeare rod I got when I was 14. I have acquired others over the years and will still buy one if found at a garage sale. I have never managed to wear one of these out.
Jim
 
Texas Star said:
WALKINGHORSE-

I certainly remember the arrival of the Rapala lures and prefer the Finnish originals to the plastic US copies.

I like them, but have personally had better luck with the Mepps lures.

What stories have we here of success with Rapala? Lauri (?) Rapala knew how to carve a good lure. I'm not surprised that they're popular.

I see that you have some Dardevle lures. I like them in the basic red & white, and have one that pretends to be a frog, judging from its colors.

When my kids were younger, I took them to get tackle boxes. My son showed the one he wanted and explained how the size was right and how the trays were just what he wanted for different-sized lures, etc. My daughter showed her choice and explained, "It's a really pretty color." So much for gender differences...

The son has since fished a lot more than I have, but favors the same sort of rods and reels.
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I think that the Lauri Rapalas advertising campaign was one of the first, certainly biggest campaigns for a fishing lure. I believe that even Life, Look, or Saturday Evening Post magazines had feature stories on Lauri Rapala, with pictures of Lauri in his sweater working in his shop in Finland. I concur that the balsa originals had a better action than the later plastics. Originally they had a silver, or gold finish with black back, imitating a minnow, about 6" long, and perfect with spinning tackle due to the lighter weight and wind resistance while casting. And (3) very sharp treble hooks of a finer wire similar to CP Swings. Susposedly so finely balanced that they recommended no snap swivel just a direct line tie.
With the Mepps, the key for me was some days, silver blade, other days gold blade? Mepps would also trade you lures for squirrel tails!
Good stories on the grandkids tackle choices, color being a factor with tackle boxes with young girls.
 
I remember the squirrel tail exchange Mepps used to do. My buddy and I were excited as kids with our pellet guns going hunting for squirrels to trade in for fishing lures. Good memories.

As for Daredevles, every tackle box needs a few, especially where I am with the factory just down the street. Those and Little Cleos with the topless gal on back are staples.
 
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