Mitchell Reel Forum

Ok so I'm a UL guy. But last season give me a bunch of reels in parts.
Looks like I can make 2 working 302's. I have one put together, and working good. BUT when I flip the bail for casting, I notice it doesn't clear spool.
It's the same position on both reels. Question is do I want to bent the bail wire?
Not the best picture, but the best I can do.

Hi Don,
I had a similar problem on a early 300 I acquired. My suggestion would be to go slow and try to manipulate by hand the bail until it clears the spool. Then unscrew the the bail on the unsprung side to see if the eye still lines up with the screw hole. It may take a little further tweaking and slight bending to get everything lined up. Bending the bail without the final step might put unwanted pressure on the bail pivot screws and cause the bail to be sluggish or even hang up. Using the (what I call the dead end) unsprung side to to line things back up is easier than trying to mess with the bail return spring and will keep the bail moving freely. My reel performs flawlessly now. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ed

Yeah figured I'd have to do that.
Thanks, Ed

Hi Don,

I have one of these, they are nice reels. The 314 has the removable spools, otherwise it is same.

Hope you enjoy it

Glen

I would only use them on a head boat, due to the weight.

Sorry Don,

Stupid me, I have the 304, I wish I had a 302. The 314 is similar to the 304.

Glen

I am thinging, am going to attempt to make a temp plate for bail wires.
Should be easy, use apiece of wood and trace a perfect bail around the top of wood.
Cut it out and trim to fit perfect bail.
If you have an off one you can mold it to the perfect wood temp plate.
Could do one for each model of reel.
It is worth a try.
Thing the top of a 2x4 should work for the 300 and 304.

Salt Water and model 302 bails should have a natural "bow" in the bail wire to prevent this problem. It's not uncommon to find an old one that has a straighter bail. I'm not sure what causes this straightening but it could be from tight storage, dropped reel, or someone thinking they are fixing the bail. Another problem would be a wrong angle coming out of the bail mount (usually bent right at the joint).

This photo is no beauty but I was able to Google-n-Grab it. It has a good view of the proper bow:
Be careful bending the bails. Do it very slowly and methodically. Worst case if you were to really mess it up, they are still readily available (although mostly overpriced these days). Hope this helps.

I was thinking about making a template out of wood, that you could form the bail on.
If you have a 302 with a good bail use it for a guide.
As stated by one answer you can really screw it up.Another method remove small screw and see how the alignment is and reshape carefully until screw hole lines up with bail. Then reinstall screw should work.
Someone could have dropped reel and landed on bail wire.
I get slot of 300's with that problem.
Sometimes it can be the spool, reason some years spools have larger components which cause bail to hang up.
Most of time it can be bent to clear.
Hope this helps.