Mitchell Reel Museum Discussion Group

Hi Shawn,

I look forward to seeing pictures of this reel.

Regards, Wallace

As promised...here are a few pics for you guys to check out of the Sears wanna be Mitchell If theres any other pics youd like of certain angles or areas let me know,I will see what I can do.Shawn

Sure wish this one was in that nice a shape haha.Funny for a second I got all excited when I went to the truck to unload them.OMG...is that a Mitchell 300??? As you can see it turned out to be a fake but oh well.Mine worked as yours at first...kinda tight but once I opened it up and cleaned out the old goop and applied some oil it works rather nicely.I think I read somewhere on here...and its very true,all the copies and lookalikes floating around of the old Mitchell design just go to prove how much influence Mitchell really had over the fishing reel industry.Just look at all those who tried to cash in by putting out reels that looked like,but certainly didnt operate on the same scale as the Mitchell,Shawn

A clone in the truest sense of the word...no,it is not an "exact" copy but it looks an awful lot like a 300 at first glance.Let us say it was fashioned after the 300...not cloned from it

Yes I suppose it would be nice to have a copy of the owners manual for refference and or nostalgic purposes.On a different note I have to wonder...just how many of these did Sears make,or more importantly sell? I had never seen one before my wife brought this one home.I also wonder how many other folks on here have ever seen or knew of the existense of these Sears reels.Thanks,Shawn

Just revisiting this thread because it has been nagging at the back of my mind for some time now. Any idea who actually made this 'Seers' reel? What was the country of manufacture? I ask because that handle mechanism looks very, very similar to the one on a German reel I have. At this moment in time I forget the name but I will see if I can dig it out over the next few days and take a picture or two. My reel is a sort of light metallic green colour and seems to be well enough made but certainly nowhere near as nice to 'play with' as a Mitchell is. Maybe it's the colour but I never really considered my reel to be a clone or copy just another fixed spool spinning reel.

I think I bought my reel for literally a couple of pounds (UK) together with a very much maligned Strike Right centrepin. The pin needed some work on it and I still haven't finished it after about 5 years. I only bought it for the fly line on it It's not a fly reel!!!

Take care

Kevan

The REEL I quoted was the one in ROCK'S POST!!!! Sorry for any confusion............
      Kim

Hello Plummerfrog,

Great information about the Diawa reels and the connection with Neptune and Sears. Cheers!

Regards, Scott

Proof of Sears/King Neptune/Daiwa pedigree. Photos show both sides of reels, left to right: Sears 300 (silver body, brown spool, burgundy knobs); Daiwa 7300 (dk. brown body, burgundy spool, burgundy knobs); King Neptune 150 (grey body, dk. grey spool, black knobs). Sears and King Neptune perfectly identical. Daiwa identical except for the bail wire and line guide. However, this is often the case even today when a mainline mfr. makes an item into a private label product for a retail chain or makes a cheaper version of their brand name item for another chain. The mainline product dealer (in this case, the Daiwa dealer) will always complain hard to the sales rep about how the mfr is undercutting him. The mfr will change a feature for the private label product so the rep can reply, "No, it's not the exact same product; the brand name you're selling is better. Be aware that Daiwa made many private label reels in the 1960s for other companies. If it has a hefty look and feel with sturdy parts and smooth retrieve, it is probably a Daiwa. They were quality budget reels, and I have a King Neptune 150 that I beat the living tar out of in fresh and salt water as a teenager and it still operates well enough to fish fine with it (although it looks like the dickens)! I have verified Daiwa models with off brands like Jorgensen, as well as better known brands like Wright & McGill and even South Bend.