Oh and another problem. With the 408 reassembled and a new bail spring I noticed the the threaded fitting in the rotor for the non-spring side appears to be stripped. It won't tighten and the bail flips only to the half way point. I tried some non-permanent Locktite and it seemed to make things wors...

Thank you for the replies. I was able to finally position the dog with the spring on top. I put a good dab of grease on the post where the "C" of the spring needs to position. This helped keep the spring in place. That took care of the 408. Of course, when I went to reassemble the 308 that...

Here I am posting again about 308s. I picked up a very nice 408. It needs a little cleaning and lubrication. I managed to let the reverse dog pop off of the spring on disassembly. I hate when that happens. Even worse, I took apart a perfectly working 308 to examine the spring and dog assembly and......

So I picked up a Mitchell 308 that I thought was a good deal. It came with three spools. The seller said it ran a bit rough. I received it yesterday and it has a few issues. One is the bail trip lever mechanism. It was shipped with the spring not connected. I reattached it and could not get the bail...

I just got back home from a two and a bit month trip to Ontario for salmon and steelhead-rainbow fishing near Georgian Bay. I managed about twenty days of river fishing. The first six weeks were very disappointing. Things changed in mid October. I ended up with four very nice rainbows of about 5-10 ...

I have been doing a fair bit of river fishing these past few weeks in Canada. It has mostly been spinning with lures. Of the four Mitchells that I have been using (300, 330, 308 and a 304) I would give the 304 the top spot. The one niggle that I have with it is that the handle can come loose much mo...

The 330 uses an axle numbered 81061. The 300 uses an axle numbered 81007. The more that I work on old Mitchell reels the more I learn. It is the subtle and important differences like the axles that can make things challenging. 330 axles do not seem difficult to obtain which is a blessing. Nothing wo...

Yes, the 330 apparently uses its own axle.

I suspect that you will be fine with this. It is the bail, the baffle plate and the bail spring that are different. I figured this out when I bought a 330 at a garage sale for all of $10 thinking that it was a 300. Once I started to work on it I realized what I had. The gear and drive mechanism in t...

I have been up to the Nottawasaga five times. There are a lot salmon which were very rare forty years ago. The water is low and warm and the rainbows are holding back their run up the river. I may go to the Saugeen for a bit.

If you can wait until early November when I get back to Denver (I am fishing in Ontario) I will be happy to take a 314 and a 304 CAP apart and see if the part is interchangeable. I have both of these reels and they are not with me on this trip.

It is always a big decision as to use a vintage NOS reel. I have a 304 that by looking at it has never been used. I don't have the papers or box. That said, it is in pristine condition or at least it was. I used it yesterday while fishing on a river in Ontario. It was flawlessly. I had a few comment...

Thank you Bailarm so much for this information. I have for the third time in the past week taken every Mitchell 300 spool that I have and inspected them. None of them have the measurements that you mentioned. I suspect that the wrong spool was on this reel when I bought it. I purchased it about two ...

I am a new member and I would like to say a big hello to all of the members. I am a long time Mitchell reel enthusiast. I bought my first 300 in 1975 and used it for many years. My dad was a very avid fisherman and he had a few 300s acquired over the years. He ended up preferring the Luxor/Crack ree...