Mitchell First Version Study

[Wallace Carney]

Dear Mates, I have updated and posted the Mitchell First Version Study and you can see it at https://mitchellreelmuseum.com/first-ve ... eel-study/ and give me any questions you may have. Regards, Wallace

[Bailarm]

Nice to see that again Wallace.

I believe the mark on the rotor head is where a slot would be needed for a right hand wind reel.
Perhaps it was intended as a pilot hole for a slot cutting wheel.

If so this shows C&P were think ahead as they didn't actually make a right hand wind model until 1951 it seems.

Perhaps they weren't confident they would convert the whole planet to left hand wind.....but they pretty much did!

[Fishabout]

Hi I would like to know what to look at

closer at on a 300 2nd version possible purchase .regards

[Wallace Carney]

Perhaps they weren't confident they would convert the whole planet to left hand wind.....but they pretty much did!

Hey Bailarm, As much study as I've done on all things Mitchell, I never found out or even just heard of a reasonable explanation as to why they picked the RH (left hand wind) to make from the beginning. I was raised being taught on bait casting reels. Do you or anyone know a reason this happened? It might be so simple that back in the 1930s, casting and reeling with your right hand was the norm? What do you think...

Hi I would like to know what to look at closer at on a 300 2nd version possible purchase .regards

Hey Fishabout, I will be doing a Mitchell 2nd version study in the next week or so. For now I'll just say, a 2nd version looks near the same as a 1st version, mainly the round anti-reverse. So to put it simply, if it has a round anti-reverse and Made In France in the casting, it's going to be a 2nd version. There's a lot more but they're mainly inside differences. I hope this helps. If you can post pictures of the reel you are purchasing including the internal gearing, I can tell you more about it...

Best Regards,
Wallace

[Fishabout]

Ok thanks Wallace .

[Bailarm]

Perhaps they weren't confident they would convert the whole planet to left hand wind.....but they pretty much did!

Hey Bailarm, As much study as I've done on all things Mitchell, I never found out or even just heard of a reasonable explanation as to why they picked the RH (left hand wind) to make from the beginning. I was raised being taught on bait casting reels. Do you or anyone know a reason this happened? It might be so simple that back in the 1930s, casting and reeling with your right hand was the norm? What do you think...

[
Best Regards,
Wallace

Hi Wallace, there's a fair old bit of film digitalised now showing British anglers from the Fifties onward casting with their right arm, then passing the reel to the left hand to allow the right hand to work the reel.

It looks pretty clumsy to be frank!

Examining centrepin and similar reels of the time they are clearly intended for right hand wind as the check mechanisms only presents a stiffer action to the fish when fished 'RHW'

It seems that in the late Sixties just some centrepin reels started to be made for left hand winding.

Which puts Mitchell way ahead of the herd back in the Forties. Just why Mitchell went LHW from the beginning is a mystery to me too, Wallace.

My understanding is that a lot, perhaps most, US anglers still fish with a baitcaster reel on top of the rod, fished RHW? I've done a bit of this myself, just like the old UK anglers did and you soon get the feel for it, but I've had pike take a plug just as I was passing the rod to the other hand.....

[Fishabout]

Hi interesting isn't it watching right handed people cast and swap over to use thier dominate and presumably strongest arm/hand to wind the reel handle while the left hand/arm does the heavy lifting. I live in Australia and I would say nearly all the right handed fisherpeople I have seen over the last 50 years employ this method. I taught myself a long time ago to cast ,retrieve and fish right or left handed . Cheers interesting subject.

[Wallace Carney]

I was first taught to fish with a bait-caster as a young child. I remember my dad would get so upset when I would get the line so tangled that sometimes he would have to cut the line. My dad gave me my first reel and I loved that reel so much, I would sleep with it. I did the same with my baseball glove... It was Christmas of 1959 and it was a Mitchell, a 301 to be exact!

So immediately I was able to cast with that reel, and reel it in with my right hand. It was never clumsy feeling at all. I would cast and before it hit the water, the rod would be in my left hand, feathering the line along the way. It was Christmas in the Carolina's so fishing was out of the question, so I had to wait!

When dad finally took me fishing, it was the best day of my life, and probably why I've spent two decades to preserve the history of Mitchell reels. Now I'm old and over the years I've learned to cast with my right and reel with my left. Cheers mates for your input... Wallace