Mitchell 300 vs 314 spools

[reynolds531]

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 reels and gave me a few of his 300s. We used to go fishing for rainbow trout in Ontario, Canada every fall. Sadly, when he died most of his equipment was lost as was mine as I was living in the Colorado and stored my stuff with him. I have decided to get back into fishing and spinning for rainbow trout and I plan on going to Ontario this fall. I have acquired a number of Mitchells (300/304/308/314/330) in the last few years and have become proficient at taking them apart and rebuilding them.

Here is my problem. I picked up a 314 last week from a gentleman in Denver who literally had hundreds of old reels for sale. The 314 did not crank very well and kept getting stuck. I should mention that it had a spool. I took it apart and discovered that the oscillation slide had one of the screw holes broken off. OK, I will get a new one. My problem now is that when I removed the spool I mixed it up with my other spools. It appeared to me that it was the same as a 300 spool. Is this correct? I cannot get any of the spools to click onto the axle. Looking through the Mitchell schematics the 300 spool is listed as “9101/2” or “9121/2” (old style/new style) while the 314 spool is a “9107/8”. Each spool has a small or large size.

It would appear that the 314 has a different spool than the 300. I have gone through each spool I have and I can’t get it to fit onto the 314. Any help in figuring this out would be appreciated before I order any more parts.

[GreatLaker]

Reynolds531, Welcome to the MRM!
We have several 314 experts who will be along shortly to answer all of your "round body" 314 reel questions.
We hope you enjoy your time with us.
Kind Regards,
Bill

[Bailarm]

The 314 spool has an arbour the same diameter as the 300 one, but narrower front to back.

It's the spool back that is the giveaway, it's a few millimetres wider than the 300 one.

If you put the two spools next to one another, back to back, the 314 has a greater diameter on the back but a shorter reach forward due to that arbour.

I believe there are still some new old stock spools for the 314 reel over in the US, here in the UK they are like gold dust.

Good luck sorting the reel out and welcome to the forum.

[reynolds531]

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 weeks ago from a fellow who had well over one hundred reels for sale. Most of them were vintage. He must have had almost twenty different Mitchells in his hoard as I purchased three 300s, a 330, a 308, spools and this 314 that is problematic. It may very well have had a misplaced 300 spool. The reel was not working well from the get go. As I mentioned it has a broken nylon oscillating slide. I never paid much attention to the spool as is not a Mitchell that I am at all familiar with. They do appear similar to the 300 spools. It does make me wonder why Mitchell did not use the 300 style spool when the 304 morphed into the 314.

In the end: no big deal. I will buy a slide and a few spools as they become available. I was looking forward to using this reel for on an upcoming fishing trip to Ontario, Canada for rainbow trout.

I will update this as I get the parts.

[Schrack]

Good Morning, here is a thought.
If you replace the shaft with a 304 shaft, the 304 spools will fit only difference they have a plastic nut that holds spool on plus drag is incorporated .
Plus is they are readily available at a fraction of the cost.
The 304 and 314 are basically the same reel.
Drag lever might be different but parts are the Same.
As stated the shaft or axle is the only different part.

[Schrack]

I forgot to mention, the 304 has gear and teeth sch is how drag works.
The 314 is just a plain shaft with spool lock on end.
I have an extra shaft if you need one, but not an ocalating plastic piece.
Send an address and its yours.
As mentioned I converted the reels I use to the 314.
Still do not have either with the old gears like the 306's which for larger fish would be alot better.
Think they are CAP.
Do not know why Mitchell went with the water ultra light system with plastic part?
Am sure you will get your reel squared to catch some Trout.

[Schrack]

Your Shaft will be on the way tomorrow, P/O closed today.
If you know a guy in Canada, must be referring to Kennyskldog, great guy.
Good luck with the trout.

[Schrack]

Your package was delivered at mailbox 2:44 pm.Regards, Ron