Mitchell Reel Forum

Posted: **Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:54 pm**

Mates,

I see there may be some interest in history - how spinning changed fishing and the environment Mitchell was able to enter and lead in.

So, I start with (not in exact chronological order) content from 1952 I had posted on the prior MRM from Fresh and Salt Water Spinning by Eugene Burns, US copyright 1952 (printed in Canada). Content that Bailarm/Knobby had replied to and perhaps will again.

Lined up next after this, I have some Bache Brown content along with some more of my reposts from the prior MRM.

John

: 1952 Fresh and Salt Water Spinning author_photo.jpg (296.67 KiB) Viewed 18778 times

: 1952 Fresh and Salt Water Spinning Mitchell text.jpg (178.61 KiB) Viewed 18778 times

: 1952 Fresh and Salt Water Spinning Mitchell Reel.jpg (192.59 KiB) Viewed 18778 times

Posted: **Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:47 am**

Mates,

I continue with the earliest known advertising of the Mitchell reel in the US. If someone has earlier, please let us know.

First, a ~⅓ page ad in February, 1949 Field & Stream magazine.

Second, a ~⅛ page ad in April, 1949 Field & Stream magazine. (This same ad appeared in March, 1949 Outdoor Life magazine.)

John

: 4902 F&S 072 Mitchell Reel.jpg (500.09 KiB) Viewed 18750 times

: 4904 F&S 093 Mitchell Reel.jpg (410.29 KiB) Viewed 18750 times

Posted: **Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:13 am**

John,
Interesting early advertisements. :text-coolphotos:

I have a copy of a 1949 ad from the old MRM.

: 300-1949 ad-half bail-close up.jpg (62.72 KiB) Viewed 18748 times

Kind Regards,
Bill

Posted: **Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:19 am**

Hey Bill,

Thanks for sharing that very nice page (from the prior MRM no less!).

It would be so nice to learn where that page came from (the specific details of its source). It doesn't look like a magazine/newspaper advertisement, but it's definitely a promotional piece. Can anyone help with this?

Bill & Mates,

Before I move on from 1949, allow me to share content from the 1949 Abercrombie & Fitch Catalog.

John

: Abercrombie & Fitch 1949 p001 date.jpg (131.48 KiB) Viewed 18730 times

: Abercrombie & Fitch 1949 p014 Mitchell a.jpg (89.08 KiB) Viewed 18730 times

: Abercrombie & Fitch 1949 p014 Mitchell.jpg (334.94 KiB) Viewed 18730 times

Posted: **Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:40 am**

Mates,

Examples from 1951:

1) Field & Stream May-1951
2) Times Herald, Port Huron, MI Jul-1951
3) the Spin Fisherman Vol 1 No 1 Oct-1951

John

: 5105 F&S 112 Mitchell Reel.jpg (285.76 KiB) Viewed 18714 times

: 5107 03 The_Times_Herald Port_Huron_MI.jpg (393.98 KiB) Viewed 18714 times

: 5110 SpinFisherman Vol1No1 cover Mitchell records.jpg (447.27 KiB) Viewed 18714 times

Posted: **Wed Sep 15, 2021 4:29 pm**

John,
Are you still interested in additional participation from the Mates? I have others not shown if you are interested.
A quick question, how would you account for no advertisements from 1950?
Kind Regards,
Bill

Posted: **Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:51 am**

Hey Bill,

I'm always interested in additional participation from the Mates. Please add your additional content to this thread - I'd definitely like to see it.

As to why Garcia didn't have any magazine/newspaper advertising in 1950 that I could find (using the same tools I had used for '49 and '51), I can only speculate. They were a growing company, such advertising was expensive, and so maybe they needed another year before they could afford more ad's.

I did find a 22-Dec-1950 newspaper ad in the Gazette, Montreal, Canada - but that ad does not mention Garcia.

John

: 5012 22 The_Gazette Montreal_CA.jpg (293.68 KiB) Viewed 18678 times

Posted: **Sat Sep 18, 2021 2:52 pm**

Hi Mates,

A newspaper ad:

15-Apr-1949 Press-Republican Plattsburgh, NY

(I had missed this one when I had reviewed my materials.)

John

: mrm 4904 15 Press-Republican a Plattsburgh NY.jpg (98.36 KiB) Viewed 18653 times

: mrm 4904 15 Press-Republican b Plattsburgh NY.jpg (298.05 KiB) Viewed 18653 times

Posted: **Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:14 pm**

Hi Mates,

Newspaper ad's from April, 1950.

(More stuff I had missed in my earlier review of my files. Note to self: don't name a folder "miscellaneous".)

John

: 5004 03 The_Morning_Call Allentown_PA.jpg (137.66 KiB) Viewed 18652 times

: 5004 06 The_Berkshire_Eagle Pittsfield_MA.jpg (304.28 KiB) Viewed 18652 times

: 5004 28 Herald_and_News Klamath_Falls_OR.jpg (239.67 KiB) Viewed 18652 times

Posted: **Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:31 pm**

Posted: **Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:03 pm**

Thanks, Wallace.

Mates,

The Apr-1950 advertisement (above) for a demonstration of the Mitchell Spinning Reel by Nate Buell in Klamath Falls, OR made me wonder whether I could spot Nate Buell having done that elsewhere. Indeed, he was in the Los Angeles area in Nov-1950 for 4 sessions.

John

: 5011 03 Daily_News Los_Angeles_CA.jpg (82.36 KiB) Viewed 18604 times

Posted: **Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:50 pm**

John,
Here is a November 1951 ad, by Charles Garcia & Co., Inc., from Field & Stream Magazine-pp. 90. It promotes the merits of spinning or spin fishing with a French made MITCHELL SPINNING REEL showing a Mitchell 300.
Kind Regards,
Bill

: 1951 Mitchell 300 ad field and stream-edited.jpg (119.74 KiB) Viewed 18564 times

Posted: **Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:20 pm**

Hey Bill (GreatLaker),

Nice Nov-1951 ad!

Mates,

At the start of this thread, I wrote there may be some interest in “how spinning changed fishing and the environment Mitchell was able to enter and lead in”. If so, I continue now with Bache Brown content. Bache Brown was often given credit for introducing spinning to the US.

I recognize discussing contemporary nonMitchell individuals and reels is a slippery slope. I do not want to go too far from Mitchell interest on MRM. So if you think I go to far, let me know I will respect that.

Here is content from an article in March 15, 1948 LIFE (a leading magazine of the time) titled:

THE SPINNING REEL
makes casting easy for duffers
oldtimers think it is too simple

Not certain what duffer might mean?
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/duffer

: mrm 19480315 LIFE 141a Bache Brown.jpg (221.62 KiB) Viewed 17799 times

The extraordinary accuracy of the fisherman's cast in the picture above is made easy by a gadget called the spinning reel, which is the most revolutionary development in angling since the perfection of the fly rod. The reel is built on the same principle as a housewife’s sewing-machine bobbin and its operation is absurdly simple. The line will pay off 100 feet at the flick of a wrist without the conventional backcast which often fouls a line in over-hanging trees. Long popular in Europe, spinning was introduced seriously to the U.S. several years ago by Bache Brown (above), a Massachusetts architect who ran onto the method in Belgium. But it is just now catching on, and this year spin-fishermen are expected to account for 20% of the freshwater tackle sold in the U.S. Anyone can learn to spin-cast in 15 minutes, which is why many oldtimers look down on the likes of Bache Brown. When the duffers learn to spin-cast like veterans, they complain, there may not be enough fish to go around.

John

Posted: **Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:33 pm**

continued:

: mrm 19480315 LIFE 142a Bache Brown.jpg (96.17 KiB) Viewed 17798 times

: mrm 19480315 LIFE 142b Bache Brown.jpg (146.44 KiB) Viewed 17798 times

Posted: **Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:35 pm**

continued:

: mrm 19480315 LIFE 144a Bache Brown.jpg (131.49 KiB) Viewed 17798 times

: mrm 19480315 LIFE 144b Bache Brown.jpg (124.04 KiB) Viewed 17798 times

Mitchell Reel Forum

Spinning: 1940s/50s USA

Spinning: 1940s/50s USA

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Re: Spinning: 1940s/50s USA

Re: Spinning: 1940s/50s USA

Re: Spinning: 1940s/50s USA

Re: Spinning: 1940s/50s USA