Mitchell Reel Forum

Hello Mates,

I have many pictures of fishing trips but this one is special to me. That's my son in the purple windbreaker. This is one of the last fishing trips we had together. We loved to fish this Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina. They stocked this lake every year with Stripers.
Cheers, Wallace

Family fishing memories very special.

Father and son fishing nice!
I have a son and daughter, my son never got into fishing. My daughter on the other hand fishes any chance she has.
In this picture I have been fishing opening day of trout with Mike and Jim for 42 years, Tim for about 35 years. I am on the left, Mike, Tim and Jim. WE all use either 204 0r 308 Mitchells. It's getting to the point where we have to find a campground with a pond/lake.
The last 2 year had to be cancelled do to Covid. The picture is from 2019.

Hi Guys,

I really like all the early fishing photos of you and family/friends. Thank you

They weren't jumping, but were coming off the bottom on this day. Three legal flounder, a friend caught one, I got two on a 300 Mitchell.
The 2nd picture is my daughter and I, my fishing buddy. Only problem is she only uses the reel she bought for saltwater, with the rod I built her, but uses her 308 Mitchell freshwater.

Hey Don, Great pictures. FYI you don't need to make your pics so small Regards, Wallace

LOL,To big, to small, Make up my mind. Just kidding

Some of my fav Mitchell fishing photos...

Very nice fish Sandman! And love the scenery. Rainbows have some beautiful colors, and brownies give a good fight.

My first grandson 3 years ago, with his first Mitchell, and trout. He now has the camo reel, and a custom built rod.

Great photos Don......Cherished moments I'm sure!! Thank you for sharing

Kind Regards,
Chris

Don,
I envy you. I had two sons, and neither had an interest in fishing. Now I have two Gkids and the same story there.

Ted Lanham

Ted I have a son and daughter, only my daughter fishes. Every chance she gets! I get my grandson out as much as possible! Grandson #2 will be 4 next year, and I'll get him out hopefully.

I was cleaning up my pictures, on the computer and came across this one. I fished the reel one time, and put it a side for #1 grandson. When I showed it on another site, someone said don't lose it in the grass. LOL looking at the picture if the handle was on the ground, it could be hard to find.

Hello everyone,
It’s that mad Mitchell collector and carp fishing nutcase from the UK. So I better start with a ‘Mitchel and Carp picture’.

And for good measure... here’s another!

Chris,
I have an idea, but I want to confirm, what is the sling shot for?

Regards,
Ted Lanham

My guess would be getting some chum bait to his spot. Very nice pictures Chris.

Hello Ted and don309,
Yes, the catapult is used to get free bait out into a swim. I often use Pedigree Foods Chum Mixer to (chum) the swim and also as a hookbait.

This handmade catapult by Martin Herrington here in the UK, has the handle made from fallen oak recovered from the banks of a very famous old carp fishing lake called Beechmere in the county of Devon in the west country of England. The lake was made famous by the writing of Denys Watkins-Pitchford who wrote of his experience of fishing for the Beechmere carp during the late 1930s through to the late 1940s. His book, ‘Confessions of a Carp Fisher’, published in 1950 is woven into the very fabric of our carp fishing history.

I had another wooden catapult which sadly I mistakenly left at a fishery (after catching a big carp) and in my slightly excited state never checked the immediate surrounding area where the pictures were taken. I never realised this mistake until the following morning and rushed back to the fishery, but of course it was nowhere to be seen.

In this picture is that catapult and some chum mixer bait I use, the three carp pictures I posted were all caught on chum mixer that floats on the surface. Carp love a mixer.

I have seen the same method used here, for trout using corn. Corn has been a debate for years, weather it binds the trout eating to much corn. I believe it does. Besides it's much more fun catching them on artificial baits. Here's a few of my favorites, I could never get roster tails to spin very good.

Chris Ball,
Thanks for giving the reason on the sling shot. That's what I had suspected, but never seen it used like you guys are doing. I could see that getting the bait in the water that way, might prevent the bait from coming loose as in a normal cast. Interesting!
Regards,
Ted Lanham

Ted,
The catapult is only used to get the groundbait (free bait) out to the desired spot, I still cast out a single piece of Chum Mixer (the hookbait) in the normal way by rod and reel. Apologies, I didn’t make that clear earlier.

You can catch me in action using the catapult, Chum Mixer and a Mitchell 351 on the short YouTube film about me catching two 30lb+ carp off the top in the late Winter of 2020.

https://youtu.be/PQnlla9RdB4

Thanks for sharing Chris. I enjoyed the heck out of your story. Keep it up.