300 manual bail?

[Selza6]

Is there anyway to modify the 300 so you can close the bail by hand instead of reeling?

[piscesman]

Welcome to the group!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is your reel a 1/2 bail or full bail? 1/2 bail looks like a curved claw. The thing is if you remove the bail spring on a full bail you can close it manually and have the trip secure it down but when you open the bail you will have to manually open bail trip and have a loose bail on your hands. Leave it as factory intended unless you find and install a MPU where there is no opening of the bail. Just take the line off the MPU cast and put back on when you retrieve. More work involved.............
Kim

[Ed Horan]

A Mitchell 300 bail can be tripped manually without modifying anything. A bit of a fidgety procedure, as you have to rotate the reel so the trip was within easy reach of your left hand. Just move the lever out of the notch and the spring will close the bail.

1954 Mitchell Reel smaller.jpg (70.93 KiB) Viewed 3963 times

Those little notches in the top of lever were placed there to trip the bail without cranking the handle.