Garcia Mitchell 300 Fishing Reel Head Service Repair

RH in Mitchell Fishing Reels is a term used for Right Hand reels also called left hand wind or even numbered reels. You would hold the rod and reel in your right hand and cast with your left. To this day, this causes much confusion amongst anglers but this is what Mitchell called them.

The letter "A" Suffix after model numbers on some Mitchell spinning reels marks the transitional period away from Garcia (USA) involvement with Mitchell in 1978 along with other transitions to the looks and mechanics of these same reels.

Even Numbered Mitchell Reel Model Numbers were Right Hand RH models as opposed to Odd model numbers being Left Hand LH. Example: The 300 (RH) verses the 301 (LH) models.

LH in Mitchell Fishing Reels is a term used for Left Hand reels also called right hand wind or odd numbered reels. You would hold the rod and reel in your left hand and cast with your right. To this day, this causes much confusion amongst anglers but this is what Mitchell called them.

The letter "A" Suffix after model numbers on some Mitchell spinning reels marks the transitional period away from Garcia (USA) involvement with Mitchell in 1978 along with other transitions to the looks and mechanics of these same reels.

Odd Numbered Mitchell Reel Model Numbers were Left Hand LH models as opposed to Even model numbers being Right Hand RH. Example: The 300 (RH) verses the 301 (LH) models.

The letter "A" Suffix after model numbers on some Mitchell spinning reels marks the transitional period away from Garcia (USA) involvement with Mitchell in 1978 along with other transitions to the looks and mechanics of these same reels.

A derivative of the word Automatic, the first Auto Bail was the Mitchell Otomatic (no number) first released in 1955. It was the predecessor to all future Auto Bails made by Mitchell. At a time when the numerical sequence had not yet been adopted for the growing Mitchell range of reels Carpano & Pons thought they should find suitable names, and protect then against copiers. Under French patent laws one could not protect a common dictionary word (automatic) so they chose the derivative word Otomatic. The name changed in 1957 to Mitchell with Otomatic 330 underneath. In the late sixties the name changed to Mitchell 330 with just Otomatic underneath. Garcia’s version changed these to just Garcia Mitchell 330 in the early sixties which stayed the same throughout their history. (Updated October 5th, 2008 by JP Gumprich)

Rapid was engraved on the first High Speed (5:1) 300 series reel. The first issue did not have a model number but just Mitchell Rapid. This reel soon became the Rapid Mitchell 350 Series Fishing Reel 5/1 in 1957.

Match is a term used mainly in The UK for Competition Coarse Fishing. Mitchell made several Match Competition Mitchell Reels specifically designed for this event with the word Match engraved in script on the cover plate. These include but are not limited to; the 440 and 840 series Auto-Bail reels. Naturally, other models and brands were also used in this competition.

Charles Garcia & Company, Inc. (1947 - 1955) – The Garcia Corporation (1955 – 1978) - Exclusive distributor of Mitchell for The United States and Canada. Garcia was not originally the Canadian distributor. There was an independent importer working under control of Ets Impecco Paris. This became bothersome at one stage, and then Garcia took control of CDN. Garcia became the owner of Mitchell in June, 1974 and then sold it back to Carpano & Pons in 1977. Garcia Tackle Ltd was the name used for the Impecco subsidiary to distribute Mitchell in the UK. We got license from Garcia to do this. It was not ever a Garcia Europe though, purely British. (Updated October 5th, 2008 by JP Gumprich)

Match is a term used mainly in The UK for Competition Coarse Fishing. Mitchell made several Match Competition Mitchell Reels specifically designed for this event with the word Match engraved in script on the cover plate. These include but are not limited to; the 440 and 840 series Auto-Bail reels. Naturally, other models and brands were also used in this competition.