Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[svk]

At a glance, all of yours were probably made in France by Garcia. The one's with the wing shaped anti'reverse lever definitely were for sure,
( unless parts have been swapped). Garcia sold the rights to the Mitchell series of reels to Johnson outdoors in 1980, and they sold it to pure fishing in the early 90's. At some point in the 80's, production moved from France to Hi-Fong-Wu, and that's when the plastic bodies, plastic side covers and plastic rotors destroyed the most iconic reel in the history of the sport.

Interesting. Yeah these are definitely all are French made. I had a smaller modern ultralight Mitchell for a while, I think it was a 310. Was an ok reel but I sold it at a fishing flea market along with a bunch of other fishing stuff that I didn’t really need. Also had a Mitchell ice reel from the late 80’s that more or less fell apart. I still have the ice rod that came with it and have caught a ton of fish on it.

IIRC the 308 was the midsize and the 310 was ultralight. They also made a 304 that was a full size spool on a compact body. My dad caught one of those off the bottom of the lake. We used it for years and years and eventually it went back to the bottom of the lake lol.

My dad also had a Mitchell 440 which was a geared down version of the 300. It was actually too slow for fishing IMO. If a fish made a run at the boat you couldn’t reel fast enough to pick up the slack. That went at the fishing sale too.

 

[svk]

France is what I remembered as point of manufacture for the Garcia Mitchell reels. Early '60s as a kid I felt like the richest soul on earth when I had a Garcia Mitchell 300 in my hands.

I inherited my dad's 308 (I think that's the correct #), the mini size. Was a prized possession of mine. Took my son fishing on a local lake (think he was about 8 yrs old) and he fumbled & dropped the rig overboard. It stung, but I couldn't say a word beyond "Could've happened to anyone."

Still have a 300 sitting on a shelf at camp. Can't recall but I think the bail spring might have been its only problem.

Shimano Sahara reels are my go-to now.

I love the Shinano Sonora reels I have. Had another 2500 but lost it somewhere. I don’t really know the difference in models but they are all pretty similar except for the number of bearings. All of their modern stuff is super smooth operating.

 

[svk]

I can understand ten years...7 years really screams as a strong arm tactic for them to sell you tires.

I’d vote with my feet if someone tried that one on me, unless it was an emergency repair like say I was going fishing or hunting the next morning.

 

[svk]

And they all work? More reels than a person can use. I've got a bunch, but once the bail springs go, they're kaput. Hard to find replacement parts on reels that are several years old because manufacturers change models every year. I have an older Mitchell that I'd like to find springs for.
PS. I confess, I have LAD (Lure Acquisition Disease).

I found a small tote completely full of fishing stuff today. Must be a couple hundred dollars (current retail value) of stuff in there.

Im going to consolidate stuff from my many tackle boxes to a couple of tackle bags as it’s easier to access stuff without spilling other stuff.

 

[sean donato]

I just recently got so sick of moving junk to find junk I needed, I started cleaning up. Amazing what you find that you forgot you had.

 

[JustJeff]

Some of the Mitchell reels are desirable but it's got everyone thinking their old junk is worth a pile. I'm not usually a proponent of buying Chinese but I have a couple of these reels a friend bought me from Wish. I really like the spinning reel and caught many fish with it last year. I just got this baitcaster for Christmas and am looking forward to trying it out.
In scrounging news, I helped a friend remove horse stalls from his barn today and brought home this piece of maple. 19" x 42" hopefully make a rustic table from it. I haven't decided whether to sand it down or just give it a scrub and clear over top of the horsepoop and hoof marks.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[svk]

I just recently got so sick of moving junk to find junk I needed, I started cleaning up. Amazing what you find that you forgot you had.

I’ve got a huge cleaning/organizing project to undertake this spring in my outbuildings.

 

[SS396driver]

Wife visiting her son my step son in Buffalo beach at Lake Erie the observation building is about 50 yards from the lake

 

[svk]

My new to me aluminum trailer needs to be rewired but I didn’t have time today so I used a set of my portable taillights. Ended up having to repair a damaged wire in this set too but was a lot faster than laying in the snow to rewire the trailer. Needed some scrap metal to allow the magnets to hold but couldn’t find any. Had several worn out bars waiting to go to the scrap metal pile so they get one last use.

 

[Philbert]

Some of the Mitchell reels are desirable but it's got everyone thinking their old junk is worth a pile.

I like your fishing rod rack.

Philbert

 

[svk]

Some of the Mitchell reels are desirable but it's got everyone thinking their old junk is worth a pile. I'm not usually a proponent of buying Chinese but I have a couple of these reels a friend bought me from Wish. I really like the spinning reel and caught many fish with it last year. I just got this baitcaster for Christmas and am looking forward to trying it out.
In scrounging news, I helped a friend remove horse stalls from his barn today and brought home this piece of maple. 19" x 42" hopefully make a rustic table from it. I haven't decided whether to sand it down or just give it a scrub and clear over top of the horsepoop and hoof marks.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

Yeah I noticed on eBay some guys are asking 30-40 bucks and others are over 200!

I have the boxes and manuals for two of those 300’s.

They are fine for trolling but I don’t really care for the bait click anti-reverse.

 

[djg james]

My new to me aluminum trailer needs to be rewired but I didn’t have time today so I used a set of my portable taillights.......

I have a set of those too, but the magnets weren't very strong and I have to wire them on with baling wire. Of course, can't expect much from HF.

 

[svk]

I have a set of those too, but the magnets weren't very strong and I have to wire them on with baling wire. Of course, can't expect much from HF.

I was pleasantly surprised how well these hold. I’ve traveled on the freeway with these and hit some pretty good bumps too. No issues so far. I do try to zip tie wires where I can for a little added insurance.

 

[panolo]

A sale to pure fishing was the death of quality for lots of reels. I ran pflueger and fin-nor for many years before they sold. Always strong and very few issues. I have more bait casters than spinning reels. Always loved the curado before the change 10 years ago.

I have fallen in love with hot sauce reel lube. I'll break down a new reel and clean the factory grease to replace with hot sauce. Works great for my applications and I haven't found a better one yet.

 

[svk]

I’ll have to look that up. Is Hot Sauce thin enough for winter use?

For reasonably priced reels I really like Okuma, Quantum, and Pinnacle. When I fished Lake Superior all of my trolling reels were Okuma and never had an issue.

 

[panolo]

I’ll have to look that up. Is Hot Sauce thin enough for winter use?

For reasonably priced reels I really like Okuma, Quantum, and Pinnacle. When I fished Lake Superior all of my trolling reels were Okuma and never had an issue.

I have a couple okumas and like them a bunch.

I have no problems with hot sauce on winter gear.

 

[svk]

Long day. Left the house at 4:55AM, home at 4:30 PM. Took a quick break then cooked dinner and out to the guest cabin to repair pipes. All of the cast iron and black plastic piping is gone. Put in a frost free faucet and spliced from the copper to the PVC with PEX. Fittings are expensive but so nice to work with.

Tomorrow after work I need to replace the frost free faucet on the house and we’ll be back in “bidness”.

Scrounged up a couple of walleye rods too. Berkley cherrywood on clearance for 14.88 and a lighting rod for $29.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

anybody tired of winter yet?....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I’ll have to look that up. Is Hot Sauce thin enough for winter use?

For reasonably priced reels I really like Okuma, Quantum, and Pinnacle. When I fished Lake Superior all of my trolling reels were Okuma and never had an issue.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I was pleasantly surprised how well these hold.

Speaking of magnetic tow lights. I bought a kit when I bought my conveyor used. Along with a trailer hitch for the Ford mini van. I drove to Iowa from Michigan and towed it back. Had made up a board with a slow vehicle triangle for the end of it, the magnetic lights near the end but lower. Ran 55mph with flashers on.
The concern was semi's, and at 28', the tail being so high. Last couple hours drive was at night, but well past heavy traffic.
I was actually very lucky. A few years later a wheel seal failed in the wood lot and the wheel seized. I found what I believe to be welding splatter on the spindle from the original build, causing the seal to fail, and seize from sitting during the winter. I do like the conveyor. Not much to them.
As for cleaning junk out, we all have that. But I cut down on accumulation by having very few shelves to start with.