Mitchell

Mitchell reels were made by the Carpano & Pons company in Cluses, in the French Alps, a region known for precision watch and clock work. In 1948 the company introduced the Mitchell 300, the open-face spinning reel that became one of the best-known spinning reels in the world; Mitchell's own figure is more than 25 million 300s sold. In the United States, Mitchell reels were distributed by the Garcia company from 1947 to 1978, and from April 1957 the reels themselves were inscribed Garcia Mitchell. Garcia's 1973 catalogue shows how wide the family had grown: the 300 and its left-hand twin the 301, the ultralight 308 and faster 408, the high-speed 410, and saltwater reels such as the 386, 486 and 488. From 1971 most reels carry a letter date code, starting with A for 1971, which makes later reels easy to date; earlier ones are dated by their features. The French factory closed at the end of the 1980s and most production moved to Taiwan; the brand is now part of Pure Fishing. Vintage Mitchells are plentiful and cheap to fix. The usual faults are a weak bail spring and a slipping anti-reverse, and collectors pay up for early versions, boxed sets and presentation models.