Big pike on an old Mitchell.

[Bushleague]

  Hit the river from shore on the way home from a nightshift this morning. Took a few pics of the biggest ones measuring from 37-40".  My tackle today: an Uglystick, a 60 year old Mitchell 300, and 10 lb mono. Not exacly my first choice for fish of this size, but its what I had in the trunk, and it did the job! 

 

 

 

 

And the icing on the cake, as well as one of the top 3 weirdest catches for me... a 25" Lake whitefish, caught in a river, on a 5" Butchertail.

 

 

Edited August 21 by TimS
links

[KidDkivahh]

On 6/9/2023 at 4:38 PM, Bushleague said:

  Hit the river from shore on the way home from a nightshift this morning. Took a few pics of the biggest ones measuring from 37-40".  My tackle today: an Uglystick, a 60 year old Mitchell 300, and 10 lb mono. Not exacly my first choice for fish of this size, but its what I had in the trunk, and it did the job! 

 

 

And the icing on the cake, as well as one of the top 3 weirdest catches for me... a 25" Lake whitefish, caught in a river, on a 5" Butchertail.

 

 

Might not of been your first choice of reels? Those Mitchlell's are tanks. The only thing that was prone to failure were the bail springs. I still use a pair of 308's with pack rods. I keep in the car with a emergency bag geared for Trout & Panfish. Btw them are some nice fish there. Those White fish are kool I wouldn't mind catching a few of those. 

Edited August 22 by TimS
links

[Econosmith]

Nice fish!  Love those old Mitchell's.  I remember having to mow a lot of lawns to save enough to buy my first one.

Edited June 10 by Econosmith
Mispell

[DMacLeod]

Nice

Do you eat them ?    My wife is from up around Buffalo and I seem to remember her saying Pike was common for a fish fry.

[The TideRunner]

7 hours ago, Econosmith said:

Nice fish!  Love those old Mitchell's.  I remember having to mow a lot of lawns to save enough to buy my first one.

I envy you! No lawn mowing for me. I had to study hard, and get straight A's on my report card, and as a reward, I would get a 300. Studied my butt off. I think I was in 6th grade. I still have a 300 hanging over the fishing workbench.  BTW. Got the reel, let the homework and grades slide.

I had a new reel that needed use. Can't fish and do homework.

As I got into my teens, my father and I had a bunch of different Mitchell reels. Salt water, ultra light. Dad had the odd numbers, he was left handed.

This was over 50 years ago, and I still have a 300 in pretty good condition. Says something about the quality.

That pike never knew what hit him!

[Bushleague]

12 hours ago, KidDkivahh said:

Might not of been your first choice of reels? Those Mitchlell's are tanks. The only thing that was prone to failure were the bail springs. I still use a pair of 308's with pack rods. I keep in the car with a emergency bag geared for Trout & Panfish. Btw them are some nice fish there. Those White fish are kool I wouldn't mind catching a few of those. 

 

  No problem with the reels, I would have preffered a little heavyer line and a MH rod just to get those fish in a little quicker. The one issue with the Mitchells is that because they never had a functional line roller, at higher drag settings they will wear out line fairly quickly if you are catching big fish. While they are a capable reel, I dont typically use them on a MH setup just for that reason.

[Bushleague]

6 hours ago, DMacLeod said:

Nice

Do you eat them ?    My wife is from up around Buffalo and I seem to remember her saying Pike was common for a fish fry.

 

 I like pike, out of cold water they are very close to walleye. Under less ideal conditions they are still generally pretty good. I personally dont keep any pike over 30", the meat gets a stronger flavor, the fillets are so thick you cant even really fry them properly... and IMO big pike are just way more fun to catch than they are to eat.

 

 I did keep that whitefish though... and it was delicious.

[oldwes]

1 hour ago, Bushleague said:

 

  No problem with the reels, I would have preffered a little heavyer line and a MH rod just to get those fish in a little quicker. The one issue with the Mitchells is that because they never had a functional line roller, at higher drag settings they will wear out line fairly quickly if you are catching big fish. While they are a capable reel, I dont typically use them on a MH setup just for that reason.

Mitchell 300 has been upgraded to a 307 manual bail, and 300 a silent anti-reverse.

illuminates line twist, and nice and quiet. If you want to use braid, I would upgrade the manual bale further by going to roller with harder metal and a bearing.

[Bushleague]

2 hours ago, oldwes said:

Mitchell 300 has been upgraded to a 307 manual bail, and 300 a silent anti-reverse.

illuminates line twist, and nice and quiet. If you want to use braid, I would upgrade the manual bale further by going to roller with harder metal and a bearing.

 

Very cool reel. I have a 400 that has the silent AR and its pretty nice. 

[KidDkivahh]

13 hours ago, Bushleague said:

 

  No problem with the reels, I would have preffered a little heavyer line and a MH rod just to get those fish in a little quicker. The one issue with the Mitchells is that because they never had a functional line roller, at higher drag settings they will wear out line fairly quickly if you are catching big fish. While they are a capable reel, I dont typically use them on a MH setup just for that reason.

I never knew that with the line roller. I pretty much used it for large mouths. Even the big ones aren't really drag burners. 

[KidDkivahh]

11 hours ago, oldwes said:

Mitchell 300 has been upgraded to a 307 manual bail, and 300 a silent anti-reverse.

illuminates line twist, and nice and quiet. If you want to use braid, I would upgrade the manual bale further by going to roller with harder metal and a bearing.

Can this be done with say a 308 or 408 reel? I hardly use mine except in a pinch when I wasn't planning on fishing. I'd use them more if I had a manual bail. 

[Bushleague]

1 hour ago, KidDkivahh said:

I never knew that with the line roller. I pretty much used it for large mouths. Even the big ones aren't really drag burners. 

 

 Pike arent drag burners compared to salmon or most saltwater fish, but for a freshwater fish they are definitely up there. In my experience pike can peel more line than a trout, factoring for a similar size to tackle strength equation.

 

The biggest pike I caught this year was 42", so a near 20lb fish, on 15 lb line. I hooked that fish right at the end of a 50-60 yard cast, after the first run she made a couple big jumps and I'd estimate she was around 100 yards out. They dont always fight like that but they certainly can.

Edited June 11 by Bushleague

[oldwes]

6 hours ago, KidDkivahh said:

Can this be done with say a 308 or 408 reel? I hardly use mine except in a pinch when I wasn't planning on fishing. I'd use them more if I had a manual bail. 

God I wish it could! I have not been able to figure that one out, I have a 308 and it is prone to line twist, until I figure it out, it’s live bait only to minimize casting.

[KidDkivahh]

3 hours ago, oldwes said:

God I wish it could! I have not been able to figure that one out, I have a 308 and it is prone to line twist, until I figure it out, it’s live bait only to minimize casting.

Ok I went out and grabbed my emergency fishing bag. I wanted to take the rods and reels and put them in another bag dedicated to them and some rod holders for baitfishing anyway. So i grabbed a reel to see if these early 80s 308's could be used manually. I ain't gonna lie it's awkward as hell to do compared to my Shimanos but it can be done. I did it at least a dozen times and got a little easier. It's really simple just slide ( where the arrow is ) and bring the bail down with your other hand. I did have the reel attached to the handle of my pack rod to be sure I could do this. If I feel adventurist ( which I dont ) I'll hunt down my 60's 308/408s to give a try. 

[oldwes]

1 hour ago, KidDkivahh said:

Ok I went out and grabbed my emergency fishing bag. I wanted to take the rods and reels and put them in another bag dedicated to them and some rod holders for baitfishing anyway. So i grabbed a reel to see if these early 80s 308's could be used manually. I ain't gonna lie it's awkward as hell to do compared to my Shimanos but it can be done. I did it at least a dozen times and got a little easier. It's really simple just slide ( where the arrow is ) and bring the bail down with your other hand. I did have the reel attached to the handle of my pack rod to be sure I could do this. If I feel adventurist ( which I dont ) I'll hunt down my 60's 308/408s to give a try. 

This is a 310 ul, the circle on the picture, represents what appears to be some kind of a spacer on the inside of the bale roller bracket. I assume the 308 has it as well. My thought is to drill that spacer out of there drill a hole into the black housing, holding the bail spring and insert whatever screws spacers taps are necessary to secure the pickup from moving. This way, the bail spring is no longer an issue, then cut the bail wire where the taper begins, and then counterbalance the other side of the rotor.