From the dim & distant past....

[g-force]

Bit of a result - had a call from the Old Man last week saying he'd found a few of my old reels when clearing out the garage....I was wondering which ones and whether any of them would still be usable...

Anyway, he brought them across today & here they are: the Original Birdsnest Machine Mitchell 602AP (my first multi - if you can cast one of these you can cast just about anything!), the original Penn Mag (Mag Power 970), and two Abus - a 7000 & 12.



They haven't seen the light of day for over 30 years so there's plenty of surface crud (they've still got the old green commercial nylon from Cosalts that we used to use on the Abus's) & no doubt they'll need a thorough cleaning but at least three of them should be well usable (the Penn was only a year or so old before I wrapped in fishing when I moved away)....not sure about the Mitchell though, but I'll probably keep it - in fact if I can track down a metal spool for it I might get it jagged up just for fun!! Looks like I've got a little project for the next evening or two anyways

Gary

 

[Juliogeordio]

Oh yeah those Mitchell's were only good for boat fishing a d dropping straight down the side otherwise they blew up haha.... I'm sure you will have some fun with that lot!

 

[fishingmark]

I used one of those Mitchells when I was in my teens, once you get the hang of them the nests soon stop. I had to persevere as that's all I had.

 

[g-force]

I used one of those Mitchells when I was in my teens, once you get the hang of them the nests soon stop. I had to persevere as that's all I had.

Yep, you soon acquire what they used to call an "educated thumb"! The Penn was the only reel that had any brakes in it (although I could have put some in the 7000) - what a luxury that was haha!

Gary

 

[fishingmark]

It wasn't too bad when I was only getting about 25 yards out. I have added a good 10 yards since then, thank goodness for technology.

 

[cod-ger]

.....(they've still got the old green commercial nylon from Cosalts that we used to use on the Abus's).....

and i'm STILL using that line now. should have enough for a few more winters then i'll have to get some proper line!

 

[regpude]

602aps

602aps

I used one of those Mitchells when I was in my teens, once you get the hang of them the nests soon stop. I had to persevere as that's all I had.

them were the bees knees years ago,remember mine made a funny grinding noice even when it was brand new,of cause it was loaded with sylcast 35lb,straight though.

 

[regpude]

sylcast

sylcast

.....(they've still got the old green commercial nylon from Cosalts that we used to use on the Abus's).....

and i'm STILL using that line now. should have enough for a few more winters then i'll have to get some proper line!

im still using that bloody sylcast,bought 6 MILE spools years ago,yough @ daft.well still a good few winters left for me aswell.

 

[Dilbertd]

Nowt wrong with 7000, they still a good workhorse today. I have hybrid ceramic ball bearings in mine with the small brake blocks and it casts like a dream ! The Michel is hard work though, I still have my old 600 ap in good nick but I am scared to use it because of the nests ! The ABU 12 was similar to the 9000 I believe but with no brakes so that is a pure boat reel.

 

[g-force]

.....(they've still got the old green commercial nylon from Cosalts that we used to use on the Abus's).....

and i'm STILL using that line now. should have enough for a few more winters then i'll have to get some proper line!

I still had my old spool Iain but unfortunately it must have seen too much sunlight or something because it was snapping far too easily. I'm not sure what the breaking strain of the stuff was but it's way thicker than any of the modern 30/35lb stuff I use...probably closer to 40/45lb or so (in thickness at any rate!).

Nowt wrong with 7000, they still a good workhorse today. I have hybrid ceramic ball bearings in mine with the small brake blocks and it casts like a dream ! The Michel is hard work though, I still have my old 600 ap in good nick but I am scared to use it because of the nests ! The ABU 12 was similar to the 9000 I believe but with no brakes so that is a pure boat reel.

Yeah the 12 was the poor-mans 9000 - no bearings (just bushes, same as the 7000) or brakes and was marketed as a boat reel - however many people used to use them from the shore...I used to be able to manage 80/90 yards or so with said tow-rope line and a couple of big crab baits with my old fibreglass SC6 rod. Used to have to be very watchful with the thumb mind!

Gary

 

[Pighunter]

Great stuff mate.

 

[Charlton]

loved my 602ap could cast for miles with it, only prob was you had to reel the thing back in again very low ratio.

 

[g-force]

loved my 602ap could cast for miles with it, only prob was you had to reel the thing back in again very low ratio.

Seem to remember much the same Alan - think I might just keep it as an option for some short range flatty-bashing & the like...I also recollect that if you put too much pressure on the spools, they had a habit of going BANG!

Gary

 

[beachbuddy]

.....(they've still got the old green commercial nylon from Cosalts that we used to use on the Abus's).....

and i'm STILL using that line now. should have enough for a few more winters then i'll have to get some proper line!

Now ya talkin that line was unsnapable and the stretch was like elastic,the Mitchell's retrive was about 2-1 useless in these days but were the dogs in there time.the intrepid sea squeak was a ledge with its cast control,then if you had money you had the penn squidder brings back great memory's.

 

[Charlton]

yep if you wound in to quick and kept to much tension on line or even when trying to pull a snag out the line compressing used to crush the PLASTIC spools but chnaging them for the metal spools reduced the casting ability, would like to see one of the experts pendulum cast with one to see how far they would get.

 

[regpude]

i beachbuddy,bought a penn squidder l/h with my first wage packet £28.them were the bees knees,but as g force said even that went BANG one day while lifting 2 fish up on s/s pier,{plastic spools} assaid good memorys.

 

[BigLoada]

Nice to see a Mitchell again! I used a 600AP for over 20 years until a few years back when it finally exploded and I had to buy a new reel. Glad it blew up though.. going from 20 years of using a Mitchell, to using a new Penn 525mag was a revelation!

 

[g-force]

Well, they're all ready to go - fully stripped & cleaned & re-spooled....I was amazed that despite having taken a battering on the outside, they were surprisingly clean on the inside! And the Penn is way more rugged than the later 525s with it's anodised ally cage & stainless gears & drive, although I think I'll have to do something about the "coin-slot" operated mag adjustment...perhaps fashion some sort of small knob that I can attach to the existing screw.



Another surprise was discovering that the Abu 12 does, after all, have brakes the same as the 9000 (tucked away in the left hand side-plate) although no blocks were in it, so I added a small one to help take the edge off the massive spool's tendency to lift a bit (it didn't half swallow a ton of line, even the 45lb stuff I filled it with to use off the rocks!).

Looking forward to having a few chucks now to see how they perform...I might give the Abu's an outing at Newton on sunday in my last summer league match, but I'll still be packing the trusty Saltists just in case

Gary

 

[BigLoada]

They look great Gary. I love the old reels. If you ever want to sell that Mitchell I will take it off you!

Dean

 

[Stewart 1971]

Well, they're all ready to go - fully stripped & cleaned & re-spooled....I was amazed that despite having taken a battering on the outside, they were surprisingly clean on the inside! And the Penn is way more rugged than the later 525s with it's anodised ally cage & stainless gears & drive, although I think I'll have to do something about the "coin-slot" operated mag adjustment...perhaps fashion some sort of small knob that I can attach to the existing screw.



Another surprise was discovering that the Abu 12 does, after all, have brakes the same as the 9000 (tucked away in the left hand side-plate) although no blocks were in it, so I added a small one to help take the edge off the massive spool's tendency to lift a bit (it didn't half swallow a ton of line, even the 45lb stuff I filled it with to use off the rocks!).

Looking forward to having a few chucks now to see how they perform...I might give the Abu's an outing at Newton on sunday in my last summer league match, but I'll still be packing the trusty Saltists just in case

Gary

I'm sure there's something missing from this picture...