Interesting reel, Rick! I have a Mitchell 440 with the autobail feature. It works very well despite having all that bail linkage exposed like it is. Made a video of myself fishing with a 440 a couple years ago. It was fun to fish with.
Dan, the 440 was one of my earlier videos and I've yet to fish with it. It was a reel that my dad had in his parts reel bin. It was very grimy, but it seemed to work okay. I'm glad that I ventured into taking it apart and reassembling it. I might take it fishing one day.
@@youngmartinsreels5314 My 440 was a gift from Willie Gray the host of The Grayt Outdoors channel on TH-cam. He and I regularly swap reels. He sent me that reel out of the blue, and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box. I actually received it shortly after you made that video of the 440.
Rick, do you intend to fish with this reel. I’d love to see that. I have a Mitchell 330 Ottomatic and I have cast with it just to see how to do it but I haven’t actually fished with it. I’m familiar with that anti-reverse mechanism. Do you remember that strange Mitchell reel I had with the miniature universal joints on the anti-reverse shaft. It was the Mitchell that seemed to be a step between a regular reel and an early form of a baitfeeders. It had an AR like this. By the way, do you know where this reel was made? This part of this reel is very similar to my Mitchell Predator reel. Your reel got out of the frame so we could see that last part of the reasssembly of the AR. I can’t imagine how someone ever figured out how to make this work like it does. It is truly unique and very creative I don’t care where it was made. I do think the original Ottomatic is a far more durable system even if it is “exposed.” I can guarantee you if I had this reel I would find a way to never take this apart! Earlier in this video I was starting to think I’d like to have one of these for the weird and unusual section of my reel collection but now I’ve changed my mind. This was a superb video even though I had a little difficulty seeing what you had done in a few spots. Eventually I figured it out anyway given you great explanation of how it worked. This has got to be one of your finest and most complicated reels you’ve ever done. This is like my rare Ryobi spinning reel with the star drag on the reel handle. It is so complicated I have never taken it apart. I just sit and look at the schematic and my brain gets numb. Awesome job my friend! - Chris
Yes Chris, I'm going to take this reel fishing tomorrow. I don't believe it is strong enough to handle a big red fish, so I put 8-pound test line on it. I'd rather break the line than break the reel. I do remember the Mitchell reel with the u-joint anti reverse override that you worked on. This reel is very similar to that. It was manufactured in Hong Kong. It isn't a high-quality reel but it is interesting all the same. It will require a bit of timing to try to fish it as intended and I hope that I'm up to the task. I don't know how durable the design is, the gear train actually seems to be pretty robust. I'm not so sure about the trip lever. I wonder it the trip and arm could have been made with metal instead of plastic parts. The metal might have made the trip too heave it operate consistently. You are correct that the guys that designed this were pretty ingenious. These reels are available on eBay at a fairly reasonable price. I'm going to predict that you end up with one and that you actually do take it apart. Expand those horizons. 😊
@@youngmartinsreels5314Rick, after your fishing report on using this reel I will NOT be getting this reel! I got pretty good casting my Mitchell (French) 330 Ottomatic. I rather spend my money on a Mitchell 440A Ottomatic reel! - Chris
Since you an I are the only ones that were privy to our conversation I guess I’ll have to fill the other guys and gals in. I took the Mitchell Auto 30 reel fishing today. I didn’t care for it. My fingers didn’t reach the bail wire as easily as I would have liked. I never was able to find a placement for my hand that made it easy for me to flip the bail and hold the rod steady. My grandson is left handed so he changed the handle over to the right side and found the reel even more cumbersome to use than I did. I’ll probably be putting this reel into my display case. I’ll be happy to let anyone else try it if they are interested.
Springmaster is back!
Interesting reel, Rick! I have a Mitchell 440 with the autobail feature. It works very well despite having all that bail linkage exposed like it is. Made a video of myself fishing with a 440 a couple years ago. It was fun to fish with.
Dan, the 440 was one of my earlier videos and I've yet to fish with it. It was a reel that my dad had in his parts reel bin. It was very grimy, but it seemed to work okay. I'm glad that I ventured into taking it apart and reassembling it. I might take it fishing one day.
@@youngmartinsreels5314 My 440 was a gift from Willie Gray the host of The Grayt Outdoors channel on TH-cam. He and I regularly swap reels. He sent me that reel out of the blue, and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box. I actually received it shortly after you made that video of the 440.
Rick, do you intend to fish with this reel. I’d love to see that. I have a Mitchell 330 Ottomatic and I have cast with it just to see how to do it but I haven’t actually fished with it. I’m familiar with that anti-reverse mechanism. Do you remember that strange Mitchell reel I had with the miniature universal joints on the anti-reverse shaft. It was the Mitchell that seemed to be a step between a regular reel and an early form of a baitfeeders. It had an AR like this. By the way, do you know where this reel was made? This part of this reel is very similar to my Mitchell Predator reel. Your reel got out of the frame so we could see that last part of the reasssembly of the AR. I can’t imagine how someone ever figured out how to make this work like it does. It is truly unique and very creative I don’t care where it was made. I do think the original Ottomatic is a far more durable system even if it is “exposed.” I can guarantee you if I had this reel I would find a way to never take this apart! Earlier in this video I was starting to think I’d like to have one of these for the weird and unusual section of my reel collection but now I’ve changed my mind. This was a superb video even though I had a little difficulty seeing what you had done in a few spots. Eventually I figured it out anyway given you great explanation of how it worked. This has got to be one of your finest and most complicated reels you’ve ever done. This is like my rare Ryobi spinning reel with the star drag on the reel handle. It is so complicated I have never taken it apart. I just sit and look at the schematic and my brain gets numb. Awesome job my friend! - Chris
Yes Chris, I'm going to take this reel fishing tomorrow. I don't believe it is strong enough to handle a big red fish, so I put 8-pound test line on it. I'd rather break the line than break the reel.
I do remember the Mitchell reel with the u-joint anti reverse override that you worked on. This reel is very similar to that. It was manufactured in Hong Kong. It isn't a high-quality reel but it is interesting all the same. It will require a bit of timing to try to fish it as intended and I hope that I'm up to the task.
I don't know how durable the design is, the gear train actually seems to be pretty robust. I'm not so sure about the trip lever. I wonder it the trip and arm could have been made with metal instead of plastic parts. The metal might have made the trip too heave it operate consistently. You are correct that the guys that designed this were pretty ingenious.
These reels are available on eBay at a fairly reasonable price. I'm going to predict that you end up with one and that you actually do take it apart. Expand those horizons. 😊
@@youngmartinsreels5314Rick, after your fishing report on using this reel I will NOT be getting this reel! I got pretty good casting my Mitchell (French) 330 Ottomatic. I rather spend my money on a Mitchell 440A Ottomatic reel! - Chris
Since you an I are the only ones that were privy to our conversation I guess I’ll have to fill the other guys and gals in.
I took the Mitchell Auto 30 reel fishing today. I didn’t care for it. My fingers didn’t reach the bail wire as easily as I would have liked. I never was able to find a placement for my hand that made it easy for me to flip the bail and hold the rod steady.
My grandson is left handed so he changed the handle over to the right side and found the reel even more cumbersome to use than I did. I’ll probably be putting this reel into my display case. I’ll be happy to let anyone else try it if they are interested.