Welcome to The Retro Angler's Blog

Welcome to the Retro Angler’s Blog, which begins with me using my newly purchased Olympic Match13 rod and a Shakespeare Cosmos 2001 reel, which I keep as a spare and I've had for many years. The reel looks really small on a 13-foot fibreglass rod, but it’s the nearest I’ve got to a vintage reel at the moment. A cloudy but enjoyable session on 6 September with my nephew at Kilburn Lake, where we caught Roach and Perch float fishing in the margins, and I managed a 3lb Carp which impressed my nephew!

On 9 September I was fishing at Longford on a sunny day with some cloud, this time with a mate who fishes with an old Shakespeare International rod and Mitchell Match reel. I was enjoying my Match13 rod and Cosmos reel again, although I’ve been looking at vintage reels online, including Mitchell reels. I caught a Tench of about 2½lb and some nice Bream and Carp on light ledgered luncheon meat.

I fished at Longford on 16 September under cloudy skies, this time with my new-old Mitchell 300, which I bought online, and I’m really chuffed with it. I went off to Mill Dam on a lovely sunny day to give it a run, and I caught some Roach and Bream.

I’ve been lucky enough to find four Mitchell reels, and I’m now the proud owner of a 410, 410A, 324 and a 206, which I bought along with an old Black Prince for £20, bargain! I cleaned all the reels and gave them a good greasing; the 410 needs a new spring and bail arm screw, but I used the 410A at Longford on 23 September and caught Bream all day.

Finally, for this first month of retro fishing, I was at Beechwood with, and caught some Roach, Perch and a nice 7½lb Carp which put a nice bend in my Match13.

I will include information and links which hopefully you will find interesting. The first is a link to the Mitchell Reel Museum website.