Hi all,

I have a glass fiber spinning rod that my Dad used before I was born, so late 50's-early 60's, and I recently picked up a Garcia Mitchell 300 reel of roughly the same vintage. I'm wondering what period line (preferably monofilament) that is still manufactured today if any that I could spool up on it? Wanting to use 10-12 lb test preferably, have a lot of brush in the water so need it somewhat stronger for snags. Any suggestions appreciated!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
Hi all,

I have a glass fiber spinning rod that my Dad used before I was born, so late 50's-early 60's, and I recently picked up a Garcia Mitchell 300 reel of roughly the same vintage. I'm wondering what period line (preferably monofilament) that is still manufactured today if any that I could spool up on it? Wanting to use 10-12 lb test preferably, have a lot of brush in the water so need it somewhat stronger for snags. Any suggestions appreciated!

Mark

I've got a couple vintage Garcia Mitchell 300's from that same period. On mine, the bail doesn't go across the reel. It is simply comes to a point and ends about 2/3rd's across the spool.

Are yours the same?

As far a line goes, for mono, I like a clear Stren. It seems to disappear pretty well. I LOVE braid. Brian has some disadvantages when it comes to abrasion fro rocks and such. However the feel and hook-set you get using brain are worth the trade off in my opinion. I use Power-Pro green.

Mine has the full bail, just a brief glance on the net says the partial bail ones were made from the late 30's to late 50's. Also, when I finally got around to looking them up both stren and trilene came on the market in 59, and Gracia had a "Platyl" and "Royal Bonnyl", not much about the Platyl but the Royal Bonnyl seemed to have had a following. Anyway, it's not made any more so a moot point. I just ordered some "Stren Original" as the Trilene sounds like it has modern formulations. I'm getting 10 lb test and hopefully it will be able to deal with the inevitable snags you get fishing around brush piles. Anyway, don't plan on using it all the time but will be a fun diversion every once in a while.

Stren was likely one of the lines of choice from the time period. There was another leader from that time, but the name escapes an old age fogged brain at the moment.
Posting before reading the complete thread does this . . . YES, Trilene was the other!

I have Herter's on mine, ordered way back when.

Still have a Herter's UL blank that I built into a 5'6" UL rod.

I am still searching for a steel casting rod to match my (high dollar for the day) Pfleuger(sp) bait casting reel.

I have some period black braid ready for the rig!