Roach Reflections - Part 37 - Basic Maintenance on a Mitchell Match 440A

I take a quick look at how to maintain a Mitchell Match 440A, taking one apart to fix a minor problem, and show the steps required.
WARNING: Do not completely undo the bale arm screws unlees you are confident you can reassemble this part of the reel. Once the spring and cantilevered part of the bale is off the reel it isn't easy to put back!

[@michaelbellamy]

The finest reel ever. I still have 3. Its my 'go to' reel unless i need a line clip.

[@WolfmanWoody]

Thanks Mark. As required. I normally use a much thinner oil and just this week bought some Singer Sewing Machine oil that is super thin, but I tend to use it little and often, like groundbaiting. As for grease, again it's a PTFE based grease and tends to stick to parts coating them fairly evenly. Your video covered all the warnings though about what parts fall apart when you loosen screws and that's good enough for me. Glad you had a knackered old reel you weren't too bothered about if it did fall apart.

[@MarkWintleFishing]

There are different schools of thought on the lubricants. I have a tube of Mitchell grease that I stumbled on in a shop in Madrid of all places, as well as the old-school car grease, plus the engine oils as mentioned. Jan Porter used to run his Matches on WD40 which isn't a lubricant at all and his reels didn't last long! In hot weather grease can be good but a reel overloaded with hgrease can be hard wrok on a freezing cold day. I suspect the best I've used is the gear oil but it might be an idea if I looked out for one of the modern greases. I may yet try to tackle the malfunctioning bale arm though videoing it in detail won't be easy! I had previouisly switched the working bale with the non-working one on my Mitchell 840 as I wanted the 840 to work properly.

[@stuartwebster829]

Just discovered around subscribed to your channel Mark. Enjoying the videos and there is something particularly satisfying when you get an old Mitchell running again smoothly.My “technique” is to attack the bail arm with penetrating oil before disassembling as I have remedied many reels that way.Also I am a bit fussy about the grease I use which I always feel is best used sparingly.Obtained a grease called Slug Slime a good while back which I find ideal as I don’t like the lithium based greases.A drop of Penn reel oil in key areas also does the trick.I am sure you are aware,but if you are working on Mitchell reels regularly,getting one of the special Mitchell tools is well worth it as it is obviously made to fit the screw heads and saves potentially “butterflying” the heads.Well chuffed yesterday as found a mint condition 440 Match yesterday in a junk shop with ultra fine spool for £6.50 which I am looking forward to tuning up.Tight lines Stuart

[@wilbertbenjamin9928]

Very Difficult thing to adjust interesting I have a few Mitchell reels would like to have this one take the bail off a Mitchell 306 and the leaver that flips the bail took me 2 hours to put them both back in place so they worked very interesting the rest of the reel is easy like your video 😊

[@beachcaster56]

Another great video...there is a little silver rectangular "switch" on the outside body of the spool........I have just aquired a very good 441A which is working well......but I'm not sure what that little "switch" does ??

[@MarkWintleFishing]

It's a lock for the auto bale to keep it closed. In use it's left off.

[@beachcaster56]

@@MarkWintleFishing ........thanks Mark :)

[@colinharper3714]

Thank you for this going to have a got at fixing mine got a load of line wrapped around the shaft took it apart and having problems putting it back together but think this will help.

[@MarkWintleFishing]

Did you fix it?

[@colinharper3714]

@@MarkWintleFishing yes thank you easy when I got the front off give it a clean and grease I have used the reel for 40 years never let me down. Thanks for the help.

[@michaelbellamy]

Mark....any idea where I might get some paint to touch up the scratches on my blue Matchs?

[@MarkWintleFishing]

No. It might be worth asking on Facebook group, 'Vintage Garcia Mitchell Spinning Reels'. Some on there have completely stripped the paint then powder-coated the reel to good effect. I don't worry what my reels look like!

[@mattjohnson9143]

Hi Mark, I have just bought a Mitchell Match, I had one when I was a lad but it got sold on at some point. The only issue I have with it is the line roller, it wont rotate, I have dismantled it and cleaned it up but no joy, are they designed to rotate? Loving the vids I fished the Medway as i grew up and trotted most of the time but other fishing took over and I stopped but watching you has brought all that back. I have a stock of J Dean stick floats so I am getting back on the river and get trotting.

[@MarkWintleFishing]

I've never known it to rotate. As long as it's clean and not grooved then it should be OK. Good luck on the rivers.

[@mattjohnson9143]

@@MarkWintleFishing Thank you Mark, yeah not grooved so should be fine then. Looking forward to trying it out

[@waynenippard5933]

Best maintenance is to carefully hold in one hand and drop into the bin 🤣🤣

[@MarkWintleFishing]

I've got around 15 Matches plus 30+ spools, all in various states of repair and they're fun to use and work for me, and that's good enough.

[@kevinrogers9689]

do you ever use closed face reels

[@MarkWintleFishing]

Rarely nowadays. Back in 1973 I was toying with buying a new reel and someone lent me a Mitchell 300 which I won a match using but the next day I bought an ABU 505. I used that reel a great deal over the following four years, switching to a Mitchell Match about that time. Later I acquired a mate's ABU 506 (bought in 1972) which I dig out once in a while, and a Daiwa 120 which I bought for facing winds on Longleat around about 1986 which I also use occasionally.

[@johnheseltine4882]

Great video Mark, if you want info on a bail arm repair check out youngmartin'sreels on KZbin, he does a full strip down and rebuild of a 440 including the bail arm assembly.

[@MarkWintleFishing]

Thanks; I know how to rebuild the bale arm but it's not a job for beginners who may end up with an unusable reel, and the main challenge is getting new bale arm parts. One of my old 440As needs its bale arm fixing but it6's going to be a tricky job.

[@anderwmccleave2024]

Just get a tdr

[@MarkWintleFishing]

A much better built reel but no autocast and winds the wrong way.

[@garynicholson2855]

Just buy a 501

[@MarkWintleFishing]

It would halve my casting distance... I was a fan of the 505 until I got a Match and that was in 1976.

[@garynicholson2855]

Each to there own Mark. Easy rectified by a float taking one additional no 4.

[@MarkWintleFishing]

Each type of reel has its constraints and advantages; centre-pins are poor for casting and slow to wind in, closed-face are relatively tangle-free but there's poor line lay and a lot of friction for the line around the winding cup and reels like the Match tangle easily but have top-class line lay. The 505 I had was used very heavily and the torque on the spool used to wear out the pins attaching the spool holder to the gears - I think I replaced that part three times in five years.

[@garynicholson2855]

@@MarkWintleFishing never worn that part out Mark been using them since the 70s. The only part that need replacing is the pick up sled. And with extreme use, occasionally the pinion gear bushing wears on the two lugs but you have to give it years of hammer to wear that part out. They are practically bullet proof.

[@wolfgangemmerich7552]

Or a ABUMATIC 41 or 141 . Works exelent on pistolgrip vintage ABU Rods, my favorit spinningreels and rods.