Gents, for many years I collected and used Mitchell reels, I put together a substantial collection of nearly 400 reels with the odd very desirable reel.
While it was quite an enjoyment to put the collection together I got sick of trying to make almost every purchase work properly, anyone who ever shimmed a Mitchell and tried to make one run smooth will know what I mean, enter the Cardinal 33.
I had already moved on a big part of my collection and a move of home gave me less room than I needed, a friend of mine said "you need to fish with Cardinal 33 one day, I have one you can try" So I agreed to look at it, reel arrived at my home and as soon as I picked it up and wound it, just like a fish, I was hooked on them, so smooth to use and engineered perfection for the year of manufacture, OK no good for my great size 12 hands but what a fishing reel.
That was it for me, the Mitchell reel was done with, but, allthough I still get the odd few Mitchell reels and keep tabs on their history I feel no need to have them in my life anymore. The Cardinal has now taken over, to me, a far superior fishing reel in more ways than one, the history is also very cool and the fact that former owners have written books on the company and today you can visit the old museum should you wish to to walk through part of that history all comes as a great part to add to your hobby.
What I will say is if you get the reel that you want, and my personal favorite is the Cardinal 55 which I still use, then you will really want to check out others, OK some have issues built into them which are all fixable but once you get on that worm and drive gear feel you wont want any other.
