Mitchell Fishing Reels

The French Avre Valley,  steeped in a rich tradition of clock making, was the birth place of the innovative and legendary Mitchell fishing reel. The factory which would produce the Mitchell reel began its life in the tradition of this region, as clock factory producing watches and gears. The company was founded by Louis Carpano, one of the first graduates of the prestigious clock making school, l'Ecole d'Horlogerie established in Cluses by royal decree in 1848. Carpano was highly regarded for making fine quality watch works. After working for a few years in a Geneva clockworks factory, Carpano returned to Cluses and in 1868 formed a partnership with Francois Jacottet. Jacottet's clock making factory became Carpano's four years later.

Mr. Carpano gave the factory to his nephew, Constant Carpano, in 1902. During World War 1 the prosperous clock-making factory was refitted temporarily to produce munitions. After the war, production shortly returned to watch parts and gears.  A partnership was created among Constant Carpano's heirs and son-in-law upon his death in 1927. This new company, Carpano & Pons, became an industrial firm of broad scope making clocks and household appliances, along with fishing rods, reels and lures.

A Carpano & Pons engineer, Maurice Jacquemin, invented the Mitchell reel. His goal was to produce an innovative reel that was not only a container to hold line, but also a tool which would cast the lure at a great distance with precision and recover the line without tangling. After two years of development, in 1948 the revolutionary Mitchell 300 was born. Mr. Pons named the reel in honor of his brother, Mitchel. The world's first spinning reel was a marked departure from the reels of its day in both mechanics and appearance. The Mitchell® 300 rapidly propelled the company to international fame.

After the death of Mr. Pons in 1965, Mitchell and other Carpono & Pons divisions became separated , and  in 1970, Mitchell's future was bright as production reached an incredible 12,000 reels per day. Unfortunately, in 1981 after a rough decade fraught with the oil crisis and strong international competition, Mitchell was forced to declare bankruptcy.

In 1982, Philippe Blime took over Mitchell with plans to revitalize the business. He worked to turn the company around using the brand's prestige and remarkable tradition of quality. His restructuring strategy was to rejuvenate the product line, reduce costs, increase distribution, and innovate throughout, while at the same time respecting the tradition. In 1983-1984 stiff international competition forced Mitchell to subcontract the manufacture of its products to the Pacific Rim. Although Mitchell reels were no longer produced in France, French engineers maintained strict control over product concept and design, maintaining a a high standard of quality.

Mitchell has become a leader in protecting our environment and educating young people. In 1987 Mitchell started a program called “1 franc per reel” to help protect the rivers of France. The program donated one franc from each reel sold to fund French river protection projects.  Mitchell also developed a teaching package for use in schools on river and ocean fishing. Fifty schools throughout France have taught more than 2,000 young people with the assistance of these materials by 1990.

Mitchell was acquired by Johnson Worldwide Associates (JWA), in 1990. As a complement to JWA's already successful Johnson reel line. At that time, nearly 30 million Mitchell 300s had been sold worldwide, since introduction. And finally, in 2000, Mitchell was purchased by Pure Fishing as a part of the JWA fishing products acquisition. Pure Fishing proudly added the Mitchell name to its portfolio of leading fishing tackle brands, which included Berkley, Abu Garcia and Fenwick.