Mitchell Orca 70S

Sea anglers keen on bass fishing, plus those part of the swing to a more lighter approach to general beach and estuary fishing, will be pleased to see a famous name, Mitchell, attacking the 070 size reel market with their Orca 70S fixed-spool reel.

BUILD SPECIFICATION
The Orca 70S offers a high build specification. The body is graphite for lightness and strength, as is the coned or long tapered spool. The spool is a simple push-button release type for ease of change with a quoted line capacity of 370-metres of 15lb line.

The pinion gear is bronze and the gears well machined and tough with a gear ratio of 4.55.1. There are three ball-bearings in the construction to spread load and give a smoother retrieve performance. The drag is a multi-disc type featuring Teflon washers.

The stainless steel bale-arm uses a long life return spring and over size hard-chrome line roller. All screws used in construction are also stainless. It has an on-off silent anti-reverse option, and the handle is ambidextrous and folds away for storage.

The reel also features an "elliptic oscillation" system built in to it's movement to produce improved line lay, so important in conjunction with the tapered spool for improved casting distance and general fishing performance.

FISHING WITH THE ORCA 70S
The reel is ideally suited to fishing 12lb to 15lb line for light beach casting or estuary fishing for bass, flounders, eels, whiting and dabs in season.

Bass anglers keen to use the same reel for both heavy spinning and bait fishing need look no further, plus the reel is ideally suited to lure fishing off the rocks for pollack and mackerel when long casts are required.

The line lay is good with the lines quoted, and the reel produces easy casts to long range with leads between 3ozs and 4ozs. There was no sign of the bale-arm trying to snap shut prematurely when making powerful casts with the typical overhead or half pendulum type casting techniques.

The drag proved smooth in operation and easily capable of tackling larger than average fish should they decide to run or need to be given line when played in a heavy backwash. The drag is actually quite progressive and not prone to "snatch", but didn't fully lock down, though this should not be a problem given the light fishing approach the reel is intended for. The reel is smooth during retrieve and easy to fish with.

Due to the graphite body and stainless steel fittings, the reel is well capable of withstanding corrosion problems and should last many seasons of hard work. I also liked the ease of maintenance of the reel. Nothing complicated, it's nice and straight forward.

COULD THE REEL BE IMPROVED?
The addition of a polished aluminium spool instead of the graphite type, considering the reels price, would have seen less line friction on the spool lip during casting improving overall casting performance and adding to the graphics of the reel which do look a bit dated when compared with some competitor reels.

A modern counter balanced handle would have also improved further the smooth operation of the reel.

Spare spools for this reel are quoted at £16.95 which seems expensive for a graphite spool in this size. Many competitor reels have spools for half this price.

CONCLUSION
One of the better buys in it's price range offering a good build specification, reliability, and high degree of fishing performance.

The Orca 70S is available from good tackle shops and retails for £69.95.

Mitchell also offer the Orca 65S to the same specification, but with a lower line capacity of about 280-metres of 15lb line suitable for spinning and very light ledgering. It costs £59.99.