If you were born anytime after WW2, there's a good chance you've used a Zebco spincasting reel. Zebco started as The Zero Hour Bomb Company in 1932. This company made remote detonated electric bombs for the oil rigs in Oklahoma. Dropped into an old well, or a pre drilled hole, these bombs blew open the earth, to get at the crude oil. In 1947, a watchmaker, RD Hull came up with the idea for a fishing reel which would never backlash, after watching a package of meat being wrapped with twine from a revolving spool at a grocery store. The first reels were a flop, and didn't work well. By 1949, he took the concept to Zero Hour, and the first Zebco push button reels were born. In 1950, Bill Carter, a rep for Zebco made 3, 453 cast in 14 hrs to demonstrate the no backlash feature of these reels. By 1953, Zero Hour Bomb Co became Zebco, and the reels were selling very well. The impact of this on fishing was HUGE. Thousands of folks who had never been fishing, or had tried, but given up, bought a new Zebco reel and took to the lakes, rivers, and ponds from coast to coast. By the mid to later 1950s, spincast reels were accepted and used everywhere. Some famous users of the Zebco reels were Hall Of Fame slugger Micky Mantle, and then president Dwight D Eisenhower, himself an avid fisherman. Due to Zebcos success, other companies followed up. Johnson, with the Citation and Century reels, Shakespeare, with the Wonderreel, and Sears and Robeuck, with the Ted Williams line of reels. By 1975, Zebco had sold 70 million spincast reels. I've heard many guys be critical of spincast reels over the years. The main complaints are based on the early models. A slow retrieve speed, or a poor drag. I received my Zebco 33 in 1965, as a Christmas gift from my grandparents, along with a Heddon fiberglass rod. My reel still works as intended, after 50+ yrs. Before that I was a cane pole fisherman. It opened up a whole new world for me. Almost overnight, I was casting, and target casting, and I'm still obsessed with casting, and accurate casting now. Many, many, fisherman got their start with a spincast reel, and some went on to become famous top pros in the sport. The newer models have improved on the early designs. I wouldn't hesitate to use one now. On a recent trip to Texas, I saw many of the old oil drilling rigs, sitting idle, and rusting away, along the highways and back roads of Oklahoma. This is where spincasting started. Do you use any spincasting reels? What models have you used? And, have you ever caught any big fish with them? Regardless if you like spincast reels or not, we can't deny the impact they had on the sport. Zebco has been a household word for as long as I remember, and the invention of the spincasting reel changed sportfishing in America from then on. Tell me about your spincasting experience, from years ago, or currently.
