$150 Zebco combo!

[Way2slow]

Never thought I would see the day I would pay $150 for a Zebco Combo, but did yesterday.  

My wife refuses to use bait casters or spinning reels, which I have a couple dozen high end ones.

I've bought good closed face spincast reels in other brands and she always has something to complain about with them.  She keeps going picking up a couple old Zebco 33's I bought her 50 years ago because that's what her daddy always gave her to fish with, and then complains every time she looses a fish bigger than 12 inches with them.  

We were in BPS yesterday and had her trying different reels,  All she wanted to pick up were the Zebco's so I ended up getting he one of the Bullet Combo's.  I was going to get just the reel, but she liked the rod also, so even though I have dozens of good rods, I ended up getting her the combo, just so she couldn't complain about it.  

Playing with it a little last night, the thing actually feels fairly descent.  Guess I will see the next time we go catfishing.   

[garroyo130]

Those better Zebcos are great reels. Its what I learned to fish on and caught everything from catfish to carp. Even had a couple of outings in the salt catching redfish and it held up extremely well.

[CrankFate]

By Executive Order, no person in my household is permitted to even touch a closed face push button reel or the rod it is attached to, if it is attached to a rod.

[MAN]

Spincast are making a strong comeback...and surprisingly in the high end game.  

Expect to see many more in the near future. 

[Allen Der]

those bullets are super heavy though.  does the combo balance well?

[Way2slow]

Yes the real is actually quite heavy, so I'm surprised she didn't complain about that, but that will probably come the first time she uses it any length of time.

 

Yes, the combo is actually balanced very well, that was one of the reasons I went ahead and got the combo.  Center of balance is just about dead center on the reel.

[Darth-Baiter]

How does it cast?  Nice?

 

I might buy that for my sister in law.  She has the same mental block. 

[Way2slow]

Can't answer that one yet.  It hasn't been fished with, and I'm scared if I walk out in the yard, someone might see me with it.   I actually made her carry it out of BPS.  

I did notice last night while checking it out, it has a very fast line retrieval speed.  I think I saw it was something like 29 inches per turn and feels very smooth.  That's ungodly fast for your average Zebco.

I remember way back when, Woo Daves attributed winning a BASS tournament using a Zebco 33.  Using it to flip his lure way back under overhanging brush that he couldn't cast under any other way.

[GRiver]

I was thinking about trying one for pitching and flipping around docks and under low hanging brush, But don’t tell no one. 
hahah

[Way2slow]

Lake Sinclair GA, is full of docks and a lot of people use them to slingshot a jig under them.  They hold the button, pull the jig back until there's plenty of tension and let the jig go and button just behind it.  Get the timing right and sends it way further than you could ever hope to pitch something.

 

Of course they do this at night time around the lighted docks.  I guess they are like me and would never want to get caught fishing with a spincast.  

[Msl819]

11 hours ago, Way2slow said:

Never thought I would see the day I would pay $150 for a Zebco Combo, but did yesterday.  

My wife refuses to use bait casters or spinning reels, which I have a couple dozen high end ones.

I've bought good closed face spincast reels in other brands and she always has something to complain about with them.  She keeps going picking up a couple old Zebco 33's I bought her 50 years ago because that's what her daddy always gave her to fish with, and then complains every time she looses a fish bigger than 12 inches with them.  

We were in BPS yesterday and had her trying different reels,  All she wanted to pick up were the Zebco's so I ended up getting he one of the Bullet Combo's.  I was going to get just the reel, but she liked the rod also, so even though I have dozens of good rods, I ended up getting her the combo, just so she couldn't complain about it.  

Playing with it a little last night, the thing actually feels fairly descent.  Guess I will see the next time we go catfishing.   

You have a wife who fishes with you and wants you to spend money on fishing gear.  Sounds like life is good in your house.

 

Those high end Zebco’s really are pretty versatile and well built.  I have a buddy who has a couple for his kids and they have hauled in many impressive 5 plus pound bass.  That and not spending his time digging out birds nest all day.  
 

... seems like $150 well spent!

[txchaser]

I bought one for a family member about a year ago. It's made like a tank, and it's about that heavy too. Works flawlessly, and the IPT means they can fish some things like chatterbaits and buzzbaits that were nearly impossible to fish on a typical spincast. Stuck it on a MH/F casting rod. 

 

I wish they'd made a scaled down but otherwise identical version. It doesn't need to hold that much line and it doesn't need to be that big or heavy. 

 

Bottom line, it was worth it, given their circumstance. It seems like it's really the only game in town if you want something better than a $20 pile of plastic.

[Way2slow]

My kids and granddaughter were brought up fishing Shimano bait casters.   At 7 years old, my granddaughter was using a Curado B101. I also didn't let them swap hands with the reel, so they cast with dominate hand and wind with the other.   My son still fusses about that one.  He complains every time he sees a great deal on a  reel and they are almost always right handed, which he is, but he was brought up using a left handed bait caster. 

I mentioned this in another topic but if you pull off a casting length of line, and then put electrical tape around the spool, then wind the line back on, they don't get back lashes.  If they cast it straight into the ground, they might get a small one but very easy to get out since it can only go a couple of turns deep.

[brophog]

2 hours ago, txchaser said:

I wish they'd made a scaled down but otherwise identical version. It doesn't need to hold that much line and it doesn't need to be that big or heavy. 

 

 

It is as big as it is to generate that high gear ratio. Since the main gear sits directly behind the spool the entire reel must grow in size to accommodate that gear. That’s why it’s such a long reel, and the fundamental reason spincasts are historically very low gear ratio reels.

 

It’s a bit of a marvel of a reel, really, but I think it also really shows how limited and outdated the spincast design really is.

[Way2slow]

10 hours ago, Msl819 said:

You have a wife who fishes with you and wants you to spend money on fishing gear.  Sounds like life is good in your house.

That's where you haven't trained them right.  My wife knows better than say anything about what I spend, just as I usually say nothing about what she spends, until she does something like paying $1,000 for a dishwasher, just to give it away and replaces it with another $1,100 one three years later because she doesn't like it. 

Sometimes, if she happens to be with me and I buy a new $200 - $400 rod or reel, she might comment, "do you really need another one" and I just tell her I would be buying it if I didn't think so.

If one of us is going to be spending enough that it might impact our free spending for a few months, we will discuss it, as a formality, but we usually buy it anyway.

[Msl819]

1 hour ago, Way2slow said:

That's where you haven't trained them right.  My wife knows better than say anything about what I spend, just as I usually say nothing about what she spends, until she does something like paying $1,000 for a dishwasher, just to give it away and replaces it with another $1,100 one three years later because she doesn't like it. 

Sometimes, if she happens to be with me and I buy a new $200 - $400 rod or reel, she might comment, "do you really need another one" and I just tell her I would be buying it if I didn't think so.

If one of us is going to be spending enough that it might impact our free spending for a few months, we will discuss it, as a formality, but we usually buy it anyway.

My wife is usually cool with it as well.  She cannot understand why a rod/reel cost so much or is so much better than another, but she is usually ok with it.  Especially if it is a rod or reel she can get me for a birthday or Christmas that she knows I will really enjoy.  She isn’t a bad fishing partner either!  

[Randy Price]

After a flue shot my Dad got GBS and had to learn how to walk and use his hands again.  He never regained the dexterity to use a spinning rell so I bought him a Zebco Omega Pro several years ago and he really liked it.

[J Francho]

I still have a Zebco 33 classic and a Daiwa Goldcast that get used.  Good fish have been caught on both.  It beats trying to teach someone how to use another reel when the bite is hot.

[Bankc]

I love Zebcos!  There's nothing quite like the feeling of landing bass after bass on a Zebco 33 combo while the guys around you are skunking on a G. Loomis and Metanium.  Bonus points for holding it upside down.  That drives them insane!  

 

I only own the one.  I keep it mainly incase I want to take someone fishing who doesn't have much experience.  But every once in a while it's fun to pull out when you've found the juice and a bunch of other anglers start trying to crowd you out.  

[Way2slow]

I actually have about a dozen or more spincast I bought off a clearance table at BPS.  We happen to have a catalog distribution center near by and they have tables full of returns and what have you at tremendous discount prices.  They had the Zebco Omega's two or three different sizes, some Daiwa  Gold cast and a couple others similar type reels all for $10 each, so I load up about a dozen of the Omega's in different sizes and couple of each of the other, larger reels.  At the time a friend had talked me into doing some crappie fishing with him, so I figured this would make good reels to troll for crappie with. This probably 10 or more years ago.  Never did go crappie fishing.

As for a good Zebco, my wife keeps going back to a couple of 33 Classics I bought her about the time they first came out.  These actually have some ball bearings and metal housing, like it was there attempt to make a better reel.  Now, it they are good, bad, or indifferent, I don't know.  I know she always has a hard time getting catfish in over a couple of pounds.  

[lo n slo]

i bought my wife a Bullet a couple years ago and paired it with a 6’ 4” MH Wright McGill worm rod. spooled it with some 10# Trilene mono and she loves it. it is kind of heavy compared to my Diawa bait casters though. 

[Mobasser]

I still have 2 old 33s from years ago. I don't use them, but they still work. Zebcos work for a lot of folks. I think Jimmy Houston fished his early tournaments with Zebcos, as mentioned Woo Davies, and Stanley Mithcell, who won the Bassmaster Classic with a Zebco 404.

[WRB]

Zebco owns Quantum reels.

$150 to keep momma happy is a bargain.

Tom

 

[Smells like fish]

Lot of happy times holding a Zebco reel. I used one last year but it had issues. I need to get a better one and relive those good times. 

[Bankc]

23 hours ago, Way2slow said:

I actually have about a dozen or more spincast I bought off a clearance table at BPS.  We happen to have a catalog distribution center near by and they have tables full of returns and what have you at tremendous discount prices.  They had the Zebco Omega's two or three different sizes, some Daiwa  Gold cast and a couple others similar type reels all for $10 each, so I load up about a dozen of the Omega's in different sizes and couple of each of the other, larger reels.  At the time a friend had talked me into doing some crappie fishing with him, so I figured this would make good reels to troll for crappie with. This probably 10 or more years ago.  Never did go crappie fishing.

As for a good Zebco, my wife keeps going back to a couple of 33 Classics I bought her about the time they first came out.  These actually have some ball bearings and metal housing, like it was there attempt to make a better reel.  Now, it they are good, bad, or indifferent, I don't know.  I know she always has a hard time getting catfish in over a couple of pounds.  

Yeah, that is the thing with Zebco.  Their quality control is pretty atrocious.  When I got my latest 33 combo at Walmart, I had to go through every one they had in stock to find the one reel that actually had a properly functioning drag.  Then I had to go through all of the rod tips, and swap tips (two piece rods) to get the one tip with straight line guides.  Definitely worth the $10 I paid.  But you gotta keep a finger on the line, because that rod has the sensitivity of Archie Bunker.