Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Zebco Thread

I've still got my Mom and Dad's later rods and reels. Dad got himself a 5000C after seeing how good my 5000 worked. His buddy told him the C was an improvement on mine. I've got it. Not long later, Dad got Mom a 5000D to replace her Shakespeare. I've got it. Of course, I've still got their matching Shakespeare reels from the 40's or 50's. I've also got my Grandpa's Pflueger of the same vintage.

I just bought my daughter a Zebco combo from Walmart. It's a good lookin' rig to replace the Pflueger spincast that went missing at the same time the wife's 33 did.

Oh, yeah forgot about fishing in the ditches of Miami, lol.

I've always heard that they made some kind of explosive for the oil industry that was basically the shape of the first reels but there are people here on the 'Fire that would know a lot more about that.

I wish I was able to post photos as I've got a few of the Zero Hour reels... one that is still in the box... at one time they were often seen in this area at auctions and garage sales.

You drove your boat while I trolled for Stripers in Lake Buchanan 4 or 5 years ago at Jag’s place. 🤠

Great “old time” fishing thread. Brought back some good childhood memories.

Sure would like to spend one more day catching crappies with my favorite GrandDad. He passed when I was 10. But gave me the love of fishing that lasted a lifetime. 🤠

I've got 2 pre Snoopy rod & reels. Bought before they started calling them Snoopy poles. One mine, & the other my brothers. Found them in mom & dads basement before I sold the house. Kept them just because.

Wouldn't ya know it, still useful. Perfect for catching small bait fish for limb lines.

That too, chit must be getting Alzheimer's.

LOL.

Started with Johnson Century’s. Moved on to spinning gear by the time I was 10. Started using baitcasters when I was 16, Abu Garcia.
Haven’t casted a closed face reel since I was a young kid.

Don’t see the romance to be honest. They’re like a bike with training wheels.

I don't know how they do it now, but back when I was a kid, BASS had state tournaments with local anglers and the one that won their big national tournament, got to go to the BASSMASTER'S CLASSIC and compete with the big boys. I forget who it was, won that one with a Zebco and then went on and competed in the Classic with it.

I think the "romance" is that you can do so much with so little. I was just thinking about the same thing and thinking about cheap scopes that are perfectly serviceable. I killed my first buck with a model 788 Remington that I bought at TG&Y and which came equipped with a 4x Tasco.

I bought my third handgun from TG&Y. Ruger Super Blackhawk. Of course, Mom had to fill out the paperwork. Think I was 16. We had three of them in the town I grew up in. Bought a lot of ammo & fishing lures from them too. And Case Hunting knifes. Got my first pocket knife I paid for there too. A Barlow. 🤠

Got some really cool old zebby’s from my grandpa. Mostly hanging on cabin walls now as decoration. I could pull them off any day, re-string and get after it with them if I wanted. My brand of choice for function is Shimano and has been for many decades.

I’m old enough to remember Zebco reels meant you were either 5 years old and learning coordination for casting and reeling or you were a tardO adult that still put a left shoe on a right foot.

🦫

Zebco 202 and fishing bluegill, bass, catfish, and crappie.
Lake Weiss, Lanier, Altoona, and a schit ton of little ponds and creeks in between.

I might of been 10 or so before I upgraded to proper spinning gear.

I have various baitcasters, eggbeaters, a couple of fly reels and a sidecast, but I also enjoy using the Zebcos.

I don't remember seeing them here when I was a kid. I started out with handlines. In fact my earliest memories are of green linen "cuttyhunk" wound onto a beer bottle, soon followed by getting a made-up monofilament handline wound onto a cylinder of cork - it came with sinker and hook all ready to go, and if you wanted a float you'd cut a piece of the cork off. I'm still not averse to a handline every now and again - there's something quite primal about it, but I went to eggbeaters as a teenager and then tried various other things.

They all have their place. I fish at local beaches and occasionally off the rocks, do a bit of trolling and bottom bashing in the salt too, and also fish for trout and some of our natives in the fresh.

On the Zebco reels though, I bought one for my wife years ago, as I thought it looked like an easy thing for her to learn to use. It is, and she loves them. I tried it and I like it too. Easy and simple things to use, and just about ideal for flicking little lures to trout or various pan fish. We now have about 4 between us. After having a go of one of mine a mate recently bought one too, for dropping little lures into trout streams.

Rainy morning again, went out and found my box of old freshwater reels, most I forgot about. I did have a green Johnson but may have tossed it.

Kent
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Years back when we drove through S. New Zealand for about three weeks, I needed a way to take some simple, useful and not precious fishing gear on the flight - so I could try their rivers and lakes. Three piece rod, Zebco and a large baggie of lure/hook/weight/ stuff did the job. Lots of opportunities on the South Island - fished somewhere different every day - caught a nice range of stuff and cooked in in the rented MoHome. The Zebco was a perfect choice for that run. Only problem was the rock snot in some streams.

Fear is when your coffee machine dies. Thats fear.

I had a zebbico when I was a kid. It didn't have the traditional trip lever on the back. It had a gray looking ball that spun and I could feather the cast. other than that; they got no guts.

Really nice collection of reels, krp.

Mine sit all snarled up in boxes.