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Last year I bought a couple Zebco slingshot 202 combos at Wally World, less than $15, I think maybe $13 for rod and reel!
First thing is replace the string on them, it is like horse tail...
I caught almost every fish last year with these two open face combos.
Don't let the price fool you, they are great little combos for panfish.
Brought in a couple nice bass even. They will cast ultra light lures with ease.
(They will not cast well until you change the string.)
Best rod and reel is the one that you have and can fish with. Those will work just fine, I still have a very old 202 I was given when I was about 5.
Keep your reel clean and oil it as directed in manual. Zebco starts most fishermen and make high end reels. I would not hesitate to say more fish have been caugh on 202's and 303's than the rest. Good luck and fish any chabnce you have to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One othe thing LINE does mean alot as you mentioned in your post!
I got a green Zebco 404 for my 6th or 7th birthday, that was over 40 years go.
I used that same rod and reel the entire time I lived at home.
My first reel was a Zebco 33. That was over 50 years ago. My daddy taught me how to cast with it. I wish I had the reel and him to go fishing with again.
I almost always have a Zebco in the truck or boat to fall back on. They have saved my fanny many times when I was so frustrated that I was ready to give up for the day, due to equipment problems.
Just my $.02 but I would not give one of the Zebcos mentioned above, or for that matter any spincast reel currently on the market, to anyone I had any regard for. Thirty years ago there were a couple spincast reels still made that were decent quality; now they're all junk. And the ones recommended above are to my thinking worse than fishing with a straight cane pole with no reel - at least the cane pole is not going to malfunction constantly and cause you to break off any decent fish you hook.
This is my .02. I own three zebco 33 classics. To me best panfish reels on the market for PANFISH. That is what seagullplayer was talking about (combo for panfish).
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...ml#post2208309
Some constructive criticism at your disposal. Check the above link.
The discussion Wademaster linked to is very similar to ones I participated in on two other forums recently, in which several anglers weighed in both times with experiences mirroring mine and Wademaster's. My grandfather used spincast reels all his life; about thirty years ago, when I built him a custom bluegill rod on an 8' Fenwick Feralite fiberglass fly rod blank, I bought a Daiwa Goldcast reel to go on it, and the reel worked great for him for the rest of his life, and as recently as about five years ago brought in a ten-pound channel cat on six-pound-test. My mother used spincast all her life until about a year ago when I got tired of recently-manufactured reels malfunctioning while she was trying to fish and taught her how to use spinning reels. I built her a rod on an 8' Lamiglas blank about a year and a half ago, and bought a Goldcast to go on it; the reel's drag was non-functional right out of the box, and the reel had to be sent back. The replacement reel they sent me had a drag that would slip whenever a fish was brought in, even a small one, so that it was difficult to bring in any fish and the line was constantly twisting.
And, the spincast reel I bought for her before that one was a Pflueger Cetina, their best spincast reel. I bought it as part of a combo; it literally fell apart into several pieces the second time she used it - she made a cast and the pushbutton separated from the spool cover and handle.
I realize some people look at bluegill fishing as an infrequent endeavor they don't take seriously; I am not one of those people. I don't enjoy losing fishing time due to poor-quality gear malfunctioning, so I use quality gear, which these days means avoiding spincast reels. And, I think enough of novice anglers or anglers who have never fished, who go fishing with me, to not compromise their experience with bad gear. If I were taking someone hunting for the first time, I wouldn't give them a gun that had a magazine that was prone to jamming, or that had a habit of misfiring. I just like to make people aware of how far the quality has fallen on even the best spincast reels, and beyond that how drastic of a gap in quality there has always been even between the best spincast reels and most of the low-end spinning reels by reputable manufacturers.
Tnpondmanager, what other forums are you involved in?
**************** and Texas Fishing Forum were the two that had discussions about spincast reels. I also visit FishingTN.com pretty regularly but don't post a lot there. I've been on bigbluegill for a few years now and have close to two hundred photos of big bluegill posted on there; all of my bluegill pics since 2010 came from ponds I manage. I found the Texas forum originally when a guiding client from San Antonio told me he was making a post about his trip with me last summer.
My favorite combo for panfish is a piece of buttered ryebread and tarter sauce.
I'm a member on bigbluegill too, cool site. My handle is Jason Preslar there. I've come across the texas forum several times while searching online, seems to be pretty popular.Quote:
Originally Posted by tnpondmanager
Attachment 115906Attachment 115907abu-garca cardinal 101 on an okoma 6'6" ultra-lite rod . is a great combo and moderately priced at about 50.00 .
I bought a Gander Mtn GSX a while back, light action, it comes with a matching reel, excellent combo this far along, I think it had been 79.99 and they had it marked down to like 40 something, i got the 5'6" rod combo. Not too whiplike, but plenty light actioned for my taste.