ZEBCO REELS for an EXPERT

ZEBCO and the EXPERT

Those of you familiar with Elwood, “Buck” Perry, and his fishing technique known as, “Spoonplugging,” or as it has been sometimes called, “speed trolling,” or “search trolling,” you will know it is made up of two phases.

    If you've never heard of Perry, and DON'T know this technique, well, it has two main phases. 😁

    They are...

    Phase 1 – Trolling

    In this phase, you troll lures that run at specific depths to “sift” the water, vertically, for schooling fish.     - This is not riding all over the lake looking for, “fishy spots,” or watching a screen and hoping to see fish.

    - Also, it's rarely a shallow water activity; the best results are most often found away from shore in deeper water.

    - Nor is it haphazardly dragging any old lure around the water, hoping to hook up.

    It is quite the opposite – it is deliberate, defined, and more than a little work. It is also knowing where fish should be, through education, and trolling methodically up and down across the depths to find them. Which is probably why 95% of the anglers out there don't do it.

    Phase 2 – Casting

    Once a school is located by trolling, you stop the boat.

    You immediately throw a floating visual marker behind you, over the contact point, and begin casting specific lures to work fish out of the school you found. It all comes together because, contrary to popular thinking, large and active gamefish are schooling fish - not grouchy, old loners sitting by a shallow log the whole season.

    They may eventually end up there, which is when we say we had good luck, or the bite is “Hot!” 🔥     Actually, we are right about the luck - lucky to be there at the right place and time.

    But to get there, the shallow water fish will have followed distinct, almost linear, patterns of movement out of deeper water. With knowledge, we can determine the likeliest routes the fish might follow, and troll across them to intercept the fish as they migrate to and fro.

    With that brief summary in mind – I hope you're still with me - a guy named Edward Best wrote a small booklet on this topic (32 pgs.) that distills this technique down as well as any other that I've seen.

    And in it, he un-apologetically explains exactly which lures and gear he has proven to be the most effective, and why.

You could say they're the, “Best.” Pun intended.

    On the subject of which reel he selects for the casting phase, he surprises us all:

    “CASTING REELS:

    We use closed face spin-casting reels exclusively.

    For years, we used Zebco's Model 33, which to my mind is the finest reel on the market. I love its velvet smooth operation.

Now, today, in keeping with our mindset of heavier tackle, I use a Zebco 808, a sort-of lightweight, saltwater, closed faced spinning real.

    While on this subject, I would like to say a word, in general, about reels.

    Some of the nice, expensive bait casting reels with free spools, star drags, and all the other refinements are a joy to use... for the man who fishes everyday and can learn to use one well.

    But for the average man, it is much too fast and will only give him continual headaches. Rare is the man that can cast a light plastic worm into a strong headwind with such a reel...*”

* (((here, I suspect Mr. Best is referring to the Swedish Abu “Ambassadeur” series of reels, given the time period of this book. See end note)))

Mr. Best goes on to say...

    “...I can - and have - limited out over an active school with my Zebco's, while my fishing partner was still trying to get his lure out to the spot with equipment that costs 9 times more than my outfit (and which caused 9 times the trouble).

Me, I'll stick to the good old closed face reels.

    One thing I do every time I go out is take the real apart enough to grease the breaking mechanism.

    That's right, grease.

    I then tighten it up as far as is practical.

    That way, I have an absolutely smooth running brake.... not one that jerks and works in spasms.

    This is not just for the Zebco reels, either. I have yet to find a brake that works smoothly after it has been wet a time or two.”

END NOTE

    The one problem with all this is that the booklet I refer to, “Lunkers and Limits,” was printed in limited number in 1971. You'll catch hell trying to find one, nowadays, and they'll cost a bit of green when you do.

    Originally, this little gem cost $1.35. Last week, I paid $15.92 to get one...over ten times the cover price.

    Of course you know what I'm going to say – that's not much in today's fishing world, and it was worth it.

    If you read nothing else this year, and follow what Mr. Best says as closely as possible, well... he and many others have proven this method works.

    You just have to be willing to join the 5% that sticks with it.

I hope you liked this little piece. If you did, a comment, like, share, or care package of your choosing is welcome. Thanks, and TIGHT LINES David Hutton Palmetto Fly n Fish © all rights reserved (such as they are), David Hutton/2024