I recently cleaned out my grandmother's shed and found an old Zebco 404 combo, I brought it home and put it with my rods not thinking much about it.

With all this lockdown stuff I started going through my fishing stuff and finally picked it up only to find that it still had the little ring tied to the line like they have at the store. It had never been used. Looking a little deeper I found that it was stamped 1983 Brunswick. This brand new rod and reel is 37 years old and has never been cast.

Made me kind of nostalgic so I dug out my old Zebco 33 I bought when I was 12 with lawn mowing money I saved. I gave it a once over and put it out next to my son's new 33.

Then driving home yesterday I noticed a rod and minnow bucket out by the curb so I picked them up. Old metal minnow bucket was in good shape and the rod was a zebco 33 silver anniversary rod from 1979 with no reel. Before I knew it I was on Ebay searching for the matching reel.

Now I've got a lot of much nicer rods and reels but for some reason the Zebcos have grabbed ahold of me this week and by the end of the week I'll be loaded up with Zebcos and I'm actually considering leaving the baitcasters at home next time I go fishing and trying my luck these old mainstays.

Zebcos are hard to beat for a great beginner rod for a new fisherman, Or in my case old fisherman.They are simple to use and repair or send them back to zebco and they will repair them back to new.
Great find on the 404 and pole.
I still have the zebco 33 that I got for my 5th birthday 52 years ago.
Enjoy your new rod n reel but proceed with caution they can be addictive and might cause you to set them fancy rod and reels in a corner collecting dust,

i still have my Zebco 89 i bought in 1960 in Wichita Falls at a Western Auto store, on the same rod...all the eyes have sewing machine thread holding them on, painted with Mother's red nail polish...it was my catfish rod/reel...Daddy used 33's back in the day (1950-60)...when one quit, he'd just buy another one ($5+)...i cleaned out the storeroom after he died, and found a bunch, so i sent the to Zebco and, back then, they would send you replacements...i sold them in my bait shop...i've graduated to 33 Platinum's...the plastic thumb button broke on 1 so i emailed Zebco and they sent me 2 replacements...u just can't tear'm up...