An elderly lady at church is allowing me to fish in her farm pond, which seems to be well stocked and fished very little. So yesterday while I was fishing there, she mentioned that she used to fish just to relax, but that her rod turned up missing a while back. She said she used an old Zebco because it was very easy to work. So I want to buy her a new combo for letting me fish there. But I don't want to just buy a cheap piece of junk.

For those if you that use them, and I know there are some of you on this forum, would I be better off to find an older model 202, 404, or 33 that works well, or is there a decent model available on the market today? Wallyworld and Dick's seem to be all over the map, between the Snoopy/Barbie models and more. Any advice anybody can give me would be highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

How much are you looking to spend? I know the Zebco Omega seems to be THE spin cast reel these days. Do you already have a rod in mind? If she's an elderly lady it seems that a shorter, pistol grip rod might be a little easier for her to handle. I think what your doing is very thoughtful and generous! If you need a few baits to throw in there with the gift id be happy to send a few .

Christian

The Omega would make a nice gift.

Thanks for the recommendations. Omega it is!

I like spincast reels and have used most of the ones available. The Omegas are pretty good, but not very durable. Much better is the Garcia Abumatic 170i. More durable and generally works smoother. Only negative is it's a bit heavier, and the casting button is low-mounted and takes a little getting used to. Another good one is the Daiwa Gold Cast. I would recommend them both above the Omega. My personal favorites are the older Abumatics  including the 375, 475, 875 and 1275, which I have purchased on Ebay (mostly used, but a couple new). These are the best working spincast reels ever, in my opinion. All the reels mentioned have oscillating spools that make sure the line winds on the spool evenly, and also increases the line capacity. Spincast reels without oscillating spools (which includes almost all of the cheaper ones) have a lot of problems with line jamming on the spool.