Today we take a look at the best selling reel in America.

Performance: I've actually never had the pleasure of fishing a spincast reel so I was quite intrigued at the prospect of this review. The Zebco 33 comes pre-spooled with 10lb Cajun monofilament, so I just fished this reel out of the box. I didn't have any traditional pistol gripped rods to fish it with but I did pair the spincast reel with a Phenix Recon PHX-C682L.

Casting: As it turns out, my single biggest challenge with this reel was understanding and coordinating the casting mechanics which happen to be the complete opposite of a baitcasting reel. With spincast reels, you click the button at the back of the reel prior to starting your swing then let go at the end of the swing, just like you would release the spool on a baitcaster the moment you want to release the line during your cast. Simple right? Not for this enthusiast!

It was so counter intuitive for me, it took a demonstration from Zander for me to understand the mechanics. Even then it took quite a bit of practice. It was quite comical.

What I found interesting is that this is essentially a spinning reel with a metal housing over the spool to funnel the line through the line guide and then through the remaining guides on your rod - not unlike the Doug Hannon design Microwave guide system by American Tackle.

Retrieve: Then, after your cast, simply turn the handle to disengage the "free spool" just like a typical casting reel. Turning the handle on the Zebco 33 reveals a surprisingly smooth-ish retrieve. There's some noise from the reel but it's primarily from the inner-workings beneath the front dome as the reel performs its magic to wind the line back onto the spool. The gears themselves are actually relatively noise free.