15-POUND DORADO CAUGHT ON A ZEBCO 33
Just about every angler can trace his or her first fish back to a Zebco 33, push-button reel. Well, not everyone. Until last week, Key West saltwater guide Chris Trosset may very well have been one of the most accomplished young anglers to never catch a fish on a Zebco 33.
Given the fact that Chris cut his angling teeth aboard his legendary angling father Robert "R.T." Trosset's offshore charter boat long before kindergarten, the young Trosset had very little reason to ever fish with the reel most kids use to catch their first bluegill or catfish.
Normally, the highly accomplished 23-year-old fishes with historically proven Fin-Nor reels for the fish he commonly targets when fishing his home waters off Key West, Florida, namely wahoo, tarpon and tuna. But there was Chris in late January at a Zebco Brands public relations gathering, playing along as a good sport with a nutty and limit-pushing challenge to land the biggest finned ocean critter he possibly could with the famous, closed-face Zebco spincast combo.
When dorado (a.k.a. dolphin or mahimahi) began circling near the surface behind his boat to munch on the pilchards Chris had just chummed with, he quickly and instinctively reached for the fresh-off-the-shelf Zebco 33 combo and used the combo to feed back a bait rigged with a hook in it.
In an instant, what turned out to be a 15-pound parrot-colored beast, bit and ran like a torpedo tied to the 10-pound Cajun Red line spooled on Trosset's push-button combo, just as it comes ready to fish from the local sporting goods store.
Chris's patience and attention to the reel's adjustable thumb drag were a display of obvious experience for the captain who is mature beyond his years. The fight lasted 15 minutes the afternoon of January 24, 2012, and drama reached its highest level twice.
First, the dolphin threatened to run free with a game ending entanglement by running Trosset's red 10-pound line around his 29-foot SeeVee's anchor line. Then, nerves peaked a second time as the colorful 15-pounder swam around a floating rope and buoy left behind by a lobster fisherman in the 117-feet deep water, about 18 miles southwest of Key West.
Once successfully aboard, and after photos were done being taken as proof of his peculiar catch, the always calm 23-year-old Trosset turned to his fishing buddies and stated in his honest matter-of-fact fashion, “I don't think I've ever caught a fish on a Zebco 33 before.”
Proving in an ironic twist that indeed many memorable first are caught on America's most famous reel. Most just don't weigh 15 pounds, nor do they come from saltwater that's 117 feet deep.
