Well back in the spring I bought a new 888 from ole Sully's. Some time during the year the pick up pin broke. I took it to the local repair guy and he said to junk it. I sent it to Zebco, 6505 Tower LN, Claremore OK. 74017 I got in the main today a brand new PRO Staff 888 and it his huge. Just was wondering if any one has seen these new reels. I compared it to another 888 that I have and it dwarf's it. The new reel has two huge pick up pins and a massive crank handle. It looks like a salt water real. Holds a ton of line. The case is plastic, the mounting bracket is metal and the bearings are SS. I am pretty impressed both with the reel and with Zebco by sending it to me. It is clearly not the same reel that I sent in to them. Am heading to Shelbyville tomorrow and put it through the test. This post is for spin cast guys only, no Retriever people could be interested. Let me know if any one has seen or used these reels.

That sounds like a sweet reel

Here is my take on the new reel. I used it on Saturday to boat several common's. Then it started to seize up on me. I would shoot and the reel handles just would not budge. I would have to take the front cap off and the pick up pins would be down inside the housing. So I would have to take my knife and pry them out, then after a couple of shots it would do it again. When I got home I remembered what Robow7 had said about taking the pins out. And sure enough the pins are just stuck in. So I took my pliers out and pulled them all the way out and put a drop of Krazy glue on each and put them back in. Hopefull that will help. Other than that I think it should be a good reel. Holds a ton of line. If you used 150# or 80# would even hold a lot more.

At least 12 years of use ... same retriever, original parts.. no lost arrows.

(I have replaced the line twice) [8D]

I have long been a spincast promoter, but the days of being able to buy a good quality one are gone. I have made the switch and am now on the bottle.

Christine, I have been wondering how long you could stand this with out getting you two cent's in. Now I know, not long. Well I just went out and shot the repaired reel in the yard and it appears to be working well. Robin, so sorry to hear you went to the bottle, that is a blow to us all. You might not want to spread that around too much. There sure seems to be two camps on this subject for sure. I guess there will always be Ford & Chevy's.

I waited a whole three days.

I started to get the shakes, couldn't hold out any longer....