Catching Zapdos

I'm trying to legitmately play all aspects of this game. So I want a rematch with one of the Gym Leaders in Heart/Gold which I can't do without first catching Zapdos. If it moves from the Power Plant so I can actually see the gym leader is possible but still. Catching Legendaries take time which I get but the odds are never in your favor, EVER. You here stories about 15 or so Ultra Balls doing the trick but it definitely doesn't work for me. So does anyone have a spare Master Ball or any legitmate advice.

Have a high leveled pokemon that knows false swipe. Also freeze/paralyse/make it fall asleep. If your gonna catch it at night have alot of dusk balls

I'm usually right in the same boat with you, but I've found that throwing Quick balls right off the bat can catch them too. I did that and my first try I caught Dialga with a quick ball. Azelf as well.

Well I'm aware of those strategies. Funny thing is I caught it but it came down to 5 retries. With the 4 previous times using all 51 Ultra Balls and 10 Dusk Balls and then the 5th time 20 Ultra Balls. And only with a combination of Flygon's Immunity to it's strongest attacks (and being level 67) Espeon's decent HP specials and Trick Room (to counter it's eventually ability to ovecome my pokemon's speed even when paralyzed) Paralysis through Thunder Wave from Ampharos and False Swipe from Gligar which was only at level 24. It was just annoying. It's why I'm not crazy about Legendaries. Most people consider it a challenge but a "challenge" impiles that one uses a certain level of skill to overcome a difficult task. You can have the best productive way to lower a legendaries health to 1 and lock it's move set down and then throw 50 to 100 balls and still FAIL