Truer words never spoken but a Samurai loves a fine weapon.

I'm honestly open to try anything. I have 7 Ag reels and like them but I do work on them every year at least one time due to paw or worm gear issues which sometimes strips out the drive gear wich is plastic for some reason. I have a some $40.00 okuma reels that last about a year then I just keep for parts. I have one okuma cz conventional reel that has been going strong for two years with no problems at all. If it was just me fishing by myself conventional reels is all I would own but customers have trouble with them sometimes. I also have had a couple cast king rovers for a year or so the only trouble with them is a cracked plastic thumb bar wich I proably caused when slinging it to grab another rod and the brake will back off on them and cause the spool to loosen if you don't check it. Now all that being said there is a reel called Ancient Mariner I beleve with a lifetime warranty that I'm proably going to try next winter.

the ancient mariners look incredible! Hope you get one soon and let us know how you like it.

Still testing those Abu's some going on 27 years old and still working but get repaired from time to time. Parts are readily available and lots of folks can fix em. They do all I need for big blues and red drum.

We run our share of trips each winter for blues and put lots of wear and tear on our reels. The "standard" reel for most blue cat guys is the sweedish 6500. They have worked for us but at a pretty high cost of maintence and headaches. Mostly, the reel seats busting while fighting fish...happened at least a dozen times this past winter with clients fighting fish...reel comes off the brazed seat and now client is fighting fish holding independent reel separate from independent rod...Line still connected through eyes of rod and hooks still in fishes mouth, LOL .

The bad thing about this situation is there is no easy fix. You can either braze / weld it back together (in out on this option) or just order a new frame.

We have gone a different direction...

We went will all new Shimano Tekota's...

HUGE difference in performance and feel. Smoother, cast farther, hold more line and have a way smoother drag. We've used them through about 100 big fish with no problems and customers make comments everyday about them...where we hardly had good comments about our abus.

Ive switched and we aren't looking back,

Also, personally I've not found anything from China that lasts in the world of blue catfish reels.

Thanks Gentlemen ...I do greatly appreciate everyone's feedback. I have a feeling Shimano is going to sell a lot more Tekota's here in Texas in the near future! Will defignitly give them a look next reel I get.
For the love of Blues I hope to get the opportunity to hunt cats with all y'all someday!
Cree

This is like a 7000 size Abu. Check out the 656. Clone of the Abu 6500 Chrome Rocket. Heavier frame and side plates than C3 C4 reels. Internal parts are interchangeable with C Series Abu

Oh and Gato, I ain't no guide.

Just a Tackle Hoe!

Akios designer worked for Abu 16years. Then started his own line of reels

I like my 6500's better than the pro rocket

For anything other than a C3 6500 you are paying for big handles, easter egg colors and logos printed on the side. That stuff is blingy but it doesn't catch fish. A batch of C3s and a minimal collection of spare parts and you have a lifetime reel.

Haven't fished with any blue cat guides. But have made a few trips to Alaska fishing for king salmon, halibut, ect. All the reels I see on guide boats there are Shimano, TLD, TR, Taigra. I asked one Captain if they got special deals on Shimano reels and he said no. If they make a reel that last longer without repair, I'll buy it. One guide said Shimano has an exchange program and he sends his reels back every winter and gets rebuilt ones at a very low exchange price. He said best insurance he ever spent money on.

There is a reason they use Shimano,

Clearly Abu's cant run with the big dogs(my experience though limited to a mere 30+yrs)
At one time they "were",it seems that time has passed and they have some big work to do to measure up to even some Chinese offerings.
Shimano is my spinning reel go to every time for several decades
Im tired of near full rebuilds every winter,even my full ceramic modded ABU 6K's suck after just one hard
season(4 months).
CatMaxx almost makes it for me,simple review research puts it right at ABU status and I need well clear of all that noise
Simply stock up on round reel parts and all you have to do is out live them

Clearly some people interpret things differently than I do...what I took out of this is that most big dogs are still running Abus and prefer them. Salsa says the "standard" bluecat reel is the 6500 abu. The definition of standard is the level to which all others are measured. Michael has changed to Shimano which is the other reels I said I prefer. Never heard any mention that these guys are starting to change to all China reels everyday. I might consider a Chinese reel if half the guides here were running them but Zero? I'll keep running my Abus every week like 9 out of 10 guides are running. Will defignitly look at the Shimano if one of my Abus goes overboard. Like the the Great Captain Salsa once said "personally, I have not found anything from China that lasts in the world of Blue catfish reels".