Good luck finding a Tekota 500 at a reasonable price
The market has spiked as people depart from the Abu misery
A lady posted in another forum the other day,she is from/in Sweden
THEY DONT USE ABU's in SWEDEN for the most part(yes some do)
I guess they have walmart shoppers too?
After 40 yrs Im done with the AG label and never looking back
She did say americans need to keep buying the Abu's LMAO!!

I wish she would have said Americans need to keep buying Abu's. Or maybe she did and it got lost in translation.

No interest here in a Malaysia made Shimano Tekota.
Sarg,
I will gladly buy all those misery Abu reels u don't want.

They are already sold and shipped out
Aint looking back

No she clearly said americans and for clear reason
Truth only has one side,she see's this country from her country
So keep buying Abu,she needs the work!!

Why not throw in a Ford vs Chevy argument while we're at it?

I just got my first Tekato. Much heavier than a 6500. Seems better built. I like the power handle on the 6500 better. Tekato reminds me of a heavier better built 6500. now, lets go catch some fish.

My daddy can whup your daddy

Boo chit

I bought 3 Ancient Mariner 7000 reels from a guy off of CL for about 60 bucks each, Have not tried them out yet outside of casting one with a 3 oz weight that went a country mile spooled with 12 lb Big Game. Did you @clk get to try out one?

After I made this post I bought 4 Tekotas and 4 Abus. I broke 2 of the Abus. I’ve got 8 Tekotas now and they have given me zero issues the last 3 yrs. I still have 16 Abus but I will grab the Tekotas first every time. I fish 1-2 day per week year round and I pull big planer boards with big baits most of those trips. I’m tough on equipment and if there is a deficiency in my gear I will usually find a way to break it. If you guys are looking for one hell of a catfish reel then I highly recommend a Tekota HGA. That high gear ratio and cranking power makes reeling up planers with big baits so much easier. You’ll cut the time it takes to reel all your lines up in half.

Tekotas are much more 4yr old friendly too. My son doesn’t like the Abus because they pinch his little fingers. He has cranked in fish over 20lbs with the Tekotas. He can’t land a fish half that size with Abu.

So, I'm not a catfishing pro, but I DID grow up surf fishing in Galveston, and (as near as I can tell) there's a few similarities.

I'm surprised that I haven't seen any lever drag reels mentioned here -- I have an Avet MX on my light surf rod that I'm definitely going to find a use for in one of the lakes around Austin. I like the lever drag reel because you have a really fine control over the drag, and the Avet on my 11' surf rod can be cast a mile (600 yds of 50 lb power pro). The downside is that they're not level-wind reels, but I've never found that to be an issue.

There are also great lever drag reels from Accurate, Siegler, and Penn. These reels can pack oversized drags, but small profiles (even 13fishing has a bait caster that boasts 20+ pounds of drag...). I'm just a little surprised to not see any of these mentioned, especially since the Avets at Bass Pro aren't THAT much more expensive than Abu Garcia, and probably hold up WAY better. And I've taken both of them apart, so I know they're not any more or less complicated on the inside.

Also, since people seem to care about it here, they're made (machined and assembled) in the USA, as are the Siegler reels.

Most guys that use the star drag are set it and forget it. Big cats dont run fast and hard like tuna or other large saltwater fish so the star drag works good. Catfish mouths are fleshy and if you have your drag too tight you will miss big fish from hooks pulling out when you get em up close. I have buddies that came here from saltwater fishing that use a lever drag and they love em but the majority of catfisherman are freshwater guys and we’re all accustomed to star drag.