ANCIENT MARINER Albatross 6000 Round Baitcasting Reel for Catfish

I've used it a few times since purchasing it back in the Beginning of July, & it has not disappointed.I was intimidated at first, since it's my first of this style reel, but setting it up, & casting was so easy.The drag is super strong. I've gotten out of a few sticky situations that would've totally snapped my line in the past, just by reeling in.I love the bite alert. It makes Trolling super easy. The handle is also a huge plus. Easy on the hand, as you grip the fairly large knob, which helps in the overall fight against a fish.I thought $100 was a big price to pay for a reel, but after a year of comparing online, I found that it's a really good price for this reel. All metal, so you know it's meant to last. Has a really nice line capacity, too.If you're looking for a great reel, you can't beat this one, at the price it's at. The performance I've gotten from it, & the ease of reeling during a fight makes this really good overall reel. Not too heavy, & smooth casts, for all day fishing fun.So far, the only problem I've encountered has been that the line gets hung up on the hook keeper of the Ancient Mariner Challenger I paired this reel with, but I feel like that may be more user error, &/or just the wind doing it's thing.The spool spins so effortlessly, that if you're not careful, you can get a backlash, if you don't set the tension knob properly.

Strongly recomend of big fathead and blue catfish. casts far and preforsms the same as a $200 reel in my opinion. I have it pared with a blue hellcat fever rod some cheap monofilament as backing and connected to it is 65lb braided line looks smooth and preforms even smoother.very durable money well spent the only thing is the baitclicker on mine gets stuck acationaly

The reel is very pretty. The string comes out smoothly. It's easy to adjust the length of the string when fishing. The whole body of the reel is sturdy. It truly worths it.

Good quality especially if used for catfishing.

A+A+A+ beautiful ancient Mario real very nice well-made looks like a $500 reel would definitely recommend highly

Hubby loves it

I just got this reel and I have its bigger brother the 7000.All in all I see Kastking Rover which isn't a bad reel in the 40 - 60 sizes.Looking inside I see a better 6 pin centrifugal brake system than the Kasking like it's trying to imitate the Abu 6000 and 7000.The braking on the Kastking was inadequate for most fishermen even though I was actually able to get better distances with the Kastking. The Kastking was noiser during the cast. This reel seems a little quieter on a few short lobs.The clicker is loud enough to set a bait out and wait for a monster to take it.There are better baitcasters for tossing imitations all day long but for baitfishing the round reels really excel.Like the Kastking the reel seat is a couple of rivets welded to a 1/8 inch metal bar. This contaasts to the Abu where the entire seat is one piece anchored four places to the side plates of the cage. This was more than adequate on the 50 and 60 I have but the 80 Kastking was destroyed by shark I hooked on the beach and the reel seperated from the mounting.If your going after Bass, Northerns, Walleye in Freshwater or Fluke, Slot Redfish, and Sea Trout this reel will work for you. It should handle all but the biggest catfish, bull redfish, monster black drum and some of the other monsters you might encounter in saltwater this reel should be very good.The line capacity is pretty good. Spooled it with 270 yards of 20 lb Berkley Big Game Mono.I couldn't find the manufacturers claim for line capacity.There is a schematic on the box with a listing for parts but no contact is listed to actually obtain replacement parts so this can assumed to be a throw away reel when things break.The blue is pretty and other colors are available. At $99 it's a decent buy but if your serious about taking on saltwater beasts or long term durability I have my reservations about this reel. The Abu 6000 to 7000 are definatly better reels but almost twice the price.The Abu 6000S though is an exception. Total junk, avoid. This reel the Mariner 6000 is twice as good.It would be a good backup reel as well just in case your Abu broke down after years of use and abuse.

The albatross 6000 is a solid real. You can cast extremely far, according to the rod you are using. I am using a 7 foot medium ugly stick.