Question about Abu STX 5600/6600

[stephen2742]

Hey guys, got a question for ya. I do not know alot about reels, but i have been looking at the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur STX 6600. I currently have a Mr Catfish reel that i use for catfishing. I need a bass fishing rod now. My question is, will the 6600 work for bass fishing? Because what i would like to do is when im not bass fishing rig it up for catfishing. If the 6600 is too big for bass fishing, would the 5600 work for bass fishing and catfishing? I have seem some people say the 6600 is overkill, and some say they use the 6600 for bass. But again i do not have alot of knowledge on reels. So any help would be appreciated.

Also what would be a good rod to put on the 5600/6600.


Thanks in advance.

[Donald Garner]

Stephen 2742

First of all welcome to the UltimateBass Family we're glad you're here 

Having never used the 2 reels your talking about I went on line and read some reviews.  From what I read you can use either reel for cat fishing or bass fishing.  As far rods go there are a ton of rods that you can purchase to meet your needs well under a $100.00 dollars. 

I would suggest you take a look at the Abu Garcia Vendetta Casting Rods in the 7ft Med Heavy range.

Good luck with getting your rig set up.  Let us know what you decided to go with.

Tight lines
Don

[Pferox]

Welcome to Ultimate Bass, this is a great place to be.

Back many years ago I used to do all my fishing with Abu round reels, the CB to be exact.  I have a 6500 C3 for fishing the salt now.

Compared to the low profile reels available today, the round ones are pretty heavy and can get fatiguing after a day on the water chasing bass.  But they are doable, and you can throw pretty light lures with them if you practice.  After a year or so of using mine, I built up some muscle tone. 

I tried the 4500s, and they seemed small for fishing to me, especially when we were using 20lb mono most of the time.

One reel you might want to look at is the Pro Qualifier PQX10sd, it has a larger capacity spool than the other higher geared PQs, and is geared 5.2:1, it doesn't have a bait clicker, and fishing free spooled isn't an option, but it is a great all around reel for heavier fish, and still have a gear ratio that makes chasing bass doable. I have caught quite a few 30+ lb black drum with that reel and one I have in 4.?:1.

I would suggest that you look into getting the 6600 to start out with, then as funds allow get a low profile baitcaster setup for bass and keep the round reel for cats.

As for rods, a good all around rod that you can use for both applications would be one of the new Ugly Stix GX2 rods, I got one each in 7ft Medium and Medium Heavy.  They are much lighter than the old Ugly Stix, and more sensitive IMO.  It is an excellent catfishing rod, and can get you by when bass fishing. 

Bass Pro has a new rod they call a Brawler, I got one of those in 7ft MH, it is a good meat chunker, although I'm not sure how it will work tossing baits, one of those in medium might work better for those kind of presentations.  And they only cost $20.

Good luck, and let us know what you end up with.

[njpaulc]

I use the round reels for everything.  Personally, I think the 6000 size reels are a little too big, and prefer the 5000 size reels.  They weigh only 3 ounces more than the low profile reels and they move as much line but with lower gear ratios which mean they are more powerful.  Both sizes of the round reels match up well with longer rods.

[Mike Cork]

The 6000 series is a little big for bass fishing. Will it work? Definitely.

But dropping down to the 5000 series will be a little more all purpose in bait choices for bass fishing and still handle all but River Monsters cat fishing.

I used the 4000 and 5000 series reels for years, and loved them. However, I have switched over to low profile gear.

What kind of cat fishing are you doing? Many different bass reals may fit your needs here.

[Smallie_Stalker]

I have used my 5000 series reals for both bass fishing and catfishing with no problems. I personally feel that the 6000 would probably be a bit of overkill for bass fishing unless you are planning on "strolling" deep crankbaits or something of that nature.

Just my $.02

[steve76]

   I would look at some of the larger low profile baitcasters for dual purpose reels. The 300 size reels will work for most any catfish and still be comfortable to bass fish with. They are a little pricey compared to buying a round reel though. If you are chasing blues and channels in open water you will be fine. If going after big flatheads in heavy cover I would buy a rod and reel combo specifically to handle that. I think finding a rod to handle both would be more difficult than the reel. If you are talking just channels no bigger than 10 lbs. a flipping stick or a good MH bass rod will do the job. The rods Pferox mentioned are tough and affordable.

[Pferox]

Not a great picture, but it does show a great catfish rig, fresh or salt. 

[bigjim5589]

I own & use quite a few ABU reels. All depends on what I'm fishing for & what techniques I wish to use that determines which reels I choose. I very much like the round reels for some bass fishing I do.

I've added some reels since this picture was taken. All here are ABU,s except 3 Penn's in the lower right corner, a Shimano Calcutta in the upper left, and the blue Daiwa low profile in the upper center. The silver low profiles are the early version Revo STX or SilverMax reels.
The one on the rod is a 10000 series, and the 2 at the top are 9000 series. These 3 would make great reels for Monster size cats, but are a bit more costly than the reel you've mentioned! 


I don't know much about the newer ABU round reels as all I own are older, made in Sweden reels. (The 10000 & 9000 reels above are assembled in China.) Frankly, if I was looking for another ABU round reel I would be looking at used, made in Sweden reels. The C3 or C4 4600 or 5600 versions are wonderful reels for bass fishing. The primary difference is line capacity, with the 5600 series holding more line.
You can find used round reels on Ebay, in good or even very good conditions for under $50 most of the time. I've even gotten some C5 Mag versions for under $50.

The 6600 are bigger than I like for bass, but are what I use most for Striper fishing. However, if I'm tossing big swimbaits for bass, which I don't do often, I will use the 6600 reels. They're great for catfishing, but so are the 4600 or 5600 based on the eating size cats I like to catch. I agree with Mike, if you're after Monster cats, say 50 lbs & larger you might consider different reels for both cats & bass, but many bass reels will also work for average size cats.

Here's a few more pics! 

5600 C5 Mag-X


5000 (notice the spool release button at the top of the pic?) 4600, 5600, 6600 all have thumb bar spool releases.


6600 C5 Mag-X


4600 C4 Mag


Big Game 9000CT, no level wind


Big Game 10000CT (no level wind)