Networking :: Can't Login To The Port On The Local Machine?

I have a reverse ssh connection established from a remote machine to my local machine - it is established with autossh from the remote machine - I know it is connecting because I can see the two ssh processes on the local machine - and, when I kill the two ssh processes, two new ssh processes are immediately established. But I cannot login to the port on the local machine. I have tried everything - it simply refuses to connect. This remote machine is miles away and not readily accessible.

Code:
ssh -p 7766 -vvv user[at_sign]192.168.1.108
OpenSSH_5.1p1 Debian-6ubuntu2, OpenSSL 0.9.8g 19 Oct 2007
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Applying options for *
debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0

[Code]...

I'm wondering if there is some way I could utilize netcat or socat to "tap into" this connection from my local machine??? (My ultimate goal would be to get to a shell on the remote machine.)