Ive got the ultralight kestrel baitcaster and its become my favorite rod! First catch of the year was a 26" freshwater drum on my kayak, it was an incredible fight!
I was a Penn only guy for the longest, but caught a sale on a kastking rod and reel and thought it'd make a good gift for the wife. Well, i was impressed and now have 3 kastking setups!
Ethan, swapping the carbon washer for a felt washer and adding some cals grease will fundamentally change the drag on the reel for the better. It totally changes the drag system. The felt washer and grease will eliminate the "jerkiness" of the drag upon the first hook set and then engage the drag in an extremely smooth linear manner. Give it a try! You'll love the drag after the change.
I came to the comments to recommend the same modification. Another RU-vidr, “i_fish”, had done the same to his reel and stated it had great results to address the drag issues.
@@PennNative I haven’t done it personally, as I haven’t purchased one of these reels at the moment. i_fish took some felt washers out of an old reel to use in his Kestrel reel. He said anything of similar size should work. I’d imagine any site that sells reel parts would have compatible felt washer on hand. Perhaps a tackle shop too.
@PennNative I had some left over from my abu garcia days. I have a box full of reel parts and washers but you can measure the carbon washer and cut your own from a piece of felt. It's super easy to make your own.
Thanks Tony! I have the same rod & reel and I love it. It's my most used spinning setup. Mostly because I LOVE the size and feel of the rod. The Kestrel baitcasting rod & reel is my overall absolute all time favorite though. If you like lightweight gear I recommend either one of them wholeheartedly. My only problem is with the Kastking braided line. My experience has been that it's sometimes great and sometimes truly horrible. I've had three experiences now where I had to cut off the whole spool because it turned into such a snarled mess. Not fun!
That is good intel! So maybe their braid has a bit of a quality control challenge? Either way, I will continue to test the 13x spool I have. It feels good, but there are lines I definitely think are better. Pros and cons!
New subscriber here! I am trying to get back into fishing after a 30 year layoff. So much has changed, and a lot still stayed the same. I am so greatful to have found your channel... Especially because you're a fellow Michigander! Thanks Nathan, and I plan on adding some of your gear in the near future! I always love to support local.
@@FishAnything I just got my first order from you in the mail! It only took a day to get here because I'm in Michigan as well (Right near the top of Lake St. Clair). I'm really excited to try it out!
Kastking makes some great quality stuff. I showed a fishing friend of mine a 3000-size Kapstan Elite saltwater reel that was IPX6 waterproof rated, for only $130! He turned his nose up at it because it wasn't a Van Staal, Visser, or Penn. I showed him, and caught a 20-lbs Altantic Cod on it from a party boat and was able to reel it up with ease.
@@FishAnything KastkIng used to be 30 minutes from my house when they were in Garden City under the name 'ePoseidon'. Unfortunately, I never dropped in to check them out and closed their brick & mortar store about 10 years ago.
I've been exclusively using kastking superpower braid for the last 5 years. Everything from 6lb up to 50lb. Its affordable and performs as well as any name-brand braid that I've ever used. I can't recommend it enough. And I can confirm the castability of the 6lb on an ultralight setup is top notch! 👌
Victor from ifishtackle reviewed this reel, and he says that’s same about the drag sticking on the reel, not as smooth. He swapped the carbon fiber disc with a felt disc and some grease and now is smooth as butter! If you’re keeping the reel I highly suggest that. Tight lines my friend!
I use a Falcon 5' UL rod with a Lew's microlite reel. A real similar outfit . I use 4 lb flurocarbon and cast all of your baits with ease. Great fun. Thanks for sharing Ethan.
I know I always say it but I just love your content. You always learn something watching your videos. It is just amazing content and amazing baits. God bless brother and tight lines!!
I love KastKing! I have several of their reels both spinning and casting and they outperform some of my more expensive reels. I have 1 KastKing rod and that is a 7'4" MH Spirale Moderate Fast action and I absolutely love it! When I need to get another new rod, I will be going with KastKing. On another note, awesome review vid! Keep em coming!
I just started fishing through wanting to for basically my whole life about a month or so and geared towards ultralight fishing because of you and enjoyed your video format and information output. Im also wanting to buy the mule lures as well because of their effectiveness through your videos. I hope to get better at ultra light fishing and fushing in general because bass fishing is fun as well hut it takes more time and less action until you catch the biggin of course lol.
I have the kestrel reel on my tfo panfish rod. Works well for me. Good balance. With lite 3-4 pound line the drag works well when I hook those big 18 inch plus northernq pike minnow, bass, or shad. Thanks for the info Ethan. Keep up the good work.
I've got the 4'6" KastKing Zephyr that I just took on my first little creek wading adventure and caught dozens of little pan fish and loved the shorter rod for that. I was looking at the Kestrel and am definitely heavily considering it if I can start wading and exploring some of the urban creeks more!
If you're able to in the future, you should definitely check out the Zephyr line of rods and reels. I've had the spinning reel for a bit and it's been way too much fun to use, and same goes for the casting rod. Love your vids!
Lol you absolutely don’t need to! I don’t do these videos to encourage owning tons of ultralights. I just do them to compare and contrast so I can help folks get the right rod from the start
I have the featherlight baitcast version of this rod. Wish it was about 6" longer, but It is an absolute blast as a trout or crappie rod and it's landed a couple of sizeable cats with no ill effects.
I agree, kast king drag system is very hard to set. I have never been a fan either. The rod seems good though. The double rig is something I never use. Would love to see a tutorial video in the future on that. Great video Ethan!
I have read the fix for the Kast Kings uneven stiff drag is to change out the carbon fiber drag washer for a felt washer out f a different reel and the drag then becomes very smooth and good.
Personally I don't think you should have to modify a reel straight out of the box. Especially for $120 Either way, I will definitely do a double jig rig video in the future - thanks for the suggestion :)
@@FishAnything I agree and it is the reason that for ultralight fishing reels in around that price range why there is either Diawa or Shimano and then all the rest.
The reel uses a carbon drag, same as a Shimano Soare XR. You will feel an initial drag, but with same fish fighting you wont have any drag when you reel in the fish unless it gives a really hard run or pull.
That's the weird part about many Daiwa and Shimano lighter reels. Here almost all 1000 I see are like "D" for deep spool. So they make it tiny just to put 150m of 0.20mm on it? Can't cast that far with those lures, not that kind of fish to run so far, even more limited casting range if you use line as fat... So add 100m(+weight!) underlaying one by default? It's so weird. As for the rod, at 5' something total it's very close to my longest multipiece rods taken apart. So I would probably go for a single piece short ultralight. Just not for the 90$. Doesn't tick some of my boxes. Decent rods are very cheap these days. Almost cheaper than Rapala lures 🤣
The kastking braid isn't bad for the price, but boy do I get a lot of wind knots with the 6lb! Might try the 8lb to see if its any better or switch to an ester line
Great video and great information on the kastking setup I have 3 of the kastking spinning reels and 1 regular baitcaster and 1 zephyr bfs reel and a round Rover reel for catfishing and thinking about getting some of the kastking rods are you going make any micro lizards
Have you used the casting rods? I just got the 5"9' FL rod, and paired it with the Kestrel Elite BFS reel. I like it, but I think the tip is a little too soft for hook sets on smallies. I just bought the 6"3 UL. Hoping it has a slightly faster tip.
I am not yet sold on paying more for the Kastking gear than I would have to pay for say a Diawa Presso rod and Legalis JDM reel. I know the quality of the Diawa stuff at even less cost but no experience with the Kastking even though it is at a more premium price point.
Yeah you need to stick with what you’re comfortable with. For me, I’d 100% rather go for a Daiwa or shimano reel, however this rod is pretty solid for $90 so it’s still a good option.
11:33 The drag probably sucks because it’s carbon fiber, because all these reel companies think cArBoN FiBeR wAsHeRs aRe bEtTeR, when in fact carbon fiber is not better than felt FOR ULTRA LIGHT FISHING, YOU BOZOS. It’s all marketing. You want smooth, delicate, felt washers for ultra light. Think you’re gonna hook a 1000 pound tuna at the park pond? These are the same guys that think 10 lb line and a medium action rod is finesse fishing. You don’t need carbon washers. The felt washers will eventually need to be replaced but these garbage 90% plastic reels won’t last long enough for it to ever be an issue.
@ifish had a good vid on drag settings. I think he either greased his carbon discs or put in some felt on his kestrel. I really don’t use drag on my setups as much, but might try in the future.
I appreciate the perspective. I am not much of a fan of having to modify gear right out of the box. I will play around with the felt drag washer concept, but to your point, if a reel is made for ultralight fishing, why use parts that aren't ideal?
Personal preference is a crucial part of gear selection. I find that I can happily use any length ultralight. The 6-7' range is probably the most comfortable though.
Hmmm that’s a good question. I prefer Daiwa as a brand, but this rod is solid for the price. I think if you want a travel rod, go for the Daiwa. If you don’t need a travel option, get the Kestrel.
