Crixus

Best rod I’ve purchased, I have rods that cost twice as much and this rod is superior. So far, I’ve only used it for surf/inshore fishing where long distance & accuracy is crucial for targeting/reaching structure, channel in/outflows, depths, and schools of bait fish. This rod flexes and casts very, very smoothly for excellent range and accuracy. Even if I had a blindfold on (which I essentially do when I fish at night), I could still tell that this rod casts well just based on feel. It’s excellent on the retrieve as well. Sensitivity that allows you to feel the lure - very easy to immediately know when a curious fish is hitting it (and when it’s hooked any weeds, garbage, whatever). Manipulating the lure movement with light flicks/twitches is effortless. Usually there’s a trade-off between a long casting distance and feel/agility. Not the case with this rod. Soon, it will be too cold for saltwater inshore/surf fishing and I’ll switch to freshwater ponds/lake but I’ll still be using this rod. This is a KastKing 7’6” MH Fast rod paired with a KastKing ReKon Saltwater 4000 reel. It’s the first time I bought from KastKing, won’t be the last (sayonara Penn). In a nutshell, it’s a uniquely versatile, quality rod at a great price.

I got the 6.5' Moderate-Light Two-Piece Spinning Rod. Packaged extremely well. Super light. Recreational fishermen are especially prone to irrational brand-loyalty and unrealistic beliefs about pricing and quality. The recreational fishing industry knows this, and many companies will happily market garbage rods at a premium, and even my dumb-butt has been suckered into paying 200 dollars for what is ultimately a stick with loops on it. I'm not an expert in rod construction, and I'm not a super-nerd about inflection points and sensitivity. But I have fished recreationally since I could walk, and have probably owned like 90 fishing rods in my life. This is the best one I have ever fished with, period. The guides are smooth and seem well attached. There are no obvious defects in its construction. It is flexible and the action is as described. Although I use this rod primarily to target black basses (Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spots) in the 2-5lb range, I've also used it in salt-water for cabs and lings without any problems. I've even used it as a poke-pole, jamming it down in between jetty rocks to pull out large monkey-faced eels, fully expecting to jack up the guides- but they were fine. The rod is solid- and negative reviews to the contrary were likely inspired by misuse. And I know that some people scoff at a two-piece rod. Cool. But mine has always come apart when I need it to, has never come apart when it wasn't supposed to, and fits easily in the trunk of a small car. I totally plan to get a longer, heavier version of this for my casting setup. So in summary, it is as good or better than many rods 2-3 times its price, and it is light-years better than a similarly-priced rod you'd get from a big-box store.

So I've been using KastKing rods for a while but I currently own 0 KastKing rods because all of them are broken. None of my other rods have any problems, fenwick eagle, shimano, penn, and even Lews American Hero. I bought 5 KastKing rods in the past including 3 perigee IIs and 2 Crixus rods. If you remember from the start, I own 0 now because they just keep breaking either from casting a weight that is rated on the rod or as much as placing it down. This has never happened to me with any of the other 10 rods that I own, and the reason I bought multiple of the same rod was because I wanted to give it benefit of the doubt. Maybe I was handling it a bit rough or something. Clearly this doubt was not misguided. I'm not sure what it is that makes these rods so fragile compared to the rods I own but it's not necessarily the price since Lews American Hero combo with the reel cost $70 compared to $45 rod here. Crixus rods have particulary been bad for me and both times the rod broke on the 1st outing. Unacceptable considering I've used my fenwick eagle rod for the same use case for 5 years at this point, and my dad's shimano rod from 25 years ago. Enough doubts cast and I won't be buying rods from this brand for a good long time. I'd endorse their other products but I also only own 2 of the 4 reels I've purchased because it broke apart as well.. They have good accessories like pliers too.. Oh wait but 2 of the 3 pliers I bought rusted beyond use as well. What good is a fishing pliers that rusts? Sorry but come on you have to do better than this.

Great rods at a great price. Warranty is great as well.