KastKing Speed Demon Pro Tournament Series Bass Fishing Rods, Elite Carbon High Modulus 1 Pc Blanks, Fuji Guides & Reel Seats, 20 Technique Specific Lengths & Actions-Spinning & Casting

Consider this a first impressions review of a rod I'll be using for med tackle inshore saltwater fishing and light tackle ocean bottom jigging.Was looking for a light tackle 8' baitcaster setup for bouncing 2-3 oz swim baits and butterfly jigs for offshore norcal rockfish and lingcod. Musky rods are a popular option but often too heavy and stiff, salmon rods are too flexy, and I didn't want to spend $300-$400 on a Phenix. I know 7' heavy fast action large mouth punch rods are a favorite of yakers, but I wanted length for boat casting and better action on swimbaits 200' down. Enter the 7'11" H Speed Demon Punch rod. After reviewing the specs I thought I'd give it a chance.Shipping: Upon delivery and inspection; very nice! Finally, an e-retailer that understands how to pack a rod. Solid cardboard tube showed little exterior wear, and inside, the rod came wrapped with a foam donut at the butt and a cardboard sleeve at the tip with a heavy plastic sleeve down the length of the rod to protect from rash. A+ packing; I've ordered brand name rods from Amazon before and they don't always arrive in 1 piece.The Rod: The rod itself, in hand, is just what I imagined it to be like. Very very light (compared to my 8' med Teramar, my other ling stick), high quality components, superb guide lay, and surprisingly robust blank. It truly is a heavy fast action rod, and a few test runs casting 2-3 oz weights tells me it can comfortably handle beyond its 1.5 oz max rating. 1 oz bucktail fly too. This isn't a heavy steelhead rod posing as a jig stick, it's a true heavy cover bass rod that should be able to handle fat rockfish at depths and stripers near shore. Should be fun sticking lings with something so light. On to the specifics from the top down:- Tip and Guides: Excellent! High quality with great sets. Not one came bent, no cracked guide rings, and flawless epoxy. I sighted the rod and the guides are set about 90-95% true, see pics. The amount of guides is perfect: even distribution of load when the line is tight and you're bent.- Rod blank: Surprisingly stiff for something so light, with proper fast action tip and good backbone when testing 2-3 oz weights. We'll see if it can handle teener lings, but I bet it can. Also, maybe most important, the rod guides/components are IN LINE WITH THE SPINE of the blank! Yay! Many big name box store rod manufacturers miss this step, but this rod gets it. The natural curve of the blank was identified in production, and the guides/components etc were set along the 'back' of the blank's natural arc, ie the spine. The rod will always work and load WITH it's natural arc. Very important when casting and imparting action on lures. See pics.- Components/Grips: Again, excellent. Fuji reel seat is quality as expected and secures any reel foot. One thing to note though: the trigger grip and reel seat have a 'soft touch' coating applied to the plastic. Feels good in hand and probably when wet, but in my experience that coating wears away after a few years and leaves a residue (something to watch for). Last but not least - WINN grips! Great experience with that material on my Lexa 300H, tough and tacky, and I thought only found on Daiwa and Lew's stuff. Pretty neat that KastKing got a hold of it for this rod. One caveat is that the layout of the components results in a shorter butt length than I would like, but it's long enough and the WINN butt should be comfortable enough for bottom bouncing all day.Overall, 5 star first impression from an e-retailer that seems to be dropping the private label strategy and opting to invest in oem, technique specific gear with higher quality builds that's still within budget. My OCD noticed the KastKing logo is off center and tilted a bit, but I guess I'll live:) Otherwise this rod is awesome. Will update this review when I get time on water and land some fish. Cheers!

Very impressed with the lightweight, yet strength that the 6-10 casting displays. It is a great jerkbait rod. Only negative is since I bought it both the 6-10 jerkbait rod and the deep cranking rod are out of stock, I would have 2 of both if they were available.Since the above review I have bought several of the rods, after significant use I have noticed two cons in the components aside fro the awesome blank. I have had trouble on multiple rods with the guides coming loose and not the top one, also every handle (6) has had the Winn grip split and come off. This causes me to buy wrap and wrap them. The blank is awesome in my opinion, but many of the components are cheap or cheaply put together. Shimano SLX are less expensive and much more durable, although you sacrifice a little in the weight category.

MORE than I ever expected. After seeing many videos about KastKing products on YouTube, I decided to look into their products and reviews. Nothing too impressive. Videos on YouTube were, meh, especially for the type of fishing that I do. 99% saltwater from the shorelines around San Diego Bay and Mission Bay. After seeing the specs on the Speed Demon Pro Tournament rods and their Technique Specific Rods, I thought, "Yeah, whatever. I'll buy the Casting Swimbait version. I have 30 days to test it and return it" I was pretty sure, it was going to he garbage. Oh, how wrong I was. So, so wrong. I received the well packed rod on May 3rd and was immediately impressed with the build and details of this stick. Attached a Shimano Curado K filled with 50# Power Pro and Izorline 15# Platinum leader, along with a swimbait and headed out to the water. She loaded up well and the first thing that truly got my attention was the sensitivity. Wow! I could detect everything that came in contact with my lure. In about three sessions I caught Spotted Bay Bass, Sand Bass, Halibut, Mackeral, Barracuda and Shortfin Corvina. The rod handled well and backbone was good. I am really enjoying this rod, but, not truly sold on it yet. Well, that all changed on May 19th when I hooked into a 38# Bat Ray. This was the moment that would make or break my decision to keep or return it. This Bat Ray hit my swimbait and I fought her for about 45 minutes, before we got color. Needless to say, I am sold on this particular product and now a fan of KastKing. Today, I ordered the 7'11" Punching model in preparation of sticking some nice Calico Bass out of the kelp. And, I also became a member of the KastKing Inner Circle Fishing Fan Club. My suggestion is get one. Shoot..for the price get two, three or all of that you need!

Loved the weight and actions of these rods. So much so I replaced my entire arsenal with them so I had a matching set. Just about all of them literally snapped in half over standard daily use. The company was great and kept replacing them. At the last tournament I fished my Punching rod snapped at about 7:45am! My partner laughed when he saw the brand but I assured him it's a good company and it's under warranty. When I got home I checked: purchased 2/21, has already been replaced once, now out of warranty!!! So this is the end of me and Kastking. People, these rods are waiting for a reason to snap. Do not buy! You aren't saving a penny. Go get the good stuff. I'm sorry I ever experimented with them. Trash on your first trip... Or a few weeks later? No reliability. If you're a tournament angler they have no business on your boat. Believe me, this is real.5/14/22 update: One of the remaining rod's handles have begun coming apart! Ridiculous. RUN FROM THIS LOUSY COMPANY!