KastKing Rover Round Baitcasting Fishing Reel, 40 Size, Left, Black

I bought the kast king rover 40 left handed reel for salmon and steelhead fishing in the pnw and at first it did great. It casted good, had smooth drag and a smooth retrieve, and I even landed a mid 20 pound chinook salmon on it. But on the 5th outing, it started having problems. Out of nowhere it started making a grinding sound (even with clicker off) and stopped casting smoothly. The spool seemed to have trouble turning. It even locked up mid-cast, even with 2oz of weight! It cut my trip short and was even hard to pull the line out even when the cast button was pushed down. I thought maybe somehow something got inside of it so I pulled the spool out to see if that was the case but unfortunately it was clean as a whistle in there. It had ample amount of grease inside and was a seemingly perfectly working reel. So I am sending it back and receiving another one. Luckily it broke before the 1 month deadline, and I was able to request a new one. I really wanted this to work but unfortunately it failed me. I will update this after I use the new one for a while

I read a lot of reviews and watched a lot of videos about this reel. I was pretty excited to get it and see if it was all the hype. I'd say not so much if you know where to get reels for the best price. If you don't reel it perfectly it kinda locks up and you have to jiggle the crank and start cranking again, the line guide is ok but the machining leaves a gritty feeling to it while it rides the channels and guides the line, there's a bit of a bearing grind in the retrieve or something is just a bit off so the reeling around a 1/4 of the rotation has some grit to it, the tension and the brakes don't work in correlation with eachother instead really just two tension knobs on one side. The brakes are just crappy little plastic knobs on some posts and don't move that well to actually brake the spool. Altogether I'd say there's far better alternatives on the used market or for another $40 which is a couple spools of line you could buy a nicer new reel. It just has an altogether cheap feel and build quality that amount to an alright product.

This is my first round baitcaster, as well as my first Kastking Rover. Amazing feel and weight on this all aluminum left retrieval reel. The oversized handle makes it much easier to reel and the line guide is all metal fornsmooth reeling. Will be pairing it with a 30lb braided line along with a 7.5 medium power rod, it will go very well with the 30lb drag this reel have, should be more than enough to handle any kind of fish my creek and Lake Michigan has for me. Overall, it is a very build and feel reel with plenty of features for all sort of fishing that I will be doing. Will update once I have fish with it, but like I said, it is a very well constructed reel.

I researched what I wanted for flossing sockeye salmon with during my upcoming trip to Alaska, and my daughter then got me it for me as a Christmas present. The reel didn't even make it through one day and didn't fight very many fish. I had a nice one on and the drag could not reel when it counted(I'm a seasoned fisherman with good knowledge of what to expect from a real). Eventually the reel completely gave up the grapes on the same fish and I ended up losing it. Now I have a worthless reel that can only free spool and the return window closed long ago.

Great quality. Oiled the bearings a bit out of habit. Drag feels 9/10, probably will get better over time. Casts a country mile, proper weight and setting on the spool as a given. Overall will buy another.