Crixus

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.

I’ve bought one in both spin and bait cast form, and all I can say is they are so good. They look great with any reel, are super comfortable to use, the handles are soft, and asides from personal mistakes, nothing has come close to breaking them. Super durable and great backbone for perfect flex and among other things, peak performance

I do a good bit of fishing and have a good selection of rods. I figured I would try one of these. Worked good first trip but on the second it broke about an inch up from where two pieces go together. A clean break with around a 1 lb catfish. After checking it good for damage it was in perfect condition just very thin construction. Very disappointed.

Awesome rod. Got this to see if I could trust them again. I had 2 Spartacus II rods with 2 tips each. All 4 snapped at almost exactly 4” down under light load lures). Definitely worth trying this one. Super light, I got the MH. It’s a bit stiffer than other MH’s I own, but REALLY fast action balances that out.

So far, so good. Feels nice while casting. Was able to handle medium sized muskie with ease

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.

In 2019 I saw a lot of ads online for lower-priced rods and reels. Piscifun, Kastking, etc. After doing alot of research, I settled on Kastking. I recently bought the Crixus spinning rod to pair up with my Kastking Crixus Spinning Reel 3000. After a few fishing trips in Dec 2019 with this setup, along with the other, big brand name reels in my kayak, I'm completely sold on Kastking. Fishing is an expensive hobby and I can't justify spinning upwards of $100 per rod and per reel (I rarely buy combo rod/reel units). This rod is light, fast tip, strong backbone, and the craftsmanship is on par with more prominent brands. Can't believe it took me this long to give Kastking products a chance but I'm sold. With a growing family and costs of just living, Kastking makes products for serious fishing hobbyists, I'm convinced. I have a Kastking Spartacus baitcaster reel and a Kastking Perigree II rod to go with it (Christmas gifts). I can truthfully say, their craftsmanship, engineering, and price points are right on the money and are easy on my budget (easier I should say). Back to the Crixus rod, it's a two-piece but performs like a one-piece. The fit of this rod with the Kastking Crixus rod is a marriage made in heaven. Give this a shot if you're thinking about it. You won't be disappointed.

Purchased this rod to pair with my Abu Garcia Black Max spinning reel, size 5, which is the smallest size Abu offers. I love this reel, however a few years ago I broke it’s paired rod, so I replaced it with a 5’6” Ugly Stik GX2 (it was 2020 and pickings we’re slim). I didn’t like the GX2 because it felt way too heavy and was not a rod for finesse. So I needed to buy something to toss really light baits with good feel. I ordered the Crixus, 6’0” ML-MF because it was a great price for a 2 piece ML-MF rod, and it seemed like it would pair well with my black max. Upon unboxing, the rod was fully intact (great packing job, Kast King), guides were straight, and the feel was awesome. But the reel seat was needlessly too big for my reel. The black max 5 is a small reel, but it fits on literally every rod that I’ve owned (7) including my 7’6” heavy rod. In the attached pictures, you and see that the clamp is at an angle that doesn’t taper at the same rate as the top of the seat, which leaves you a quarter inch-ish gap. I included a picture of the clamp on my 6’6” M-F baitcast rod (Scheel’s Pro Angler @ $40) for comparison. This is a weird design oversight, and I feel like it could be corrected in future versions of this rod. Giving the rod 3 stars because the build quality and feel seems great, but I could never use it with the combo I wanted. All of my other reels fit, so maybe with a larger reel this rod would work better for someone else. For reference, the base of my black max measures about 2 1/4 to 2 5/16 inches.