KastKing Brutus Spinning Rods & Casting Fishing Rods, Brute Tuff Composite Graphite & Glass Blanks, Stainless Steel Line Guides w/Zirconium Oxide Rings Tip Top, Chartreuse Strike Tip

I've been fishing a long time at this point in my life. One of my dad's friends used to make custom fishing rods. He often bemoaned the poor quality of current off the shelf rods, saying that companies that used to be top notch were no longer any good. I won't name names... But, remember that your reputation is everything to the longevity of a company. Once you destroy your reputation for quality, it is really hard to repair that. This made me pretty picky about what I was going to buy. He said most of the rods these days were made in China and were not to the same standards they had been when they were American made - no surprise there I'm afraid... I have no idea where this rod was made. It could be Chinese, too, but the design is American at least. Anyway, I'm very satisfied with this rod so far. It's stiffer than my last rod, but that's not a problem. The rod flexes well and I'm not worried it will affect anything. Caught 4 fish with it the other day - no problems, other than they were really small fish! I got the 4 piece travel model in 7 ft. medium, spinning. I've used it this week a fair bit and it performs well, though I had to really press the sections together hard to make sure it didn't move or come loose. That's to be expected in a multi-part rod. There are a couple of nice things about this rod. Obviously, it breaks down for travel really well. Also, one of the sore spots on rods is if the eyes are out of alignment - this is very easy to get right with a rod like this. You have to do the aligning, but you probably won't get a rod that has the eyes off center in a rod like this. It's also a lot less likely to get broken in shipping. Also, the shipping packaging was superb. Unless somebody dropped something really heavy on this, it should protect it well. Nice hard and heavy shipping tube that came in a box. My only suggestion for improvement would be to use larger eyes on the rear of the rod. I feel smaller eyes on a spinning rod near the reel impede cast distance due to extra friction. But, I get decent distance with it using a Rapala swivel shad rap. Fishing for trout and redfish. Overall, I can't imagine getting a better quality rod at this price point or quite a bit higher. YMMV, but it looks like solid and good quality to me. I got a Garcia spinning reel to match it and they are both black and red color scheme. My niece walked off with my last rod.... Need to rectify that problem... I wasn't planning that, but it just happens to match - bonus. Best of luck! One thing about carbon fiber - be very careful not to scratch the carbon fiber on the rod. If you score carbon fiber, it is much more prone to breakage. If you don't believe me, look up, "carbon fiber arrows and exploding." Not for the faint of heart... I shoot aluminum, thank you! If you don't beat up the rod, it should last for a LONG time. To the company - good job! It's rare I buy a product that is better than expected, but this is! Please do not let the quality drop in the future... It matters.

Rod seems to be good quality.

This is a good rod for the price. It is a little over-sized for the Kastking Megatron 4000 which I ordered to pair with it. Probably should have contacted Kastking for advice on pairings as they advertise this as part of their customer service. I haven't fished it yet but I don't anticipate any issues with the rods performance as it appears plenty strong with overall good construction. I have deducted one star for the following reasons. (1) There is a moderate indention (crease) of about 1 inch travelling perpendicular around the EVA handle about half way between the bottom end of the handle and the reel seat. This is a quality control issue which could have occurred at either the manufacturer or the vendor and not during shipping as the rod was encased in a nice tube and boxed with no damage to any part of the packaging. It does not appear it will affect the performance of the rod. Had I been purchasing this at a retail store and had the choice of another rod without this blemish I surely would have selected it over this one. (2) The strike tip which is a dark green is barely discernable from the black rod. Again this is not a performance issue but the strike tip on my rod isn't near as bright as the one in the Amazon photo. These are quite minor issues and I am happy with the purchase but unfortunately they made the difference between a 4 and 5 star rating.

This rod really surprised me. I bought the 8 foot heavy model and I'm so glad that I did. First off the rod is a real value for the money and it is very well made. The guides are first rate and the wrap and finish is as good as any expensive rod I have. There are the right number of guides, where as some cheaper rods I have don't have enough guides. The foam grips are comfortable and provide a great non-slip surface. I fished the rod with 20 pound braid and I could really cast great distances, and I feel as though the rod could easily handle much heavier line. I've used the rod on three outings and it has become one of my go to rods. The rod is strong and has handled 60 pound tuna very nicely. The tip is light enough to be sensitive and the rod has the backbone to handle largr fish. It's a strong rod and I can't wait to test it out on larger fish. This is a great rod for the price, in fact it's a bargain.

good price

Very nice pole

👍

I own two of these rods and this one I originally purchased this to use with a Sharkey III bait feeder for a FL keys trip. Great setup and caught many fish up to 25-30 lbs. over dozens of trips in last three years. If you are used to 24-30T rods this one is a bit heavier but very tough due to glass content even with 4 pieces. Recently the plastic reel seat cracked and reel can't be tightened to rod so it is no longer usable. I am an fan of this brand and own many KastKing products but wouldn't purchase a Brutus rod again without a reel seat re-design. In the end still a good value for the money even though it only lasted three years otherwise I would have rated even lower.