KastKing MegaJaws Elite Baitcasting Fishing Reel, New AutoMag Dual Braking System, Only 6.7oz, 17.64 LBs Carbon Fiber Drag, 11+1 Shielded BB, High Speed 5.4:1 to 9.1:1 Gear Ratios

I gave this reel a workout for a couple days before writing this review. I am also a Shimano Curado angler so that is my main reels to compare with this Kast King Mega Jawa Elite reel. For those who want a quick statement about it. Its very comparible to the shimano curado K line of reels at a lower price point. I dont notice any lack of quality to get the lower price. It is a more attractive reel than the Curado series. I love all the gold trim especially the milled handle with Gold on the chamfer. As far as performance it has 10 settings for braking. unlike the Shimano Curado where you have to remove the cover to adjust the brake by flipping one of four levers, the Mega Jaws Elite has a dial recessed on the side. The optimal setting for me was between 3-4. I am an experienced baitcast angler but would not describe myself as advanced or expert. That group can probably set it lower. I got great casting distance at that setting and no backlashes with just a slight amount of thumb pressure at the end of cast. You can dial it in to cast with no thumb pressure but you will sacrifice some distance. That makes this a great reel for both beginners and advanced anglers. This reel is also about an ounce lighter than the shimano curado. The reel is smooth but I would give the edge to Shimano on that one. This might be due to the guide on the megajaws is longer than the shimanos which you can feel a little more friction as the braid moves through. probably would not notice with Mono or flouro. I did spool it with 50lb braid and did some pitching and flipping with a Jig. This reel has a flip switch where the thumb bar disengages as soon as you release pressure on it instead of cranking the reel handle. It takes getting used to as it changes how I have been programmed for flipping baits. I am not a fan of it but with some practice I am sure it works great. Like most bait casters the spool tensioner needs to be adjusted depending on the weight of the bait to avoid backlashing. Overall this is an excellent reel at its price point and to me it was simple to adjust and use.

I bought two of these and use them as my main reels. I have one on a 7’ MHF spooled with 30lb braid to 12 flouro leader and another on a 7’3” H spooled with straight 17lb flouro. The 7’ is my do everything grab and go rod and through probably 1000s of casts on it now it still runs great. I put a few drops of oil in there from time to time and keep it wiped down and it just keeps going. If it ever breaks I’ll update my review. The 7’3” I use for frogs and bigger glide baits and stuff and this reel works ok for it but it’s probably not the best for the heavier lures. While they don’t seem to be as sturdy as my expensive Lews and stuff they are certainly very good for what they cost. I use the LH versions as I find casting with one hand then transferring it to the other is just silly.

Casts a great distance. I ordered 3! Casts farther than my more expensive 230 dollar reel, not as smooth reeling and has plastic parts. The drag is plastic but the reel is great. The flip function is fun, and useful. It seems solid. I don't write reviews so that is saying something about how much I like this reel. Has a nice sound to it when you cast. Light weight lures cast far when your dialed in. If your new to baitcast, watch a youtube video. This is great for beginners also, very little backlash if you don't set it. When it is dialed in you don't have to hold your thumb on the reel at all! That's huge when taking others fishing. Like I said, I liked it so much I bought 3. I rated the reel 4 out of 5 because of the plastic parts. I really wish it was all metal. But still a great reel for the price.

There are more expensive baitcasters out there, but I feel like past this it's rapidly diminishing returns. If you go below this price point, you get poor quality reels that just don't perform and feel cheap. I've tried a lot of baitcasters, and IMHO this Kastking MegaJaws Elite is the perfect balance point, the absolute best bang for the buck. This baitcaster is made of high-quality, saltwater resistant aluminum. It feels very high quality. The gears and retrieve is smooth and feels polished. It's about as backlash resistant as you can expect. You can still backlash it, but under normal use with an experienced user, backlashes are rare. I spool mine with 30 lb braid with a 20 lb mono leader to fish for pink salmon and coho salmon. The reel performed great in this capacity. I have three of these reels, that's how much I like it. It's the only reel I use for salmon fishing in southeast Alaska.

Amazing reel only took a few moments to get it dialed in. the sweet spot for zero backlash and no thumbing/feathering is between 4 and 5 on the brake and spool tension knob tightened just enough to have minimal spool rocking side to side. Hooked a large mouth bass within minutes of casting after unboxing.

Just wow! I bought this reel because I really liked the theory behind the AMB braking System and living in South Florida you can throw every kind of bait in any size. As such, I wanted to see how well this thing would do casting a puny 6” worm with a 1/16 oz weight, or a 10” with a ¼ oz weight, a ⅛ oz swim jig, or a ½ oz football juggling with a trailer, some top water jerk baits, to suspending one’s in both the 9 & 11 sizes, my tried and proven strike king square bills and deep divers, and swim baits. This MegaJaws Elite handled them all WITH EASE!!! All I did was set my external brake to 0 (zero), tighten the spool tension nob, open the spool and turned out the tension nob until my lure hit the floor and gave me a 1 extra rotation and then I turned the external brake up to 5 and casted it out. It handled every single lure almost identical and never once was it out of control. I over spooled maybe 2-3 extra turns a couple of times in the smaller lures, but I purposely didn’t apply any thumb after seeing a few review vids on YouTube. I saw they didn’t know how to properly adjust a baitcaster and did it the way The Reel Test does it, which is completely incorrect. I casted most of the lures on my B-Lat sick stick which is a superb 7’2” MH casting Rod and every single bait would zip way out across the lake with the lighter ones casting around 30 yards (semi into the wind) on my 40lb 8-strand braid, and the larger lures flew an impressive distance around 45-50 yards on average. The most impressive was casting a football jig on my 7’9” Heavy Ark jigging rod (I call it my broomstick). Initially I was leaving about 18” of line on my casts but one time I accidentally lifted my thumb momentarily and let out a bit more line on my back swing and it flew considerably farther, so I reeled it in and let out about 3” of line and lightly swung my jig back and whipped it forward and it took off!!! I’d guesstimated it was about 55 yards on average, maybe a bit more! The flipping switch is awesome too! I have a Quantum PT Accurist S3 that has that feature and I absolutely love it for flipping into heavy stuff. This reel’s flipping feature is no different. I did cause a bit of an over spool once trying to flip and almost skipping my jig at a fish I saw in front of me, but totally my fault because I was so excited I released pressure on the spool prematurely. I cleared the spool and pitched it again and from then on it was pure money! I must have casted about 200 times today and not once did this reel miss! And it did it all while being completely quiet and no rattling or vibration no matter how hard I cast. Suuuuper smooooth, compact and light and palms really well. I have large hands and it was comfy all day long. I am completely impressed! I bought the Dark Galaxy model (looks a bit green in direct sunlight like some Shimano reels!) because of its deep spool because I do a lot of bank fishing and I need to fling it and I can’t be spooling myself out. I’m now thinking about getting the new purple one for tossing jigs and larger weighted senkos and creature baits through all the hydrilla in the lakes down here, but IDK because I really like deep spools. I highly recommend this reel for novice, more advanced and pro level anglers alike. I am really impressed with this thing! I’ll try to post some pictures of it in sunlight to show the cool greenish hue it casts. (No pun intended lol)

A very satisfactory entry level reel. It is smooth with an acceptable drag and casts as well as some of my more expensive gear.

This reel is amazing. Like stated very minimal backlash even for a beginner. Extremely easy setup. The breaking system is unmatched. Was able to cast with relative easy and no back lash. Love it so much adding the 7.1 megaJaws to the collection Edit‐ I am hooked. Great reel. Went from newbie to very confident and rarely pick up any of my spinning rods. With that said if you are coming from spinning rods stay away from the 9.1 red reel as your first as the ratio is just way to fast. Bought it as my first thinking a faster reel would benefit me but it's hard to control presentations of slower baits. Its more of a specialty rod. Topwater, jerk, and deep diving crankbaits. I have sense add all four of the megajaws to my collection. 7.1 is good swimbait can be used for slower presentations but I few the 6.1 Green one if you could only have one is the best bang for buck. A do it all reel. Either way you can not go wrong