KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS Reel and Zephyr UL Rod Fishing Impression

[@tonykruger871]

I have been following your tube for some time now . This is the quality of review we have grown used to . Great review and insights

[@rawrfishing]

Much appreciated for the kind words! let me know if theres anything i could add to bring more value to the viewers!

[@tonykruger871]

@@rawrfishing You are doing just fine . Keep it up . Way to go .

[@JoeTK37]

I've got two outings on my Kestrel so far. Throwing 1/16oz Rapalas and 1/16- 1/32oz Eurotackle Soft locks with Anisoptera(why can't we just call them bugs) I've been quite happy with it. Tight creeks with short slow casts I can dial the brakes down near 0. Open water and aggressively casting, which is more my style, I've settled around 3 on the brake. Casting distance equals the 2020 Alphas Air TW. I haven't tried to stretch it down into Trout Magnet territory yet, but for the majority of my UL fishing its been solid. I do wish the drag clicker were louder(not a deal breaker), and I find the spool tension knob too loose. it takes very little force to tighten or loosen it and I find myself inadvertently bumping it while adjusting the drag at times. Fit and finish is good, not quite Daiwa or Shimano, but overall a solid offering

[@rawrfishing]

Thx for sharing your experience. I love to hear folks opinion as I fish different than others and at times... I make assumptions since I don't fish streams. I am happy to hear that u enjoyed it. The reel should be using same bearing sizes as a tatula. So whenever u get a chance to upgrade bearings, please let us know if it does anything different for your style of fishing. Oh I do miss creek fishing

[@JoeTK37]

@@rawrfishing If you want to drive up to North Jersey we can get you back on the creeks

[@rawrfishing]

@@JoeTK37 deal! Shoot me an email and let's chat

[@kevythyrrakalastus1296]

Yeh, you are correct.

[@vuexiong9168]

Flashback mini. I just discovered the googan crappie baits. The minnow version with the fish tail. Forgot the name. It's perfect for this mini chatter bait. Also, you tie your own fly. Tie some wire around a bobber stopper, epoxy or glue it and you have a bait keeper. Good fishing

[@rawrfishing]

Flashback Mini is awesome :) but they need a bigger blade for the 1/16th Oz. Like the Mukai. Be a killer :)

[@HomesteadOnThePreserve]

Love seeing you fish the Kestrel Elite, I've been waiting for this video! (totally agree with everything you said about the reel too!) Got my K.E. yesterday and flushed the spool bearings with Acetone, NO difference at all. This tells me KastKing uses a high quality, very thin oil. Only difference when flushed is the reel now casts noisy! UPDATE FOR YA JIMBO: I just called KastKing 10 minutes ago. Spoke to the "tech guy" and he said he didn't know what size the spool bearings are. In fact, he said he didn't even receive a Kestrel Elite to look at yet!

[@rawrfishing]

thx man! I already got bearings for it from my spare box. but i don't know the sizes. they will be full ceramic micros on aluminum sleeves.. so it's pretty small! gonna be interesting to see how well they go. but not sure when I will put those on. I still gotta change line to go POWER bfs lol... maybe i will do that later? i really dunno what i wanna do next. so much ideas on the table right now!

[@HomesteadOnThePreserve]

@@rawrfishing LoLz, you're a busy man!

[@HomesteadOnThePreserve]

@@rawrfishing DOUBLE UPDATE! Winnie of KastKing (she's awesome and helped me out in the past) found the spool bearing sizes for the Kestrel Elite BFS. 3 x 8 x 4mm and 3 x 7 x 3mm

[@trickytrav88]

Thanks jimbo for the 1st kastking. Cant wait to see how it does with heavier lure

[@rawrfishing]

Next video, the dragon C702L will be used along with slightly heavier lures :)

[@leepao6302]

My best soft plastic bait I put on the flash back mini, I used the Fish Arrow Flash J 1”

[@rawrfishing]

Fancy choice there my man 👍👍👍

[@leepao6302]

@@rawrfishing hahaha… you should give it a try just once you might like as much as I did

[@rawrfishing]

I may indeed. :)

[@juanpedroza1083]

Great video on the kestrel. Looking forward to getting. I got the valiant eagle bfs and zephyr after you reviewed them.

[@rawrfishing]

thx man! i didn't like the VE much for the UL side, but hope that it is doing well for you on the Light and ML side of things! More videos to come on the Kestrel!

[@juanpedroza1083]

@@rawrfishing it’s a little hard to tune up and get a hang of it I barely used like 3 times but it’s fun to use. I actually got into bfs watching your videos and reviews of the reels and now that’s all I fish. Looking forward to more kestrel videos.

[@rawrfishing]

thx! i will be editing the Light tackle rod next as i fished two sessions that day. Should have it out by friday if my schedule isn't that crazy and if the toddler naps well!

[@juanpedroza1083]

@@rawrfishing perfect I will look forward to watching and hearing your comments on it.

[@ShaneJMcNair]

I have ordered one, but drop shipped it to Hobie Wan Kenobe to review and test. I was hoping it would be nicer than the Zephyr BFS Clicker. I was a little disappointed with the Zephyr BFS Clicker reel. Maybe it needs better spool bearings as well... Rod is a Phenix Mirage MF501-1 Ultra Light custom built by Mike's Custom Rods, Carthage, Mississippi Thank you for sharing 🍺 🎣 Brews_N_Bass BTW the Bassinator Elite is my favorite Kastking reel to-date for general Bass fishing. That reel is sweet out of the box. I use it as my frog setup in 8.1:1

[@rawrfishing]

Oh so you were the guy who sent him the reel lol. That's very nice of ya! Hope to see his video soon! I think the drag clicker in here is similar to the Zephyr. Plastic and light sound. Bearings can help if u wanna throw lighter lures, but the improvement is very little. I am curious if they will come out with a Kestrel that is not elite, but still have good features and at a lower price!

[@rawrfishing]

I have not tried their bassinator. I like that green reel tho.

[@ShaneJMcNair]

@@rawrfishing Guess I'm spoiled to my JDM Daiwa reels Steez, Zillions, SS SV... The Bassinator Elite can hold its own with them. Similar to my Shimano Citica 200D as for as braking performance & smoothness. But the size of a Steez A.

[@ShaneJMcNair]

@@rawrfishing Yep, I've have sent him both the Zephyr & Kestrel BFS. He's probably the first fishing channel I started following to learn about reels. Never owned a baitcaster until about 7 years ago... 🍺🎣

[@rawrfishing]

Hobie got great details in his videos and his knowledge is amazing. I can't spend much on Japanese gears, but this year have been amazing with yen down! Been throwing everything I have for JDM reels 😂 another one coming in soon

[@eonelast]

I removed a few magnet and it work great! 3 pieces to be exact.

[@kevythyrrakalastus1296]

Nice! I also have done that for some chinese reels. Was it easy to remove magnets with this reel?

[@eonelast]

@@kevythyrrakalastus1296 i just pry it with needle, it came off pretty easily..

[@The_Multi-species_Angler]

@@eonelast good to know!!

[@rawrfishing]

Holy crap.. Which specific ones? The one closes to the pivot or the furthest like Shimano ones? I gotta try it. Thx mate

[@eonelast]

@@rawrfishing i removed the furthest from pivot. Two up an one down..

[@pacman_17]

At least the brakes are strong enough unlike some of the FTB clone reels with weak magnets. Hopefully you can figure if it's over braked or if the stock bearings are limiting the distance. In my experience you can even saturate a bearing with too much high speed bearing oil. I always use less than half a drop each bearing.

[@rawrfishing]

this is very true! the amount of braking is high, but better than over spooling like the CDM versions. I feel that it's over braked and bad bearings. It was horrible even after i flushed it and i spun it dry on my bearing tool. NMB Bearing stands for not a major brand bearing! LOLOL. But i always drown my bearings with oil first to ensure it's full coated. then i blow it with a air can while it's on a bearing tool to get the excess out.

[@pacman_17]

@@rawrfishing That's a good way of oiling the bearing too.

[@kevythyrrakalastus1296]

Nice! Sad that they have screwed with magnets. But hopefully micro bearings helps brake to work better!

[@rawrfishing]

It's better to have over braked than under sometimes too.. a lot of CDM BFS reels were super under braked, making it horrible to control. although i complained that it is over braked, so far, everything been flying out in great distances that i feel most people would be satisfied at!

[@HomesteadOnThePreserve]

For anyone interested in upgrading the SPOOL BEARINGS (i found, just like Jimmy they DEF need upgraded) the sizes are as follows..... 3 x 8 x 4mm and 3 x 7 x 3mm This info was straight from KastKing.

[@rawrfishing]

I aleady found the sizes with BFE as we just took reels apart and use the sizes we knew 😂. Aleady informed roro as well. They have a kit now. Enjoy

[@bottomlinebassin2001]

You keep convincing me to come to the bfs side!

[@rawrfishing]

Bass fishing in the US is too heavily influenced by tournament anglers who use over heavy gears to haul in fish. BFS is a great way to go to the far end spectrum of finesse and very challenging. There are other shallower spool reels that are not bfs level and are very fun and more practical in the bass fishery. Things like Shimano MGL 70 or Daiwa SV Reels. If possible.. I would like Shimano to remake the Aldebaran MGL 50 and 30 sizes in cheaper models.. Like an SLX or Curado model. That would be game changer for the US finesse game market

[@bottomlinebassin2001]

@@rawrfishing Agreed. I think most anglers don't get the distinction between UL and BFS, as an old school angler ul was a 1000 series spinning reel on a 6' ul rod to throw beetle spins. BFS opens up a whole new level of fishing just like you described 💪🐟

[@rawrfishing]

Yeah but what I am saying is that there is a HUGE gap in the US market for finesse gears, not just BFS Reels. Think about it for second. The BFS stuff is technically new to the US since the original concept failed due to price and it didn't serve a lot of anglers. 15 years later, it finally gotten more affordable and there's more anglers and social media is here to promote different style of fishing. Now aside from BFS, there's still sizes in between BFS and your average size reelsHuge missed market that the brands could be showing off... and these big companies have them over seas! just not in the US! I shall portray some of these reels in the near future once i reallocate my funds. it'll be perfect for the fall and winter bite when finesse is key!

[@christopherlee4613]

In Malaysia, its definately more expensive than a Shimano Scorpion BFS, SLX BFS and Curado BFS.... with KK a known lower priced brand... I doubt it will sell over the more established Shimanos... its RM1200....here. Much over the Shimanos by 250-400 ringgits.

[@rawrfishing]

Yeah it's a bit too expensive and should have the price readjusted. But until I do all my testing... I think I will put that aside for now :p

[@skkkrrriiittt]

yes he is actually true, this reel is almost 1800MYR here... I just check it out on shopee

[@baitfinesseempire]

To be fair, those are the lowest priced Shimano BFS reels and this is KastKing's highest priced. It is more comparable to the Aldebaran BFS than the SLX/Curado twins in terms of materials used and spool design.

[@christopherlee4613]

@@baitfinesseempire at that price, just add 50 to 60 bucks extra and you'll get the Aldebaran 22.

[@baitfinesseempire]

@@christopherlee4613 yes... And no. At the moment you can get the Aldebaran 22 for cheap, but that's not because it's priced cheap. Its MSRP is 48000JPY, which normally would equate to around $450-470USD. There's no telling when the Yen will normalize again... It could be a month or it could be a year. But when it does, the Aldebaran will be over $400 and the Kestrel will still be $220. Take advantage of this while you can 👍 To add to this... If Shimano were to release the 22 Aldebaran BFS in the USA, I suspect MSRP would be $400 or higher.

[@Fishingmissions827]

If they make a shallow spool for the MegaJaws elite that would be a great BFS reel insane how smooth it is

[@rawrfishing]

Isn't that a different braking system tho? I would be curious. But they do have a shallower spool. Check aliexpress. The long cast version should be amazing for a rod down to ML and throwing maybe 1/8th Oz... I have been eyeing that reel for a while

[@Amiami-oy6pt]

@@rawrfishing i have that one...been on my line up alongside 21 antares dc and 21 calcutta conquest. Love it on my medium daiwa infeet rod, that purple accent really match the kastking megajaws elite longcast

[@rawrfishing]

oh man. i need to get it asap! be perfect for fall fishing when the weeds are gone and i want some big fish!

[@Amiami-oy6pt]

@@rawrfishing perform great so far aside from the alu main gear but yeah perfect for light fishing and frogging..used it more than both my shimano

[@The_Multi-species_Angler]

so you cant change or remove any of the magnets. whoa. you where on those perch!! as for the reel I personally dont think this is worth 200 plus dollars it works. I'll definitely skip this one thanks for the review 👊🏾👊🏾 looking forward to the updated video.

[@rawrfishing]

They definitely can't. Wished they have reached out to me to test before they dropped this reel into the market. I thought they would have learned their lesson with the Valiant Eagle BFS... But let's keep playing with this a bit more. New bearings might just address a lot of things as bearings will make it spin easier and braking power might just be good with it

[@markuskuebler9294]

@@rawrfishing I orderd a shimano scorpion bfs from digitaka it also about 200$ why should I order kastking when i can get shimano ( kasting is not bad have a spartacus and a zephyr reel and like them). But shimano is a different game ! But thank you for the try out and your thoughts Jimmy !

[@rawrfishing]

damn right! good job on nabbing some JDM stuff while Yen is down my man!

[@mikeustan494]

I'll just stick to the zephyr that I have , I removed one magnet and upgraded my bearings and it's punching upwards. For this price point I'll let them figure things out first

[@rawrfishing]

U will see me compile a list of things for em 🙌 I got you

[@christopherlee4613]

Thanks for the video Jimbo... 🤗😁👍🏻

[@rawrfishing]

Of course man! More to come. I got 2nd video to be edited this week on the Dragon C702L rod

[@johnhanes3450]

Have you ever used AliExpress Mr. Charles after market brakes? Is there another after market brake or upgrades you would recommend if we have a reel that needs stronger brakes?

[@rawrfishing]

I have not for any CDM reels. But adding magnets for reels that need it would certainly be great. Just need to see what fit for what reels. I have added some for my curado bfs reel when I added the avail spool. Definitely made it good

[@johnhanes3450]

@@rawrfishing silly question. How do you attach the new brakes?

[@rawrfishing]

It would depend on the reel itself. some have extra slots where you can just slap em on. some of them you just put it on top of the existing magnet. some comes with kits to remove old plates and allow you to add new one on. it really depends... read up on instructions if they provide it or ask the seller

[@Jakester_33]

NIce jimmy, I think its good to be overbraked for Ultralight because you still have more brakes. At least on my kind of fishing. now the question is , will it hinder casting distance on the heavier side of bfs lures. Too bad I'ved already got the tatula 80. but definitely getting the kestrel over the holidays (where there are sales)..

[@rawrfishing]

Over braked is bad if u fish it at 0 brakes and u have 20 brakes settings you could have utilized. But definitely need stronger brakes for the light stuff. The distance on that light jig was pretty good ya?

[@Jakester_33]

@@rawrfishing yup.. its good. its as we expected to be overbraked because of that small spool. more revolutions needs more brake. and I thought previously they use the same magnetic brake arcs as daiwas. if they did that I mean they could have lessened the brake with a single magnetic field not with a compounded one with the four magnets they have..

[@rawrfishing]

let's see how it goes when i pop 2 magnets off.. somehow LOL

[@Jakester_33]

@@rawrfishing one more question.. in your initial impression was the cost worth it? considering the competition...

[@rawrfishing]

i personally don't think it is worth 220. but i can't say how much it should be priced because I haven't fully tested it and it's not my forte to give an estimate. But what i can tell you is that I would not buy it without some sort of discount.. such as that amazing pre-order 35 dollars at BFE or those pre-order discount codes that KastKing sent out.

[@bassnbonsai]

Nice video

[@rawrfishing]

Thx man. Let me know what I can do to improve my vids

[@playmax36]

U should try kanicen melencong bfs rod. Very good rod. Fast action ul

[@rawrfishing]

thanks for the recommendation, maybe one day!

[@seizedcarcass8440]

Is the kestrel better than the Zephyr? I’m considering putting together a BFS combo for 1/8-1/32 ounce baits.

[@rawrfishing]

Kestrel is more of the UL side while Zephyr is L and Up. So in that scenario, the Kestrel would be better

[@seizedcarcass8440]

@@rawrfishing do you recommend any other reels that could handle light lures in the 1/8-1/32 ounce range?

[@rawrfishing]

Dark wolf ultra from Tsurinoya if you are on a budget. Daiwa alphas air tw or Daiwa Gekkabijin

[@xdkarmatv]

Most of his power is coming from his whole arm, and not the wrist... is that how you are supposed to cast with a BFS setup like this to help minimize backlash?

[@rawrfishing]

Not necessarily. It's a out how one sets up the reel. I can use must wrists only too. It's just my style of casting. The reel is also strong in braking, which allows better control

[@bigmikefishingchonicles9950]

I am kinda disappointed for $220 you should have to change any thin but my question is if you had someone getting into BFS should the get the dark wolf or the zephyr

[@rawrfishing]

But for our Japanese reels, we also change our bearings or swap spools... Great example... Curado bfs reel.. If someone is new to bfs.. As the person who have helped create the Zephyr, I would tell others to get the DWU likely for consistency and all arounder. For those who wanna throw heavier lures though. Zephyr

[@rawrfishing]

I also want to share that I just have gotten a 2nd Kestrel from Kastking for a promo video. That reel seems to be better. So potentially the stock bearings on my first reel was just below standard..

[@magnusm8516]

hey man, do you prefer briaded line or mono for a bfs setup?

[@rawrfishing]

Braid to leader material is my go to. Keeps the spool light and I can have more line on. But it can get expensive.

[@fish-n-gameanglersclub365]

I wonder if the reel has a "break in" period like how guns are...you gotta fire alot of shots through it to get a li'l better accuracy...maybe Kestrel is the same? Maybe you just gotta cast it a gazillion times first!?!? Hope I can find some pleasure in it when they deliver mine's. 🎣🤷🏾‍♂️ Fi$h-N-Game 4LIFE!!!

[@rawrfishing]

Well... Not here because I aleady flushed the spool bearings and added my own oil. If it was out of the box... Sure.. But nope.. Need new bearings

[@fish-n-gameanglersclub365]

I wonder how it feels on your Dobyns 7'4 BFS rod...I was tryna choose between that and the 6'9 or 7 ft Light...

[@rawrfishing]

I may mess with more heavier and stout rods later. I think what i want to do next is bearing swap as i do have some here that fits and keep messing with UL and L. then i can change thicker lines and try some other fishing styles

[@baitfinesseempire]

@@fish-n-gameanglersclub365 The Dobyns 700c is a very special rod 👍 nothing wrong with 74, 69, etc... But that 700 nails it, in my hands. YMMV.

[@fish-n-gameanglersclub365]

@@baitfinesseempire Thanks brother! Balance is key...and that 700C might just be the magic number! My reel will be here Monday...then its the 700C! 🎣😁👍🏾 Fi$h-N-Game 4LIFE!!!

[@quanloikid1]

The free spool to me is very bad at 0 brake and minimal spool tension because it is over braked. You can buy a AG Revo MGX2 for $225 with HG incentives

[@rawrfishing]

Try taking off a magnet or two! I heard it works. But I can't do it until I do all my normal testing. Then bearing upgrades. Then lastly... Removal of magnets as that would be the biggest mod of the two things

[@juanpedroza1083]

May I ask what type of lure are you using ?

[@rawrfishing]

Did you watch the video? I mentioned every lure I have thrown

[@juanpedroza1083]

@@rawrfishing i was but I saw you were using trout magnet but with a different plastic. The first one you used was the one I very interested in.

[@juanpedroza1083]

@@rawrfishing i found it. My bad.

[@rawrfishing]

Eurotackle EPF Swim was the first one. used the same plastic on the trout magnet jig.

[@Plee92]

In your opinion curado or kestrel

[@rawrfishing]

Curado out of the box can't go as light. So it's hard to say. Still testing things so hold your horses

[@vuexiong9168]

Since the reel is over breaked, maybe it's better as a bass reel.

[@rawrfishing]

Definitely for heavier lures, but the contradicting small spool makes it terrible for heavier lures since it will dispense less line per rotation. At this price, people should get a curado or even slx bfs reel

[@vuexiong9168]

@raWr Fishing I agree. Hard to beat a daiwa and shimano once you pass a certain price point.

[@rawrfishing]

They should have done a cheaper version first to flush out the issues. I burned the bridge with kastking on this reel by saying it isn't good :(

[@ichphan]

Is the reel worth high $200 range?

[@rawrfishing]

So far no. But perhaps in the high 100s. I need more testing before I can give a better value. So stick around! Maybe KK will address some issues and it would be 200!

[@mirza8118]

The reel sounds a bit loud doesnt it?

[@rawrfishing]

It's a kastking after all..

[@TheHunterFisher]

Looking forward to trying this reel here soon. I think with the magnesium frame, it won’t see salt often😂 but this reel is honestly much more enticing to me over the SLX/Curado/Scorpion, all of which seem way to heavy and not the best braking systems in my opinion. PS: I need that tiny dehooking tool you unhooked with😂

[@rawrfishing]

I think any new reels got that new toy factor. Definitely more excited for this reel over the big Japanese brand as Kastking have been pushing for bfs growth in the American market since they started aligning their market penetratation plans in the finesse world. Whether the reel good, average or subpar, the amount of push is a win for the bfs world. They just need to release the different bfs rods I have recommended in the US market and it will flourish. Then the Japanese brands will follow through... Even Abu Garcia may bring back a reel or two!

[@rawrfishing]

The unhookum tool is banging

[@TheHunterFisher]

@@rawrfishing Yeah I think the Kestrels biggest effect is going to be the challenge that it sets forth. Because it does seem that Japanese have held back on giving consumers the absolute best, while KastKing didn’t hesitate.

[@exbon]

Good 👍 salam kenal dari Indonesia 🙏🇮🇩👉🔔

[@rawrfishing]

Thx man!

[@trickytrav88]

I definitely dont like the price, thats more than the Curado BFS thats not acceptable in my opinion. Kastking They are an expanding decent brand but they are definitely not shimano

[@trickytrav88]

And the clicker should be louder definitely

[@bobu-san7139]

Their are always coupons floating around. I am sure you can get it for 190 at any time. I have yet to toss it but Jimbo is giving me something good think of when i take it out. I am putting it on a Ace Hawk Double, might try out the zephyr rod...... I love my Zephyr it always gets me a fish.... I have a couple curados so I think I can try and make that comparison you are talking about.. ..

[@rawrfishing]

Definitely not worth that price. Hope the price would be adjusted along with some changes to the reel.

[@rawrfishing]

Glad I was able to give you some insights. Let us and kastking know your thoughts whenever u get to take it out for a session!

[@trickytrav88]

@@rawrfishing i like the zephyr BFS reel its definitely worth the 80 bucks. I need to start buying more power fishing reels

[@Mr.BigPerch]

219$ bucks, no way, Shimano,Daiwa and Abu Garica make better BFS reels for that price, i have a 2011 Abu LTX with a Avail Shallowspool and the Welsact Magnetmug, cast a 4' Roboworm 45 ft weightless, stress free!

[@rawrfishing]

I dunno if there are priced reels that are available that can cast this low on the Shimano Daiwa side. Yes I am aware Yen is down. But it's not quite down at the same price and likely Yen will go back up. The curado and slx doesn't even go this low out of the box. But certainly over priced at the moment. Hope to change bearings soon and see wassup

[@geertwilders5566]

I dont get it, who buys a bfs reel and not gonna throw UL baits

[@rawrfishing]

Well it depends. Bfs reel doesnt mean just UL. Bfs reels fit well on L and even ML rods. And depending on the fishery... UL lures can be classified differently.

[@noobpyrotech9991]

@@rawrfishing Yeah thanks for making that distinction. I UL with spinners but trying to do UL with baitcasters, and was using BFS to help me get there.

[@rawrfishing]

no problem mate :)