- Kestrel Carbon Baitcasting Fishing Reels, Finesse Baitcaster

I have numerous other bait finesse casting reels and some that cost much more $ than this Kastking Kestrel BFS 2024 reel. I must say, this reel is impressive for the price point and has been a pleasure to fish with...mostly. I have one minor issue, but others may not have the same issue with these reels that I have had. The reel is very light and ergonomically it feels just amazing in my hand and it is a very smooth casting reel and has plenty of drag to fight larger fish and a real good looking reel too. However, due to the position of the external break dial on the reel and due to the way that I prefer to palm the reel I have noticed that in my particular case after I reel in and land a fish that my palm is turning the break dial and it tends to turn the dial which lowers the break setting to where the spool will speed up on the next cast and it has caused backlashing and line fluffing. I didn't figure the issue out right away so now after I reel in a fish I have to check at the external break dial and make sure it is on the same setting I had it on before and if it happened to turn the break dial and lower the break setting then I must readjust it to where I had it previously. Kind of a pain to have to check it as often as I have to now but otherwise it is a fantastic BFS reel and it can easily cast 1/16 oz jigs with 2 inch curly tail grub trailers and 1/8 finesse crankbaits 25 plus yards. I have landed several 1.5 to 2 + lbs bass with no problems at all. I have it paired up on a Handing Magic L ultralight 6 ft casting rod and it is a magical pairing in my opinion for BFS! I love fishing with this setup. You can get this rod on Amazon for under $40 and it is high quality and a beautiful looking rod too. I highly recommend both products. If you're still riding the fence on getting into to BFS game or you're just now getting into bait finesse fishing with a casting reel and you don't want to spend a lot then this reel is perfect. You can't go wrong. Good luck and land a big one!!! :-)

Wow...tiny little kick ass BFS reel...paired with kestrel BFS rod and i tell you that it is one of the prettiest fishing rod reel combos ive ever seen...to boot, this rig is very well built and it will cast a feather a country mile...if you're thinking of jumping into the BFS game, this rig is as good as the highest end rigs at about half the cost...maybe even better...brake system is flawless...fear no crows nest with this reel...set the brakes and forget the brakes...tiny and potent little BFS reel...get one and find out for youself

KastKing's Kestrel CST reels are true Bait Finesse System (BFS) reels. For their price, they are as nice a reel as you could ask for. The body is a carbon fiber material, which, along with the fine spool, keeps the reel very light in weight. Click, adjustable drag, and spool tensioning knobs are nice features. The magnet breaking allows the caster to use very lightweight lures while experiencing almost no backlash. The ergonomic shape, lightweight materials, rigid construction, and comfortable non-slip grips all contribute to making this an easy casting reel.

It’s marketed as a kestrel elite. It is in fact not! It is just the “kestrel”. I feel mislead. Especially since the kestrel SE costs less but has a sturdier build, lighter spool, higher drag weight and updated brakes. I will be returning it solely based on that alone. Aside from that it really isn’t a bad reel just don’t expect it to cast 1/32 lures very far. At all. Even with an ultra light rod. But if you only want it for lighter line management it’s good. Also decently smooth reel. That why I gave it 3 stars.

If you are new to baitcasters and BFS this is the one for you. You literally can't go wrong with it, and it makes casting easy.. maybe too easy and I'll get to that below. Just got the reel in today and I put some 4lb flourocarbon on it and casted it around in the yard and I was extremely impressed. Very smooth casting. Very smooth reeling. The drag clicker is satisfying to play with. I set the tension down low, lower than you normally would on a baitcaster. I turned the brake down to the lowest setting and I could not get it to backlash with the flourocarbon. I was tossing a 1/16 oz jig head, pictured for reference, and i was getting 20-30 yard casts. Very accurate placement of the jighead, it wasn't pulling to the left or anything like that. I'll have to see how it handles smaller sized jigs. It says it can go down to 1/32 so that would half the weight of what I was throwing. My only concern is that I couldn't get it to backlash at all, which is normally a good thing, but could indicate that it's over-braked. Again I had it at the lowest setting and the tension low (when I hit the release the jig fell to the ground quickly, so that low) and it wouldnt backlash on no thumb casts. if I have any issues fishing with finesse jigs I'll come back and update it. I also plan on putting some 6lb braided with a leader, so again if there's any issues with that I'll come back and update. But if this thing is throwing flouro this well I expect no issues at all with braided. I've had other baitcasters from other brands, cheaper and more expensive alike. This is one of the best right out of the box reels I've purchased. I'm quite happy with this purchase.

Updated Review: After submitting my original review, KastKing contacted me and suggested that I try the reel again. I am so glad they made this suggestion, and so glad that I did try it again. I must have just gotten a defective one the first time, because this reel is actually amazing. The casting is actually excellent and I am able to easily throw 1/32oz (or even lighter) without issue now. The retrieve is smooth, the fit/finish is tight with little to no movement on the spool, knobs, or anywhere else it shouldn't. Most importantly, the braking is excellent and easy to set up for a variety of lure weights. It's an absolute pleasure to fish. I was wondering why my opinion of this reel was so off from most others, but I think it's safe to assume that my first reel was just somehow the rare defect, because few others share my first opinion of this reel. It's a really nice confirmation of sanity to have this corrected because I own and really like about 1/2 dozen other KastKing reels and really enjoy them. Sorry for the misleading first review! I'm happy to be wrong. --------------------------------- Original Review: Directly comparing this reel (which is the highest priced of the bunch) to KastKing Zephyr BFS, Soloking Acura HICC-50, and Soloking GKA 200 King Archer, I'm sorry to report that this reel would come in a distant last place. The reel is tremendously over-braked (even though this version was supposed to solve that) and I'm barely able to cast 1/16oz on it (and definitely not 1/32oz as advertised). All three of the reels mentioned above (at 1/2 to 1/3 the price) perform much better! I don't recommend wasting your time or money on this one.

Smooth reel that is very light and easy to palm

I purchased the Kestrel BFS Finesse Baitcasting Reel late in the season so was only able to use it a few times before the weather changed but my initial impressions are that this is an excellent reel and a great value. I spooled it with 4 pound monofilament and had no difficulties casting small jigs. I had initially spooled a little too much line and got some backlash until I peeled a bit off. The build quality seems good and the reel is smooth. Its small size fits perfectly in my palm. Since I only got out a few times I can’t speak to the durability of this reel but my experience with other KastKing reels (both baitcasting and spinning) is that they hold up well. I started buying KastKing products a few years ago because didn’t want to spend a ridiculous amount getting outfitted. I’ve purchased a number of rods and reels: lightweight for panfish, slightly heavier for walleye & northern, much heavier for Muskie, and pair of collapsible rods with spincasting reels for canoeing. I’ve been satisfied with everything that I’ve gotten. I think that the value is excellent, and the quality is better than I expected when I bought my first reel a few years ago. That reel had a small plastic “clutch plate” wear out this year. I was able to order a replacement part from KastKing for $13 after shipping which is much better than throwing out a perfectly good reel because I couldn’t find parts. When I contacted KastKing about replacing that part my emails got answered within a day or two and my calls got answered immediately. A year ago I had the locking mechanism on the handle of a collapsible net fail. It was under warranty and when I contacted customer service I got through to someone right away and they shipped a replacement to me without any hassle.