KastKing Rover Round Baitcasting Fishing Reels, Perfect Reel for Catfish

Bought this for musky fishing and mounted it on a heavy action rod. Loaded it with 80 lb. test braided line. Excellent combo for casting heavy lures. Best feature is that the line guide moves on the cast which keeps the line wound on the spool neatly. I also have a Kast King 50 but this is a 60 and comes with a power handle that is good for retrieving heavy lures.

I just received this in the mail today!!! I’m excited to use it! The Rover series reels are pure workhorses! If you can fine tune them, there’s almost nothing that you can’t reel in! I spooled it with 25lbs test, braid, Reaction tackle (camo). I fish saltwater. I have two of the red ones, bought them about three years ago. I don’t always wash out my reels off after fishing (and sometimes drinking🤣). I have dropped them, banged them up, and they just don’t break. Which an occasional deep clean and greasing/oiling. Built like tanks! So it’s safe to say that these upgraded black ones will work the same. I added some pics of the handle replacements I used, and a pic of the salt corrosion on my 40L. In total I have the 40L and 60L in red. Now the 50L in black. The differences that I like the most: It’s black, and most importantly- Kastking listened to consumers (I know I complained my tail off) and upgraded the handle/knob!!!! There’s no need to buy a handle replacement, this one is solid, sturdy and ready for a fight!! For anyone that has the issue with the older models where it feels like you can’t tighten tensioner knobs anymore - I actually cut out a piece of plastic from a water bottle the size of the metal square inside the spool tensioner knobs (like a spacer in between the rubber and metal square) and it helped out big time! Easier to adjust, for casting and such. The knob on the handle side is to adjust the spool so it’s aligned in the middle of the reel, and the knob that is the “brakes” is for controlling your cast more. Both are tensioners either way.. hope that makes sense! The drag works as it should, adjust accordingly. Can’t wait to use my new black rover!!!

The TLDR: Great value for the money. Good for both salt and fresh water. Easy to clean and maintain. Casting is ok and the line alarm is decently loud. Quality assurance may be a factor when you first get it but customer service and the warranty is good and easy to work with to resolve any issues. Detailed review: This reel is currently in use with my normal catfish rigs. When I first received the reel it worked well out of the box. I was able to land some decent size fish while dragging bottom in my boat. However, halfway through my first trip with it I noticed the reel started to lock up when in free spool. I believe it had something to do with the anti-reverse gear. I reached out to customer support who took care of the issue by sending me a new reel and shipping was quick enough I was able to rig it and get it back into the lineup within a week or so. Since then I had no real issues with it. A deeper look... 1. Spool The spool is a smooth metal and has a metal level wind that works well and will not damage your line. You can use braid but I cant speak to the wear on the level wind eye as a result because I mostly use mono. I have had the level wind pop out of the track one time when I got a little careless reeling in a fish but was able to pop it back in no problem using my thumb. The spool is able to hold a good amount of line for any kind of fishing you would be wanting to do. I use the 60 series and tend to troll long lines (100-300ft) and I have yet to get close to being spooled when catfishing. For some of the bigger saltwater species the 60 may be small but that's why you can upgrade to the 80 or 90 series. The reel has 2 spool tension knobs on either side of the reel. In my experience the tension knob under the drag is set well to keep the spool center for the level wind. I use the tension knob on the other side with the numbers to adjust the spool tension. When casting heavy baits/lures you may need to thumb the spool down an inch or so you truly release the spool from the anti-reverse gear. It's not that big a deal for me but I can see this being a item that may wear out in the future. But in all truth you can see the same in higher end Abu Garcia reels. 2. Handle The new power handle that comes with the new rover series is a welcome change. Having used the older red models in the past (and still do) the first thing I would do is change out the stock handle to a power handle for more torque. Having these come stock with one is a welcome change in my eyes. It's not too cumbersome, has good balance and will not close the spool on a hard cast. 3. Drag The drag system is very good. It has no problem stopping a large fish run. The drag is decently smooth. The 30lbs in the 60 is more than enough for your typical catfish rig. 4. Line Alarm (Clicker) The clicker on this reel is decent. It's loud. It would be comparable to an Abu Garcia C3 series, maybe a little louder. It's more like a phone ringing on half volume. The gears that make up the clicker are made of plastic which isn't that big a deal since there isn't any load on it, but you need to be careful not to cast with the clicker on or you run the risk of it breaking. 5. Wear and tear The type of fishing I do can be really hard on reels and they can start to show wear pretty quickly. The Rover series does seem to be holding up well. I have been doing the best I can to keep it in working order by cleaning and lubing it every so often or after I take it to the salt. Even with regular cleaning I have noticed the reel building more resistance to casting when in free spool. The gears that are in contact with the spool when engaged remain touching the spool when in free spool and add drag thus reducing casting distance. It's not an egregious loss of distance but it is there. The other thing that I noticed wearing on the reel is the black paint. After a year of weekly trips to the water in ether a boat or on the bank I've started to notice the paint starting to chip away. It's purely cosmetic though and will not hinder the reels ability, but I wanted to bring it up in case someone wants style points on their setup. Conclusion I give this reel a 4/5 stars. It's a good reel for the price. This is a reel that I've really enjoyed using and currently have 2 actively on my rods ready to go.

I really wanted to like the KastKing Rover 60. Overall, it feels like a solid reel and has plenty of capacity for catfishing, but I’ve now had the same levelwind problem happen three or four times. The levelwind assembly keeps popping out of the groove/track that it is supposed to ride in. I’ve put it back into place, but eventually it happens again. At this point, it’s no longer something I can consider a random one-time issue. I primarily use these larger conventional reels for catfishing, where there is always a possibility of hooking a very large fish. The last thing I want to worry about during a fight is whether the levelwind is going to come out of its track again and cause problems with the line. I wanted this reel to work because there are several things I like about it, but after the same failure multiple times, I simply don’t trust it anymore. I’ll be replacing it with another reel for my catfishing setups. Unfortunately, repeated failure of such an important part of the reel makes it impossible for me to recommend the Rover 60.

This is a great reel. It has held up well casting heavy weights and reeling in trophy catfish.

I bought the kast king rover 40 left handed reel for salmon and steelhead fishing in the pnw and at first it did great. It casted good, had smooth drag and a smooth retrieve, and I even landed a mid 20 pound chinook salmon on it. But on the 5th outing, it started having problems. Out of nowhere it started making a grinding sound (even with clicker off) and stopped casting smoothly. The spool seemed to have trouble turning. It even locked up mid-cast, even with 2oz of weight! It cut my trip short and was even hard to pull the line out even when the cast button was pushed down. I thought maybe somehow something got inside of it so I pulled the spool out to see if that was the case but unfortunately it was clean as a whistle in there. It had ample amount of grease inside and was a seemingly perfectly working reel. So I am sending it back and receiving another one. Luckily it broke before the 1 month deadline, and I was able to request a new one. I really wanted this to work but unfortunately it failed me. I will update this after I use the new one for a while

This is an awesome reel for the money I use it every chance I get

Huge fan of kastking products, I own several reels, rod holders and tools.