Review: Kingdom “Shadow Tip” Baitcaster Rod, Reel + Line (Combo)

This is a budget baitcaster combo for an incredible price from Kingdom, a manufacturer that actually knows how to produce high quality bait casting rods. This rod is really good to try out bait casting.

Dry and Water Review

We got the red 210cm version with the handle on the left. It’s rated at 5-18 grams lure weight. This review is written after using it for 1 year.

Dry Review

Pricing

Less than $60 for a baitcaster rod and reel and braided line is obviously almost as cheap as it’s gonna get. As if that isn’t enough it comes with 2 tips (M and MH power rating) and two rod wraps, so this is clearly a 10/10

Packaging

Since this is a rod and reel set that you’re gonna take out, there’s no packaging to look at except the shipping packaging. The rod comes in bubble wrap with 2 boxes for the baitcasting reel and the line respectively taped to the side and then wrapped in tape. This works really well, 10/10

Shipping

Shipping took 18 days, 6/10.

Quality

The first impression was actually better than what you’d expect for the price. It doesn’t feel cheaply made and during the dry test everything moves as much as it should and as little as it has to.

It also doesn’t give you the feeling if holding something really solid, especially the reel. The brakes also gave me mixed feelings. 6/10

You can find HD product pictures on the item page

Water Review

Catching Effectiveness

I caught all kinds of fish with this, from >80cm northern pike to little bait fish. It’s decent at indicating bite feedback and fun to reel in. When the fish hook themselves it’s easy to set the hook, but when there’s a chance to miss hooking them you probably will 8/10.

8/10

Ease of use

You have to use the right weight, in the higher spectrum of the 5-18g range given by the manufacturer in order to cast this right. Adjusting the brakes doesn’t allow to go down with the weight by much.

I found using a dropshot rig with 18 grams sinkers (reviewed here) to be the most enjoyable method.

This brings us to my main advice: This rod works great for vertical fishing, much better than casting.

In short: The weight specified by the manufacturer is not really to be trusted, it should be rated at 13-18g maybe. If you like vertical fishing from an dock or boat, it’s really easy to use, casting is doable, but you might get frustrated. 6/10

Durability

I broke one tip, but that was my own mistake. Generally, I must say I’ve never been easy on this rod, due to the price and short size it’s been my go to rod for messing around, it’s been thrown around and used plenty and is still holding up. The line has also not let me down. On the other hand, I can feel the reel getting louder and not moving as smoothly anymore. 7/10

Conclusion

This is a great and obviously really affordable combo to try out bait casting. I’d say “try out” more than “learn”, as if you want to learn you should learn it right with something better, because it teaches you casting in a very restrctive way.

If you want to see if a bait casting rod is for you, this is a good one to get and try it out.

Where to buy