Evergreen Kaleido "Black Raven" Extreme RS

Who would thought that you can actually feel everything in the bottom? This rod is a "must" try if you are a JDM enthusiastic, the Evergreen Kaleido Black Raven Extreme RS

Another sharing post here for y'all to consider this beautiful and crazy sensitive rod, where all the best, the latest materials, most fancy combination on an JDM Evergreen rod. This post will be purely base on my own experiences, after 1 month of using this rod for both heavy-medium heavy game with skirt jig (which this rod is made for ) and others techniques that I've tried on this rod. 

Toray T1100G blank + M40X carbon + Titanium Torzite Guides: What can you ask for more? Evergreen is a pure performance rod, where their design was not strictly about beauty, but somewhat looks awesome on your hand. When comparing with Megabass or other brands (Nories, Daiwa, Shimano, Deps, etc...), the design of Evergreen is quite simple, yet enough details for a ultra high-end rod, not too colorful, not too much fancy (woods, carbon) where it can make the rod super heavy like Arms, but simple traditional with cork grip and plenty of signature taste of their brand. 

Coming from 2021 and it has been 3 years since, this rod is still among all one of the most sensitive rod on my hand after a huge amount of jdm rod I've experiences. The tip is not too stiff and also not to soft, where literally you can feel every bump from the bottom, from rocks to mud, especially when a fish bite, you will know exactly that special moment, and prepare your self to set the hook. It is quite weird for me at first, rating as MH rod but the first couple fish I caught on this rod does not seem to be MH but rather M+, as I was quite afraid to have a full power hook set and lost so many fish holding my arms back rather than a full send hook set, which is what this rod is design for. After time, I notice the middle section of the rod is stiffer than what I imagined, and since then, every hook set I've made is a perfectly set, where no fish can escape, even in heavy grass area, or light-punching through grass mat. Yes, Evergeen did perfectly describe the rod as MH, but I think we will need a couple trips with rod to figure out what it want, how it can be play and how to treat it right. It was like an living thing on your hand, as they can speak to you, and the rod will tell you exactly what to do, and that's what been so good with all Evergreen rod I've used, especially with the Kaleido RS series. 

This particular Black Raven Extreme was design around for skirt jig, just bottom contact in general. The sensitivity is no like any other brand, with the balance of the whole rod of 116gr aka 4.14oz, not heavy at all but also not extreme light, it was perfect for this kind of technique, where popping/ moving the tip to create action every cast, you won't feel tired for all day casting for sure. Rating from 1/8-1oz but I did try a Tiny Klash on this rod too and it can also handle such weight, just not fully cast, but the action from the blank can definitely handle a little more than 1oz lure, especially big spinner or jigs. Furthermore, the handle section of the rod is quite long, which can support your action from the lure as well as setting the hook with lots of power, fighting a long fight with big fish is a plus too with the long handle. 

I have look for this rod for almost a year and finally found one last 2 months, where they was sold out everywhere, every drop from factory and overseas retailer, to be honest, this was such a gem for me as an angler using this for bass, especially with shirt/ tungsten jig. I hope this post can help all of us to have an inside look/ more field experiences base on what I share, and definitely a true masterpiece from Evergreen.