Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

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Siggywiggy
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Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by Siggywiggy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:28 am

I already own the Kuying Teton TTS602 and looking at Kuying website they have a new 4 piece travel rod called FreeStyle Walker UL.
Ive have scoured the internet and I cant find any info on the action and construction (tubular or solid tip). Im thinking it might be a great option for hiking to secluded and very overgrown trout streams where even walking is troublesome.
Anyone maybe already own one and can comment?

Siggywiggy
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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by Siggywiggy » Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:34 am

Well it seems I found a video where the parabolic bend can be determined and the tip seems to be medium-fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W7KuKR6I8

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by Knotty » Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:01 am

The bend looks very “Tetonish”. Plus glad to see Kuying has a YouTube channel. Good find.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by Siggywiggy » Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:52 am

I decided to order one, hopefully the guides and the tip will be straight this time. The Teton has a noticeably bent tip and misaligned guides which are pretty much just cosmetic but aggravating as all hell. Will report in when and if I recieve it.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by kaiser » Mon Oct 12, 2020 4:45 pm

I hear a lot of good things about the free style walker line in various groups.
Big fan of kuying and tsurinoya in general, I haven't really gotten anything that I found unusable.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by Siggywiggy » Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:37 am

I actually got mine. Quick summary:

a) packs down to impressively small size, the included bag feels very high quality but Id still use a hard carrying tube when trekking
b) quality is excellent - the finish was impeccable on mine and everything was STRAIGHT
c) The tip is very fast, too fast for my personal preference, your preference might be different
e) gram test when casting is accurate even on the low end
d) enough backbone to handle angry 1.5kg trout, it bends trough nicely towards the handle with a large fish and even with braid+fuoro leader/bumper it can handle the surges keeping the hook in
e) it feels heavy to me personally in the hand but Im used to super ultralight rods

For the money its stupid good value, Im keeping it as a backup/travel rod. You can absolutely pack it down to carryon bag and it can fish any style or method adequately.

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jvelth74
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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:46 am

Siggywiggy wrote:
Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:37 am
I actually got mine. Quick summary:

a) packs down to impressively small size, the included bag feels very high quality but Id still use a hard carrying tube when trekking
b) quality is excellent - the finish was impeccable on mine and everything was STRAIGHT
c) The tip is very fast, too fast for my personal preference, your preference might be different
e) gram test when casting is accurate even on the low end
d) enough backbone to handle angry 1.5kg trout, it bends trough nicely towards the handle with a large fish and even with braid+fuoro leader/bumper it can handle the surges keeping the hook in
e) it feels heavy to me personally in the hand but Im used to super ultralight rods

For the money its stupid good value, Im keeping it as a backup/travel rod. You can absolutely pack it down to carryon bag and it can fish any style or method adequately.
Thanks for review! I have ordered Lemoren Windshadow (solid glassfiber rod 1,4 m): viewtopic.php?f=55&t=80696&start=60 Knowing that this is not long casting. And because of that, I needed to find out longer casting travel rod for pairing Windshadow. There was a few good options from Aliexpress. After long thinking I find out that I can find place for casting by Kuying Teton TTC-632UL, so 6' rod is not too long, in those few places where I really need some casting distance. So KUYING FREESTYLE UL FWC604 ordered (a few weeks ago). These rod's are mainly for bicycle fishing (because of avoiding rod bag). Gas prices are currently ridiculously sky high in here Finland. And bicycling is good for health. But with these two rods I can cover pretty much everything in my trout BFS fishing, I think.

Currently there is ~10(?) Youtube videos of fishing with this KUYING FREESTYLE UL showing action of it. Yes, it seems pretty parabolic, and probably good action for trout. Also there seems no issues with casting.

Kyuing Teton TTC-632UL weights 105 g. It was OK with one hand casting. It's 1-4 g rating. (This rod doesn't cast much longer than Tsurinoya Master 472 UL - Master just is a decent caster and Kuying tetons are not, those are too noodle for that.) KUYING FREESTYLE UL FWC604 weights 72 g, and it's shorter than TTC-632UL. Should be OK for one hand casting. It's 1-7 g rating. Hoping / thinking it's (much) faster than Teton(s). It can't be too fast because Youtube videos shows parabolic action with fish. I probably will not cast lighter than 3 g lures with this rod, because distance casting is basically only reason which I will use it. I have always other rod for short casting / lightest lures.

But decision is done and rods are ordered. I just can't wait those arriving. And therefore summarized my toughs :D
Freestyle UL FWC604UL.jpg
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kaiser wrote:
Mon Oct 12, 2020 4:45 pm
Big fan of kuying and tsurinoya in general, I haven't really gotten anything that I found unusable.
Exactly! Teton series just are noodle [TTC510S is actually exception, it's just lightest of lightest, but taking in to account that, it's not actually as noodle as other Tetons, it's just super light], but those supposed to be noodle, so actually it's not disadvantage, but because of that Tetons are not mine greatest favorite. But over all all my Kuying's and Tsurinoya's has been worth of money. Despite of that prices are going high on nowadays.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Sun Jul 10, 2022 7:32 am

Knotty wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:01 am
The bend looks very “Tetonish”. Plus glad to see Kuying has a YouTube channel. Good find.
Received my Freestyle Walker FWC604 UL. And fished it a short trip yesterday in a bad conditions / rainy and dark. Got one pike -or lost it- but it released himself from single barbless hook by jumping when I was thinking how I should release it.

It bends like Tetons by pulling from line, but it is MUCH faster action than Tetons. And now I'm not meaning 'fast' action how it bends - it bends parabolically / trough, but it straightens much faster than Tetons. Probably it's because of Toray fibers.

Probably I must first to get used to to this rod, because I have fished all year only 4,5' rods (Tsurinoya Ares, Master and Windshadow), so this 6' rod felt strange in a beginning. But in short casts, after those short rods, it was pretty horrible :) . Rod just is hard to get bent at all like ~3 g lure in short casts, and therefore it's really easy to miss target. Very short and fast movement helps a little in this (bending tip), but I haven't used to cast in that way and it's easy to overpower short cast that way. Moreover in a small stream fishing must be all times carefully with 6' rod (avoid hitting obstacles). And really good casting places are just a few. (It would be different if wading for casting places, but I don't like sweating in a waders.)

Casting distance was slightly disappointment for me. I just expected more for 6' rod. At first I couldn't cast much (or any) longer than 4,5' Tsurinoya Master. But that's probably because of that I have casted much with Master and last days I have casted only with Windshadow so casting is much different with this Freestyle Walker. But that hopefully get improved when I get used to this new rod. Positive surprise in a casting was that, I could dial Magforce to '3' with this rod in a distance casting (Master = '4', Windshadow '4' or '5'.) and that helped to find out casting performance. So, clean cast is easy with this rod....

This rod is a nice craftmanship indeed for that price. Also it's remarkable light as 6' rod.

But grips in this rod I don't like. Probably I'm going at least to modify grips. Grip is too short being that shaped. This short grip should be cigar shaped or grip should be longer (by width of one finger). And that bottom most grip is also bad shaped and it's unnecessary far.

I have thought a lot of how I'm going to use these travel rods (Windshadow & Freestyle). Currently I think I will use Freestyle in a stream fishing only in those places which I can't reach with Windshadow. After all now I have proper travel rods for stream fishing, for every situation I know, and those goes perfectly to very portable bag. But I need at least to modify grips of Freestyle Walker. Small grinding / sanding might do a big difference...
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jvelth74
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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:51 am

I'm currently still quite unhappy with Freestyle UL grip.
Freestyle & Tsurinoya.jpg
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Wish that they would hade made similar grip than in Tsurinoya Trout Master is.
Freestyle & Tsurinoya2.jpg
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Probably I will try this easy modification to Freestyle Walker and hope it will help enough:
modification.jpg
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Fished another one day with this rod. This time in a good weather and a long day (several hours). I got one Rainbow Trout, one pike and one perch. One Rainbow escaped when I was trying to land it to net. But it was not rod's cause. This time I loosen drag too much. And it seems that fishes escapes easily from barbless treble hooks. But that lure had nice fly like treble hook, so I just mage it barbless. I really need to begin for making some fly tyings to my single hooks.

This rod casts good. Not excellent, like Tsurinoya Trout Master, but Freestyle Walker is fully parabolic rod, and it couldn't be excellent distance caster. (Yes, this casts longer than Master, but this is 1'5" longer.) I casted 3 - 7 grams. 3 Gram is still easy to cast (it bends rod easily). 7 Grams is slightly too much for distance casting. I would say that 6 grams flies longest with this rod.

With fishes fully parabolic action is really nice and good. Fish needs being lucky to escape. And this rod is really soft for trouts - don't un-necessary much to hurt fishes. But still this seems having enough hooking power for pikes.

Grip of rod doesn't feel anymore that bad, but I still think it could be better.
Last edited by jvelth74 on Wed Jul 27, 2022 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:17 am

Fished more with this rod. In my opinion it's something between (fully) parabolic / through action and progressive / moderate action. Fully parabolic it isn't. If bend it not too much, it shows progressive action. Bent a little more, it shows parabolic action. It's nice rod especially with fish. And it is good caster, if there is room for cast decently.

My video review of it:


0:30 First Rainbow Trout
4:14 Second Rainbow Trout
6:10 Pike

Kuying Freestyle Walker FWC604UL
4 -piece travel rod.
This rod is not fully parabolic / through action.
There is some backbone.
But I'm not sure is it progressive / moderate action.
It's something middle from parabolic to progressive.
But it's soft with fishes and cast slightly better than fully parabolic.
So this casts good, but faster action rod surely would cast further.
I tried to cast 3 - 7 g lures. This rod was good with these weights.
Two part grip of rod might be improved.
I'm not big handed, but I don't find comfortable grip from it.
Maybe if palming reel fully (Ring Finger to trigger) it would be different story.
But I don't want to cast that way. I prefer to cast with middle finger in a trigger.
And I change ring finger to trigger when cranking, if I remember to do it.
It would be different story if grip would be 1" longer or at least cigar shape.
Maybe I should at least to sand grip to different shape.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Wed Jul 27, 2022 8:12 am

Modified it. Sure it's not perfect but in this point at least enough good. Seems like I need cork filler. There was cavities inside cork:
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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by LowRange » Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:51 am

jvelth74 wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 8:12 am
Modified it. Sure it's not perfect but in this point at least enough good. Seems like I need cork filler. There was cavities inside cork:
Try palming the reel. This is done after you make a cast and you move your hand up the rod and reel moving some fingers in front the trigger. Your thumb should end up on top of the frame. This will move your hand up and you won't hand it so far down the grip when working the bait. Only when casting will your hand be that far down on the rod.

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Sun Jul 31, 2022 9:20 am

LowRange wrote:
Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:51 am
Try palming the reel. This is done after you make a cast and you move your hand up the rod and reel moving some fingers in front the trigger. Your thumb should end up on top of the frame. This will move your hand up and you won't hand it so far down the grip when working the bait. Only when casting will your hand be that far down on the rod.
Thanks for advice ... Yes, it's made for palming the reel. For palming reel it would have been comfortable. But so far I haven't used to change grip between cranking and casting. Changing grip would be easy if I would use right hand reel, but in UL baitcasting I like to keep rod in right hand. But placing ring finger to trigger, then this handle is near to good, after modification I have done.

But maybe I really should try to begin to change grips between casting and cranking...

Anyway with regardless of palming or not, I like more cigar shaped grips like in Tsurinoya Master :) ...That's pretty perfect grip in UL baitcasting rod, I think.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tested re-shaped grip. In the beginning I didn't remember that I sanded it. Just casting for a while I found that this grip doesn't bother me anymore. Success!

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Re: Kuying Freestyle Walker UL

Post by jvelth74 » Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:40 pm

I have learned to like this rod. It cast's good, but it's moderate action, and if needed casting distance, it really needs full swing. So, long cast can't be performed from tight place with this rod. I think I cast 7 g lure longest with this rod, so rating (1-7 g) of this rod is just perfect. It's possible that I could adapt to original grip, but currently I'm happy that I sanded it. Actually I think this rod is just perfect for my needs after all. I newer go fishing with only this rod, or if I will do that, I have thought before where I'm going to fish. But actually long casting this moderate action rod isn't. It is good casting moderate action rod. Casts good and soft with fishes...And in a long cast is nice time to palm reel...But still I think it was right way to modify grip of this rod for casting.

-------------------------------------

Fished it more, used to it more, liking it more...

If there's enough room, it casts longer than Tsurinoya Trout Master, any lure in a rating, which is very good in my standards. Yesterday I enjoyed casting any lure in it's range. Even hard-to-cast Gan Craft Jointed Claw 70's were better to cast than any rod I have tried before. Most enjoyable was to cast Tsurinoya Intruder 50S's. One of these I cast that long that I found new underwater tree, and lost that lure and my casting line. Only thin backing was left. So I decide to change spool to Roro, where I have Varivas Bait Finesse PE x4 PE#0.5. I decide to fish long rapid upstream with Trout Magnets. This rod is best so far I have tried also with Trout Magnets. It is in my opinion better than Kuying teton ttc510s :o I guess it's because this Freestyle UL is lower in stiffness / rod weight -ratio, and it's because of that easier. Despite of that bending rod in casting Trout Magnets is not happening. I need free space tor wide swing to cast these. But I could quickly to find way to cast accurate casts an got enough distance to fish that rapid. Very good rod indeed!

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