T-Boy

I was at the Dan Russell in July acouple years ago and they were killing the Kings early in the morning and by 8AM it was basically done for the day.

The largest reel I had was a Penn 4500ss spooled with a couple hundred yards of 12 lb test. I hookeda Kingon a bucktail jig with a trailer and no wire leader and the fight lasted 30 seconds.

I came back in August with a Okuma 6500 reel spooled with 15 lb Andreand wire leader and of course the King's were gone.

So do I need a reel like a Penn 5500 and if you don't want to free line live bait what lures and line set up do you think is good.

Saw one guy catch a King on a large Rattletrap.

Thanks

Fiver

August isn't a great month for pier fishing for kings, but they somewhat reappear in September and October. I'm not familiar with an Okuma 6500, but if you can spool 300+ yards of 15lbmono and the weight of the reel isn't too much for you, then you really don't <U>need</U> to buy another reel unless you just want to upgrade. If you happen to hook a huge king, then you could feasibly still get spooled with only 300 yards of 15lb, but 95-99% of the kings you encounter on the pier won't spool you with that capacity.

The way to catch the most kings on the pier, in my opinion, is to eitherfreeline live bait (cigar minnows, threadfin herring, hardtails, etc)or snobblefresh/frozen dead bait. To snobble, you basically drift the bait on top of the water while reeling occassionally in a fashion to make the bait look as if it's twitching and also to keep it towards the top of the water column. If you are going to fish baits, then the preferred (not absolutely necessary)reel is going to have a manual bail. This will allow you to freespool more easily when you see a king approach your bait and allow the king to eat. (this takes practice though) If a king feels resistanceon the line when it 'mouths' your bait, then the smart ones aren't going to commit to eating...that is why you freespool.

Now, you mention using artificial lures, and one can catch kings doing this. You may want to look into some of the Yozuri lures....kings will occassionally grab someone's Gotcha plug, but those are used more often for spanish mackerel, not king.

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Team Recess

T-Boy

The Okuma reel I have is the Eclipz EZ-65 loaded with 15 lb Andre line. It feels a little heavy for continual casting but looks fine for live bait. I guess i was looking for something to cast artifical lures for something a little larger than the Spanish I usually catch.

The next largest reel I have is the Penn 4500, then I have several smaller spinning reels I use for fresh and saltwater.

Thanks for the response it was helpful as I don't get to fish saltwater but once a year but love it.

REEL STAMAS

I'd go w/a Shimano Baitrunner 4500B... the BaitRunner Drag Feature works like free spool if you set it light enough... Good drag &amp; good line capacity &amp; it's not too heavy...