The largest reel I had was a Penn 4500ss spooled with a couple  hundred yards of 12 lb test. I hooked a King on 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 Andre and 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

The way to catch the most kings on the pier, in my opinion, is to either freeline live bait (cigar minnows, threadfin herring, hardtails, etc) or snobble fresh/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 resistance on 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

Brad

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."  ~John Buchan

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.