Conquering Kings

As soon as he hooks a king, Jarusinski likes to turn the boat and follow the running fish. When it turns to swim back toward the  boat, he puts the engines in neutral, goes to the bow and reels like mad  to keep up with the fish. "If you  don't get tight with the fish by  removing all slack from the line as it comes toward you, the fish will be gone when it turns to run back out again because the mono gets in its mouth," he says. "When I started kingfishing, we lost a lot of fish to bite-offs and said, 'The fish ate the wire.' After we got fast reels, this problem disappeared."

Jarusinski says gear ratios of 6:1 or 6.2:1 prove "plenty fast" to keep up with fish as they run toward the boat. Slower reels make it harder to maintain a tight line and increase the chance of losing a king when it turns to swim away.

The choice between graphite or metal frames depends on personal preference, but serious kingfish anglers agree on one point: Don't use levelwind reels. Though perfectly suited to other applications, even the best levelwinds risk fraying or burying the line as an angry smoker speeds off.

Kennedy urges anglers to buy the highest-quality reels they can afford. "Don't skimp on line capacity or drag quality," he says. "If you're tournament fishing, paying a little more for a better reel and new line represents a small fraction of what tackle malfunction or line failure could cost you."

Kingfish Reels: