I am heading to the Kenai Peninsula and will probably fish for king on the Kenai River in a week or so.
I don’t really have heavy duty 30lb test line rated rod and reel. I don’t really want to buy them either unless I have to.
I was planning on using a Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6501-C Casting Reel with a Shimano Clarus – Med, Heavy – 8 1/2 Rod. I also plan to use 20 lb test line even though I was told that 30 lb is
probably best to use.
We will be fishing from a non-guided boat for Kings.
Do you think this is big enough gear?
Thank you, Ben L.
Hey Ben!
Going to the Kenai, eh? Sweet! That’s the good news. The bad news is you had better say a few last words to your tackle before it meets its untimely demise. One of those Kenai kings will atomize your gear and turn it into a smoldering heap of graphite shards and melted drag washers before you can say “fish on.”
The Kenai is a big, extremely fast-flowing river with about 200 million other boats on it and you have about a zero percent chance of landing anything but humpies on that rig. Twenty pound test is suicide and will not make you guys real popular with the locals because you won’t be able to control a king in crowded conditions.
Up there, most of the guides are running 80-pound braid and 60-pound leader (at least) on rods like GLoomis’ SABBR965C or Lamiglas’ Kenai Pro and big reels like Shimano Calcutta TE 700’s or Abu Big Game Series 7000’s.
Sorry to say, but in a spot where a 50 pounder doesn’t get a second glance, you’re gonna get smoked.
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