- Keep your line as straight as possible on the swing, kings are deep, and absolutely hate(in a good way) slow moving flies passing through there personal space. The longer your fly stays in that window the more likely you will be to entice a strike.
- Don’t set to quick. The slower the current the slower the set has to be. Kings are like big dumb jocks on steroids, they will chew that fly long and hard before ever letting go. Wait as long as it takes for them to turn before setting (within reason).
- If kings stack into a small fast bucket (dubbed unfishible by many) get in there and use your summer steelhead swing. Even though you won’t be anywhere near the bottom, if there is a lot of aggro kings jostling for position some will move to a hard swung fly.
- Fighting a king – After the first couple runs are complete, get down and dirty and lay the boots to them hard. They will happily sit on the bottom and revive themselves if you don’t make them move. When the head is coming towards you pull as hard as you can.
- When the fish is within 30 feet and you have room start walking backwards on the beach, getting too close to the fish takes all the power out of your rod.
King salmon on the fly is well worth the challenge.