When fishing for king, what is the best set up? (Reel, lb. test) Thanks

any reel will do, 3-4 ft of single strand (Malin) 40-60lb
wire leader , treble hooks for main and stinger, a min. 30lb
test, 40-60lb is preferred

San is right on the money, that is my setup exactly, I use a 60lb main line swiveled to the wire leader so if i get a bigger king or amberjack on i am all set with a strong main line. For bait use ribbon fish or sardines etc then you bump troll (neutral, in gear, neutral, in gear etc) or drift them out 50 or so feet from the boat. Drift over structure or bump troll around rigs. If they are there they will hit. No need to spend an hour and a half wondering if they are feeding. they either are or they are not and move on.

I am new to Texas fishing but IMHO 40-60 is overkill for kings. I have fished for kings in Fla and Ala for years and even at times used 12 lb mono with 20 lb. wire leader. I think 30 lb. mono at the most should be used for kings. A reel like a TLD 15, Speedmaster or Penn 225 GLS loaded with 25 lb. mono on a soft tip 7 foot 12-30 lb. bait rod is my perfect king setup. If I am pulling a plug like a Mann's stretch, I will step to a more stout setup but only because of the lure. I like to freeline a live mullet on a stinger rig with a medium spinning outfit when bottom fishing(mine is a Shimano Spheros 8000). Like I said before, I haven't fishing in Texas for very long, so I may be off base here. If there is a chance of AJs getting the bait, of course you would want to use heavier tackle but an AJ outfit would be way too much for a king. Kings are fast but not the strongest fish that swims and have very delicate mouths. Therefore, you don't need to overpower them with heavy tackle. Landing a king takes more finess and light drag than brute strength like you need with an AJ. I know everything is bigger in Texas, so maybe your kings are too. Good luck!

If I am going inshore targeting kingfish I only use 17lb test. I use calcutta 400's with a Penn Workman 25# aftco light roller rod. I prefer Big Game mono in the electric blue color. I make my own piano wire leaders. I never use a treble. Three offset gold colored eagle claw hooks in 7/0 on the ribbonfish leaders. I rig them a special way. No weights, all the way to 8 oz rigs.
Some days, a rigged ballyhoo is the key. Rig it the standard way and add a trailing hook near the tail with a rubberband. Don't be afraid to drift a bally. They can on some days outfish ribbonfish.

Since your average size king will be about 12 pounds, fishing with about 5-7lbs of drag is plenty. Once in a while you will catch a 20-35 pounder and I've never been spooled on the calcutta 400 size reel.

If you want to target the large kings, it's a slower style of fishing with totally different rigging. I have caught hundreds in the 30-50 pound range over the years. There's a lot of mercury in those big fish, so I just send them free. In fact, I only keep one kingfish if that is the target species for the day. They don't freeze well or taste very good after being frozen. Fresh cooked that night is best for kingfish.

We use 30-40 lb mono with 12-18 inch wire leader. Just a 6/0 or 7/0 j hook in a sardine or three j hooks in a ribbonfish. Probably could get away with smaller tackle but I dont get nearly enough trips to the coast for my liking so the three or four times I go I'm not interested in losing fish, I wanna catch them. May be overkill but I hate being under prepared. Tangled with some grouper on a spot a few years ago that were eating my lunch because I did not have the right gear and I have had a sour taste in my mouth ever since. Can't tell you how many sleepless nights I've had thinking bout those pinfish getting eaten and me getting those pigs to the boat only for them to flip out and run and break me off or something. I'm gonna go throw up now.

I use 30lb for my drift rods with 3 feet of 40-60 single strand wire stinger rig w/ a c&h king buster. For trolling I use 40lb main line and various leaders depending on the lure. I would rather be over kill for kings and be ready for something bigger and better.

The last two kings I caught went right at 10 pounds each, and I caught them on a 7 foot Crosstimbers Rods Popping Rod and 6500C Ambassadeur loaded with 20 pound test trilene Big Game.

The terminal rig was 16 inches or so of 45 pound test brown wire and a single 2/0 hook drifting a piece of cut bait behind a shrimp boat.

That was on two different trips and and both trips, I caught 1 king, 1 dolphin, and 1 shark, all fish were in the 10 to 15 pound range all taken on the same type rig and same type bait.

I would cast the bait toward the shrimper and then leave the reel in free spool, but put the clicker on. I would feed line by hand until I got a hit, then as the run got started pretty good I would just turn the handles and engage the reel.

It is a lot of fun fighting those fish, and that size on that type of tackle. JMO.