I read in the paper this morning that someone caught and released a 45 pound Kingfish yesterday. I like catching Kingfish, but the only way I know of to land them is with a gaff which send them to the cooler. How do you land and unhook a Kingfish if you want to release it? I'd guess a Kingfish would tear up a net if you could get it in there in the first place.

Have put plenty in nets without incident. Also they have those long arc dehookers now.

If you don't have a net just grab 'em by the tail...but be sure they are ready.

Most I've tried to release have turned belly up. JMHO

I'm probably just a Kansas redneck but I just fish for kings for fun on light tackle and don't keep them so we always land them by grabbing them by hand near the tail.
You'll get wet and have some bruises, but also some good stories when you sit down with a cold one later.

grab a 45lbs kingfish by the tail, and get ready. i can see smaller kingfish maybe in the 15 to maybe 20lbs range, but anything bigger would be just about stupid. unless that 45lbs kf was just beat, i don't think i would want to grab it? next time anyone decides to grab a BIG kingfish by the tail, please video it and post it, thats going to be funny. thats like freegaffing a 75 lbs ling, i've heard of it, but never seen it.

crazy! i would love to see it as well

i jumped on a 77lbs green ling on the deck of the boat one day and that was a good one. when all was said and done, the ling went to the icechest and i had a few marks and scrapes on my shins and so forth. was kind of fun.

if you have seen that show on the SKA thats the king fish circuit they grab them by the tail all the time. but thats on tv i am sure if you did it alot it would be easey.

Use a tail roper instead of grabbing the fish (just like for sharkin')

You can tail them but, it is going to be rough on your and the fish. Usually we play them out a little if we are not going to stick them. Once to the boat we run them along the boat at idle speed. Most of the time they calm down a little and we can use a de-hooker or a long pair of pliers.

I guess if you wanted to weigh them you might get a big boca in theier bottom jaw and hoist them that way??

Spent all last week down at Gulf Shores Alabama catching kings out of my kayak. Kept 2 and released about 15 more. Wore em down and grabbed the tail. Built in handle. Key is to wear em down unhook quickly and revive em. All of ours swam off strong

Why not just use a steel hook that will rust and cut them off with wire cutters. The hook will eventually rust out.

use an AFTCO tail gaff, and just hold the tail out of the water

you hold any fish's tail out of the water you can control him,
that's his main propulsion method (like tying your legs together)

Hey guys, 3 of us will be going on the 52hr trip on the BigE
8-1-08 out of Freepot Tx, it's always been a big dream of mine and want to know if anyone else on TFF will be going?