I get a scale and nail it to the floor, put my rod and reel in to a rod holder on my boat or bench and then tye the line to the scale. then you can reel down and crank the rod tight until you are showing 90% of the line strenght on the scale ,then (and this is the big part DONT MESS WITH IT AGAIN. you will set the hook and almost never bust the line. I did this for all my trout trolling rods a few years ago and caught severl land lock kings and browns that were double the 4 lb test i was using. this should work for kings as well. taught to me by a old marlin fisherman.