"rw" wrote'
My heaviest "conventional" rod is a very fast Sage RPLXi 9wt which I don't
think will be suitable for big kings, although I also have a beefy spey
rod that I'll probably take along. It looks like I'll have the chance to
buy more gear. :-) My Alaska fishing book recommends a slow-action 10wt or
11wt. Any opinions about that?

All I used was a 9wt with a conventional fly reel and I caught a bunch
of kings with it. The one piece of gear I will pick up before I go back is
an anti reverse reel. When a king takes, your reel goes from 0 rpm to about
90,000 rpm, way faster than you can get your hand out of the way. I returned
home with my left thumb nail split all the way down the middle, and the
knuckles on my left hand are still stiff when I first wake up.