Our Story: Capt. John King

In memory of Capt. John King

Kings Fishing Tackle carries on the tackle and the know-how of Capt. John King, one of Lake Michigan's most respected charter captains and tackle designers. John passed away shortly after handing his business to us. We're proud to keep making his designs and sharing what he learned over more than 55 years on the Great Lakes.

A life on the water

  • 1968: John caught his first Lake Michigan salmon on October 1, 1968, north of Frankfort in West Platte Bay.
  • 1983–2003: Full-time charter captain (April–October) and Big Manistee River guide (October–March), starting out of Frankfort and spending his last 10 years in Manistee.
  • 1987–2004: His 28' Cherokee, the "Kingfish," boated an estimated 20,000 salmon and trout on Lakes Michigan and Huron, plus more than 7,000 Lake Erie walleye from 1987 to 1990.
  • 2000: Launched MichiganSportsman.com and a daily Great Lakes fishing log he kept up for more than 20 years.
  • 2003: Switched to fishing meat full time and showed the fleet what flashers and meat rigs could do.

Building tackle that works

  • 2004: Retired from chartering and founded Kingfish Products, LLC, launching his "Reel Flashers."
  • 2005: Magnum Meat Head and X-Glow colors.
  • 2006: The 10" BTI flasher and 2-fly meat rigs.
  • 2007: Super Magnum Meat Head for whole herring.
  • 2008: Metalized "Silver Bullet" flashers and heads.
  • 2013: Super Snubbers.
  • 2014–2015: Salmon Buster Lexan spoons, prototyped on his own 3D printer.
  • 2020–2021: Rip Teezers soft-plastic herring strips.

John tested every product on the water before selling it, and he made a promise early on: "I will NEVER move my tackle manufacturing operation overseas." We keep that promise. Our meat heads are made in Michigan and our rigs are assembled in Minnesota.

His knowledge, shared

John believed a tackle maker should help you catch fish, not just sell you lures. We've gathered his best advice here:

Kings Fishing Tackle — a small-town, family-owned tackle maker in Northern Minnesota, home of Original John King Meat Heads, BTI Fish Flashers and Doc's Custom Tackle.