I fished that area for Kings with two different nine weight rods. One was an 8' 6" hollow built bamboo I made. The other was a 9' rod built on a cheap graphite blank. We mostly used Teeny full sinking shooting heads (t-350?) and short straight leaders of 40 lb. test. There is very little finesse involved in throwing 80-100 feet with that rig, making a big mend, and letting it swing. So having the "right rod" really didn't matter much. I tried the Sage RPLX which belonged to the lodge owner, and it was no better or worse for this particular application. Please do some practicing at home before trying to handle such a rig. Your shoulder will thank you.

Largest fish landed was about 35 pounds, but some bigger fish were hooked and lost -- through no fault of the rods. Flies were huge brightly colored blobs of marabou with many many wraps of .030" lead or lead substitute. With flys that large you learn where the "chuck and duck" phrase originated. I found purple, chartreuse, and orange were the best producers. Some days lots of flash materials worked better, some days not. Have a look at the Alaska Fly Fishers page for patterns.

As Kyle suggested, some of the fish would just hunker on the bottom. Others took off like a scalded dog.

I hate to contradict Davy, but I much prefer shorter rods for big fish. You have much more lifting leverage and can subdue the fish more efficiently.

Hope this helps,
Harry