Can be a mix of things when it comes to pulling hooks and if you start combining a few of them then its more likely to happen.
First thing I've found the stiffer the rod the less give you have when the king takes a run which loads the rod more which puts more pressure on the hook area.
Another thing is where the hook is, most end up in the corner of the mouth (about 80%) and there is softer tissue about 20mm in from the lips of the fish that tears a little easier so the longer the fight and harder it is the more chance of creating a hole there.
Next is the hook itself, some hooks are shockers for tearing holes and others are very goodat just penetrating and holding. I have found the rounder the steel on the hook, the less damage it does. Some hooks have been flattened on the sides and have found these cause a lot of damage to the mouth of the king when fighting it to a point I don't use them anymore. I see this type of hook getting used for puka hooks a lot as well with the same result, torn mouths and lost fish.
The reel you use can also cause tearing especially if the drag is not smooth. This can be caused by drag plates binding in most cases through dirty plate / washer contact on higher drag settings. I always use CALS drag grease on my drags to get smooth contact between the drag washers and drag plate. You need to be aware sometimes the grease will dry up or wear off and they start to become sticky and should be serviced immediately this starts to happen to avoid pulled hooks or broken lines through sudden binding.
2nd stage to the reel as mentioned is to much drag but this really only happens with a combination of a stiffer rod and angler technique which ill cover next. Yes if you have a reel capable of drag settings over 12kg cause enough damage to pull a hook but even then angler technique can overcome a lot of it.... to a certain point.
Next and the most common one I see is the angler themselves just going to hard out on the fish. A lot of the mouth damage is done in the first 2 minutes of the fight. The fish is only just working out whats going on and is thrashing its head around and doing the funky chicken all over the place. This is the critical stage of the fight and one where an experienced fisherperson will try and just calm the fish down to get into the smooth side of the fight. Kings are notorious for fighting hard and the harder you go the more the king will fight back. If you slow it down and do slow movements the more relaxed the king will get. This is the #1 thing I've found over the years, steady as she goes and you will get them almost every time.
So to summarise the above, if you are an aggressive angler that gives the fish death the moment you hook up and you are using a stiffer rod that skull drags the fish around with a reel that's got drag that isn't all that smooth while using high drag settings and terminal tackle that has "flat sided" or odd shaped hook then the chances of pulling hooks will be very high.
One last thing, A good angler can overcome gear issues and poor hooks etc just by the way they fight the fish in most cases. Skull dragging kings with a rod in a gimbal is a sure way to pull a hook. I always fight a king now with the rod under my arm for the first part of the fight until the fish settles down, this is so if the fish takes a flying run i can dip the rod and take some pressure off it then reset it back under my arm and apply pressure again.
If the fish is doing a hell run i let it go, they will slow down eventually and while they are pulling string smoothly you are not doing damage. Its when it's thrashing its head around and that's when I'm fighting it from under my arm to take those sudden jarring knocks out as those are the ones that tear holes.
------------- There is never a better time to go fishing than now, live the day
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