When the sockeye start running ... you best get out of the way

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There are those who think of fishing as a contemplative sport. A chance to plant hip waders in a sparkling stream, stash a cold drink in the belt pocket and dream of man’s mystic connections to the water and the dark shapes lurking below.

They, however, would not be many Alaskans, at least not when the sockeye start making their headlong summer rush up the Kenai River.

As if mimicking the salmon’s annual journey, anglers climb into cars, pickups and campers, speed down the Seward Highway from Anchorage, lug poles and nets to the water’s edge and start, by God, fishing.

During the long-lighted days of July, the scenic riverbanks become a battle zone -- man versus fish, man versus man -- a place so far past traditional sedentary angling that it’s known here as ‘combat fishing.’ Read the rest of the story here: