Fishing Alaska's streams, lakes, and salt water is often anything but a placid experience. Sometimes anglers are hapless players in what resembles a Keystone Kops comedy -- ducking flying hooks, dodging competitive bears, and diving into icy waters to retrieve runaway fishing poles. What people will do to catch a fish! Lew freedman has heard stories you would not believe. But who says fishing stories are truthful? Here's a collection of Lew's favorite wacky tales from the water's edge.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lew Freedman, an award-winning journalist and former sports editor for the Anchorage Daily News, now covers outdoor-adventure for the Chicago Tribune. He has written a dozen books about Alaska.