Have you ever had one of those days when the odds and the whole world seemed to be against you? Hey, that's life, huh? Val Owen (left) had one of those days on the Kenai this summer while fishing for king salmon with Val Early. But now and then even the most challenging conditions and dismal outlook can have a happy ending.

Sunken Island is a popular fishing hole on the Kenai and produces a lot of kings throughout the season so on this one particular morning Val & Val were pulling all the stops they could in trying to coax a fish from the hole. Finally there was a takedown and it was immediately apparent there was a HOG on the end of the line. That's only the beginning of the story. This 57 pounder turned into a "Tree Fish" when it swam into a sunken tree branch on the river bottom and immediately turned a "not so special hookup" into a 40 minute eco-challenge of woman against the river and the King....complete with dozens of nearby boats as an audience and cheering section. Obviously we know how the battle turned out....but what you didn't know was the tangle in the tree required cutting the line with the fish on it and splicing that line onto a standby fishing rod in the boat and completing the battle and landing.