Fishing Up North: Stories of Luck and Loss in Alaskan Waters by Bradford Matsen

From the super-heated decade when fishing fleets turned king crab into fortunes, to the annual circus of Bristol Bay's monster salmon runs, to the bucolic life of the open-ocean trawler, the true stories in "Fishing Up North" carry the flavor of the modern fisherman's life and fortunes in the waters off Alaska. In "Fishing Up North," you'll Find firsthand accounts of frightening weather, good fishing, terrible fishing, great days, and sweet living from the decks of crabbers, trawlers, longliners, trollers, and gillnetters.

Commercial fishing's home ports -- Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, Naknek, Cordova, Petersburg, Sitka, and Seattle -- are classic fishing towns, where docks bars, and even quiet living merge in colorful portraits about life on the last frontier.