I didn't mind plunking for spring chinook up at bonneville, I don't know if that qualifies as combat fishing but there were lots of people there and most of them were decent fellows. It was fun to chat with people and lean a whole new way of fishing. I even kept one salmon.
I felt kind of sorry for a couple newbie boaters I saw out there that got yelled at pretty good and probably felt stupid afterwards. Thats not a good place for a newbie to learn how to join a hog line and they created some dangerous situations with their ignorance.

I don't think I could enjoy myself at some place like blue creek though. It would really bother me to fish like that for steelhead In fact I think i'd rather not fish if it came to that. I have a hard enough time with the Mouth of the Deschutes in August
One year I tried fishing the Hospital hole on the Trask and hated it everyone except the bobber guys were snagging. After hearing all the stories about the area I was extremely disapointed such has been the case with every fall chinook fishery I have witnessed. So i guess the short version is no it ain't worth it for me.