I'm easily thrilled about fishing. I'm willing to catch anything on the hook. I'd get even more excited about catching a fish without using any live bait. As more flashbacks of winter dawn onto me, I remember catching a 34-inch Northern Pike out of a frozen lake near Biwabik, Minnesota (pictured above). My best friend took a picture of me with the largest I've gotten of its kind. I released it, and it swam away without any hesitation.

Outside of humans, Northern Pikes dominate the food chain of freshwaters. They can grow up to an average of 24-30 inches and 3-7 pounds. That best friend of mine caught one around 50 inches and had it mounted. I've never eaten Northern Pike before, but I find them to be "fair-fighters" when comes to catch-and-release. If outdoorsmen can contrast this from hunting, the whole action of the catch-and-release was made up for the sport while harmlessly preserving wildlife. After my largest catch, I went above more shallow parts at other frozen lakes. They get smaller and less picky while swimming in their territories of cold waters. If you're ever trying to catch one large one, you may sink down a glow jig for your hook and a sucker minnow as your live bait. I've used the smaller rainbow minnows because they reflect light so well for fish to see and capture other breeds of fish like bass or walleyes.

You have more options in the summer than you do in the winter, especially with casting your line offshore or on a boat. When you're casting your line, you reel up to make your lure look like swimming prey. Usually, I'm wanting to catch bass when I cast out a top-water lure with a narrow lip (for more depth, a wider lip). Again, Northerns cross territory to eat anything in their sight. Instead of swallowing a whole hook hanging from a bobber, a lure would be safer for the Northern Pike for the hook capturing its lip. It's easier for the fisherman to pull to hook off with a pair of pliers without harming the creature to release it back to the water.

For some, I might be exaggerating to claim a Northern Pike as a "monster." If a monster had a nickname according to size, I might be forgetting about lake trout and muskies. Since they're in deeper waters, they stay in deeper waters. Even if they were all that I could catch out of one day of fishing, I wouldn't keep a Northern to eat. I'm happy enough to catch one on ice. I'm happy enough to catch one off a dock. I'm happy enough to help my best friend catch his to get it mounted. Someday if the size is impressive enough, I'll get mine mounted as my very own trophy.

As an amateur fisherman looking for more than just Northerns, keep trying with your "catch-and-release" antics. Let any catch of care and curiosity be a celebration of life and solitude.