Andrea Barum of Burnsville caught and released this 55-pound, 52-inch sturgeon on Lake of the Woods. She caught it with a minnow and fought the behemoth for 25 minutes before landing the fish. "Everyone else was catching walleyes or saugers and finally this ugly fish took my minnow,'' she said. Not bad for her first-ever fishing trip. Holding the fish is guide Mike Hamberg.

A gift to remember: Canada fishing trip

(As told by his dad, Mike)

Charlie Terwilliger, Eden Prairie, 20-inch smallmouth bass, Lac Seul, northwestern Ontario.

Our son Charlie's big Christmas gift was a trip to Lac Seul in northwestern Ontario. On Day 1, he caught his first-ever walleye, a big 26-incher, right off the dock. On our last day we were casting spoons for northerns and had caught a few nice ones. Charlie made a cast and yelled that he had a fish on. We figured it was another nice northern. When he pulled up a big smallmouth his eyes about popped out of his head (mine too). We measured it at around 20 inches and figured it was around 4½ to 5 pounds. After a quick photo, we released it, and he's still talking about it.

What a walleye

Michael Dean-Hendricks, 12, of Woodbury caught this
27½-inch walleye on his first trip to Lake of the Woods with his dad and his uncle John. They were down-rigging for walleyes in 34-feet of water using various crank baits.