TROPHY ROOM

Bryan Mason wallleye

Bryan Mason of Grand Forks released this 28½-inch walleye June 4 on Lake of the Woods using a pink-and-gold jig with a frozen shiner in 26 feet of water north of Pine Island. “My biggest walleye to date!” Mason writes.

June 09, 2013

Nick Streiff walleye

Nick Streiff of Warroad, Minn., released this 28-inch walleye June 2 — his 15th birthday — on Lake of the Woods.

June 04, 2013

Lacey Riopelle walleye

Lacey Riopelle of Bemidji released this 26½-inch walleye on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods.

May 30, 2013

Mick Riopelle walleye

Mick Riopelle of Warren, Minn.,released this 27-inch walleye on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods.

May 30, 2013

Don Nosbisch walleye

Don Nosbisch of Stewartville, Minn., released this 28½-inch walleye on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods.

May 30, 2013

Steve Nosbisch walleye

Steve Nosbisch of Bemidji released this 30¼-inch walleye on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods.

May 30, 2013

Zac Bernier catfish

Zac Bernier of Grand Forks caught and released this 20-pound, 3-ounce catfish May 29 while night fishing on the Red River in Grand Forks. The fish measured 36 inches.

May 29, 2013

Ralph Sollom sturgeon

Ralph Sollom of Bemidji released this 45-pound sturgeon May 17 while fishing walleyes on Lake of the Woods with buddies Steve Cairns, Bagley, Minn., and Chuck Stuhaug, Erskine, Minn. Sollom caught the sturgeon on a three-quarter ounce pink jig in about 14 feet of water. “This whole sequence of hooking/landing took about 45 minutes,” Sollom writes. “About 20 minutes into the process, my reel frozen up — couldn’t reel in anymore — so Steve cut the line and while the fish was still on, Steve retied that line to the line of another outfit, and I continued the fight, eventually landing the fish, which incidentally weighed 45 pounds! “All of this on 6-pound-test line.”

May 27, 2013

Chris Lauer walleye

Chris Lauer of Viking, Minn., caught and released this 29-inch walleye May 26 on Lake of the Woods near Morris Point using a gold jig with a frozen shiner in 12 feet of water. He also caught and released a 27-inch walleye later in the day. Hamming it up in the background is Mike Latterall of New Hope, Minn., seemingly amazed at Lauer’s fish.

May 27, 2013

Ted Bennett walleye

Ted Bennett of South Junction, Man., released this 29-inch walleye last week on the Rainy River while fishing with Putt Kern of Baudette, Minn. They released 15 walleyes longer than 24 inches, including two 29-inch fish, writes Kern, who submitted the photo.

May 19, 2013

Putt Kern walleye

Putt Kern of Baudette, Minn., released this 29-inch walleye last week on the Rainy River while fishing with Ted Bennett of South Junction, Man. They released 15 walleyes longer than 24 inches, Kern writes, including two 29-inch fish.

May 19, 2013

Jake Starcevic walleye

Jake Starcevic, 6, of Larimore, N.D., caught and kept this 26-inch walleye this past winter while fishing with his dad, Alex, and younger brother Luke, 4, in the family’s permanent fish house on Devils Lake. “A priceless moment for the three of us to have together,” Alex Starcevic writes. “I actually lost what I believe is the same fish twice at the bottom of my hole before Jake hooked him and caught him about 30 seconds later! It was the only the second fish we marked that night and it actually hit my bare buckshot (rattle spoon) the second time I hooked it. I was going to help Jake try to play him, but figured that I already screwed it up twice, so he can have his shot … he sure made it count! Since our family rule is that you decide what to do with your fish, Jake went back and forth between releasing it and keeping it, but ultimately talked me into mounting it for him. How could I say no?”

April 14, 2013

Justin and Hunter Steward pike

Jessica Steward of Northwood, N.D., shared this photo of a big northern pike her husband, Justin, and son, Hunter, 9, landed Feb. 9 on one of the English Coulee diversion ponds west of Thompson, N.D. The pike measured 40 inches and weighed 17.95 pounds, Jessica writes, and is the largest freshwater fish her husband has ever caught. “It will in the next year become part of our house décor as our first mounted fish,” she writes. They caught the fish on a tip-up set near their fish house. “I believe it’s a wonderful story, as many have been shocked that such a fish has come out of the English Coulee,” she said.

February 12, 2013

Doug Iverson bass

Doug Iverson of Grand Forks caught this 18½-inch 4-pound largemouth bass New Year’s Eve while fishing a Bemidji-area lake. He kept the fish for mounting.

January 07, 2013

Nick Hodgson buck

Nick Hodgson, Grand Forks, shot his first deer with a bow recently while hunting along the Missouri River north of Mandan, N.D. According to his dad, Dave, Nick shot the buck the day after his 15th birthday. Nick is a freshman at Central High School.

December 12, 2012