I was itching to go out walleye fishing, but we (my Uncle and I) went out the day before and got skunked on Stump lake. So I decided the next day that we would try our luck Northern pike fishing on a little lake north of Michigan , ND. I was expecting to catch one or two keepers, we usually do on Lake Loretta, but I sat there for at least 3 hours without a nibble on my line I had a smelt on. So then I started to cast with a spinner bait that I got from a friend. After casting for around 5 min I had a huge strike! I got it up close to the shore and I saw it break the surface. I could tell that it was a bigger than average pike. I had 30 lbs spider wire on it and this pike took a run and snapped this line. I was pretty upset, so I sat back down on my smelt line to take a breather. I started to watch my line and it started to go out very slowly. Luckily I had a circle hook on so I wasn't really worried about loosing anything. I set the hook and it took off! I had the same 30 lb spider wire on it, but this one I had a bigger leader on. It ran about 3 times taking most of the line off the spool. As soon as I got it close to the shore, I finally got a good look at the monster I had on the line. It had to be the largest pike I had ever had on a line. It took me at least 20 min to get this big mama in. Going back and forth with the running and reeling in. It was the best fight I have had on a rod and reel. I got in and measured it 40+ inches, but I didn't get a weight on it. I took some pics and let that baby go back for another angler to catch some other day.