I caught a very big ling a few years back fishing from a rubber dinghy in the San Juans. After a long battle, I was slowly getting the better of it, but it had a sudden reinvigoration and burst of energy just as I brought it within feet of the surface. With a sudden rush straight down, it snapped my lightweight rod in half (I was targeting rock fish and kelp bass), and broke free.
What an adrenaline rush!
After I recovered from my loss, I began to think: would a spiny floppy ling be safe inside a flimsy rubber dinghy hundreds of yards from shore? We'll never know.
It scares me to just think about kayakers chasing sturgeon ...