Joe Capilupo asked me to send the photo Wednesday when I texted him about the smallmouth bass that Bennett Gotlund had caught Monday evening near McCormick Place.
“What a huge fish,” Capilupo texted back. “Great catch.”
He caught the Illinois record smallmouth late night on Oct. 14, 2019 at Monroe Harbor on a Z-man Ned rig (California craw). After some wild efforts by friends overnight (aerators and coolers), he was able to weigh the fish on the certified scale at Henry’s Sports and Bait the next day. Henry’s then kept the fish alive in a bait tank until it was certified by Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program manager.
Capilupo’s 22 1/4-inch smallmouth with a girth of 16 1/4 weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. It was released, frankly not far from where Gotlund caught his. For comparison, Gotlund’s was 24 inches long.
Capilupo’s fish smashed the long-standing record (6-7) caught by Mark Samp on March 26, 1985 from a Fulton County strip pit.
When I first texted Capilupo about Gotlund’s fish, he replied, “Wow, that’s awesome. I’m not sure how long I thought it would last but I wasn’t expecting the record to last this long.”