John Mieszala caught the fish of the his life, a 30-inch-plus walleye, on Pistakee Lake.
Pistakee, a southern lake on the Fox Chain O’Lakes, must be the spot. On Saturday, Eugene NeSmith and his dad Gene had an early Father’s day outing with Eugene catching a 27-inch walleye.
Mieszala and friend Kenny Jakubowski of Ken’s Guide Service were trolling with minnows when the big walleye was caught.
“Truly a fish of a lifetime for me!” Mieszala emailed. “And it was my first day fishing this year, lol. We did release it after we got some pics.”
Eugene NeSmith was casting a Berkley Switch on a drop-off when he caught his walleye, one of many. His dad caught 21-inch walleye and a 16-inch crappie.
FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times.
To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), X (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or Bluesky (@BowmanOutside.bsky.social).