Whitefish on Chicago lakefront: Fish of the Week

Ben Gershman landed the latest sign of the evolution of Lake Michigan fisheries when he caught a nice whitefish on March 31.

The Chicagoan was shore fishing for coho and brown trout with night crawlers on a sinker rig and under a bobber. The sinker rig produced the whitefish and a brown, the bobber set-up a coho.

“As far as I know, I think a white fish of this size off of the harbor mouth at Diversey Harbor is a rare catch,” Gershman said.

Indeed, though the populations of lake whitefish in Indiana and Illinois are on the upswing

His friend will cure the fish, then they will flash-smoke it by the “tea-smoked” method (“Tea Smoked Brown Sugared Salmon” on Ming.com).

They will make fish soup and stock with the other parts and have a big Sunday brunch.

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and good stories around Chicago fishing, appears Wednesdays on the Sun-Times outdoors page.

Send nominations to straycasts@sbcglobal.net or via Facebook (Dale Bowman) or Twitter (@BowmanOutside).