The Hardest-Working Paper in America | 
Friday, April 19, 2024
Outdoors Sports

Catfish, The Big Three: Fish of the Week

By  Dale Bowman
   
SHARE Catfish, The Big Three: Fish of the Week
fotw09_02_15blueLaSalleJennings.jpg

We stick to catfish this week for a theme and celebrate the big three for FOTW.

fotw09_02_15flatheadFoxRiver_337x600.jpeg

Larry Jennings sent a reminder (above) that LaSalle Lake remains the optimum spot for shore fishing for blue catfish, Illinois’ biggest gamefish.

Jerome Kackert of Aurora did a heckuva job (left) landing a big flathead, by Fox River standards, on 10-pound line in a 25-minute battle, an epic fight.

It hit a night crawler immediately. He estimated it at 30 pounds and released it.

Bill Freeman of Chicago’s West Side did all right (below) for a big channel catfish.

He caught it on Bluff Lake on Aug. 21 with crawlers.

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).

fotw09_02_15channelcatfish_337x600.jpg

Next Up In Outdoors
High hopes for Heidecke Lake fishing: Prospects look good for the season, despite a brutal opener
Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report: Hoping on a warm-up, coho, smallmouth, browns, steelhead
A little help from friends on bagging first spring gobbler leads to Turkey of the Week
An old favorite of the Chicago River, the common carp, still have ‘Big Shoulders’ downtown
Chicago outdoors: Frog sounds question, inquisitive mink, early hummingbird, big Shabbona walleye
Rare wild turkey sightings along lakefront come to a tragic end
The Latest
Chicagonolimitsfishingboat.jpg
Outdoors
Chicago No Limits Fishing opens fishing and boating for people with disabilities
Chicago No Limits Fishing gives people with disabilities the ability to experience boating and fishing around downtown on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River.
By Dale Bowman
 
Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings
Blackhawks
Blackhawks rally, then crumble, in season-ending loss to Kings
The Hawks finished their season 23-53-6 — with the most losses in franchise history — after a 5-4 overtime defeat Thursday in Los Angeles. They ripped off three third-period goals to take the lead, but conceded late in regulation and then six seconds into overtime.
By Ben Pope
 
georgia-nicols.jpg
Horoscopes
Horoscope for Friday, April 19, 2024
By Georgia Nicols
 
Taylor Swift performs Friday at Soldier Field.
Entertainment and Culture
Review: Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is great sad pop, meditative theater
In moments, her 11th album feels like a bloodletting: A cathartic purge after a major heartbreak delivered through an ascendant vocal run, an elegiac verse, or mobile, synthesized productions that underscore the powers of Swift’s storytelling.
By Maria Sherman | AP
 
UN-ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACYIran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City on April 18, 2024. Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday warned that Tehran would make Israel "regret" any attack on his country in response to the Islamic republic's weekend barrage of missiles and drones. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Nation/World
Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as explosions are heard near Isfahan
Sounds of explosions near an air base in Isfahan on Friday morning prompted fears of Israeli reprisals following a drone and missile strike by Iran on Israeli targets. State TV in Tehran reported defenses fired across several provinces.
By Associated Press