A really big surprise, of the right kind: Muskie for Fish of the Week

There are surprises and there are big surprises.

“I knew it was something big when it hit the lure, but was thrilled when she jumped and we saw the actual size of this fish,” Ron Tulke emailed.

On Friday, he was casting a No. 5 Mepps on 12-pound monofilament on Channel Lake when he latched into a 48-inch muskie.

“[The muskie] jumped completely out of the water and made a couple of runs under the boat before Sam Filisko was able to successfully land him in the net for me,” Tulke emailed.

He was not trying for muskie, as Tulke emailed, “No, the muskie rod was still in the rod locker.”

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays on the Sun-Times’ outdoors page. Submit nominations on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).