Dustin Perkins and Jim O’Neil capture the dualism of fishing this time of the year with largemouth bass from open water and on the ice.
Perkins caught his 4-pounder, biggest caught by him and a buddy caught on opening day at Braidwood Lake, with a squarebill crankbait in the shallow grass across from the south launch.

Dustin Perkins caught a perfect largemouth bass to end the day on and earn Fish of the Week honors.
Provided
“Called it quits at 30 [bass] and headed to the Main Street Bar and Grill for lunch,” he emailed.
That’s doing it right.
As was O’Neil last week ice fishing the backwaters of the Fox River when he caught the 6-pounder pictured at the very top.
He started coaching his final season with the Marist bass fishing team.
FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories around Chicago outdoors, runs Wednesdays on the Sun-Times’ outdoors page. Submit nominations on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).