First muskie for young man at Shabbona: Fish of the Week

Bryce Heinrich, 7, of Orland Park boated his first muskie, caught at Shabbona Lake.

``The first 10 minutes of fishing, hooked a giant,’’ his dad Joe emailed. ``Jumped out of the water and spit the lure--big fish, guessing upper 40s.’’

Then came five hours with no action. At 1:55 p.m., Joe switched Bryce to a topwater prop bait for the last casts.

``This [37-inch] muskie flew out of the water and the fight was on,’’ Joe emailed. ``The look in [Bryce’s] eyes was incredible to see fighting the fish. I never saw anyone jump up and down so much fighting a muskie. I boated a lot of muskies in my life, but this was by far the best one with my lil guy.’’

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the Sun-Times. Submit nominations by message on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).