Big Fish: Bringing a muskie theme to doubling on FOTW [and a question update]

Cheryl Smith was on the Chain O’Lakes Friday pre-fishing for a walleye tournament when she caught a big surprise.

We continue doubling on FOTW, with a muskie theme this week.

Here is how Smith described catching the surprise of her personal best muskie of 45 inches, “I was using St. Croix Legend Elite 6’3 MXF spinning rod with a Daiwa Kage LT 2500 reel with a jig my buddy made with a LIVETARGET Ghost Tail Minnow bait in silver/purple.”

Staying north, Todd Kybartas caught his first tiger muskie on Crooked Lake in Lake County on a Rat-L-Trap.

“He said on the previous cast the fish followed it to the boat and the very next cast he threw back out there and the fish hit his lure,” Mike Ocho emailed. “Fish was released and swam off healthy to be caught another day.”

[ADDED] There’s been a discussion among people with good knowledge of tiger muskies on whether or not it is a tiger. I will probably do a follow-up at some point.

Provided

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 (@BowmanOutside) and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).