The anomalies of Illinois’ inland trout: A big trout comes to Jesus Arellano on opening weekend

Openers for Illinois’ inland trout seasons produce anomalies, such as extra big fish or golden ones. Jesus Arellano (Jesus312Fishing on YouTube) caught one of the big variety—a 21-incher on a Mepps Aglia—Saturday, opening day for the fall season, at Axehead Lake.

“There were a lot of small trout this year and a few big ones swimming around,” he messaged. “People were limiting out quick at Axehead.”

Daily bag is five; those 16 and older need a fishing license and an inland trout stamp. Nearby sites include in Cook County (Axehead, Belleau, Busse North, Green, Horsetail, Sag Quarry East, Wolf), DuPage (Grove, Pickerel, Silver); Kankakee (Bird Park Quarry, Rock Creek); Kendall (Big Lake at Silver Springs SFWA); Lake (Sand Lake at Illinois Beach SP); McHenry (Spring Grove Hatchery Pond); Will (Lake Strini, Van Horn Woods).

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times. The online posting here at https://chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors goes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on the wide world of the outdoors.

To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).