Jake Kueker had a fish story last week after fishing with Chris Horvath at a spot in McHenry that had been iced over the day before, then opened up.
“I bomb a minnow under a slip bobber about 30 yards out and almost instantly it goes under!” Kueker messaged. “As I’m reeling the slack in before I set the hook, the line somehow gets gets stuck underneath the spool and snap!
“At this point I have no idea if I have a fish on or not and my only concern is my reel. Upon inspection I come to realize what had happened. I quickly turn my focus to finding the other end of my line, and when I do, I start pulling! I am incredibly surprised to feel that there is a fish on. And ultimately, I was ecstatic when it ended up being 16 1/2-inch, 2-pound 4-ounce black crappie!”
It swam off strong at release.
He also added a 15- and 14-inch crappie, too.
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 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).
