Oliver Byrnes, all of 9, earned Fish of the Week honors for a fish that could be his lifetime bluegill.

By Dale Bowman

Oliver Byrnes weighing his really big bluegill.

Oliver Byrnes, 9, caught a 2-pound, 3-ounce bluegill Sunday on a night crawler from a pond in Aurora.

“It measured 12 inches and was by far the biggest bluegill I’ve ever seen!” his father David emailed.

Here is a closeup of the fish weighing in at 2-3.

Closeup of Oliver Byrnes weighing his really big bluegill. Provided photo — Closeup of Oliver Byrnes weighing his really big bluegill.

In case you are wondering, the Illinois-record bluegill (3-8) was caught May 10, 1987 by Darren May from a farm pond in Jasper County.

For perspective, here is a full length view of Byrnes’ big bluegill.

Full length view of Oliver Byrnes weighing his really big bluegill. Provided photo — Full length view of Oliver Byrnes weighing his really big bluegill.

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).

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Lifetime bluegill at 9: Young Oliver Byrnes caught a really big bluegill to earn Fish of the Week

Oliver Byrnes, all of 9, earned Fish of the Week honors for a fish that could be his lifetime bluegill.