Outdoors Sports

Chicago girl and her pike: Graduating Lane Tech senior earns FOTW for her Minnesota northern pike

Ella Drake caught and released a big northern pike to earn Fish of the Week honors.

By Dale Bowman

Ella Drake earned Fish of the Week honors for a big northern pike from Minnesota. Provided photo — Ella Drake earned Fish of the Week honors for a big northern pike from Minnesota.

Ella Drake caught 36.5-inch northern pike on a minnow and released it back into Long Lake near Park Rapids, Minn. to earn Fish of the Week.

Her dad, Jeff Drake, emailed that his daughter, a graduating senior at Lane Tech, “[Is] a city girl who can fish.”

That shows in this.

Then he added, “She has been fishing since she could walk. Loves it.”

That’s the kind of story that earns Fish of the Week honors and is worthy of a full-length view.

Full length view of Ella Drake, who earned Fish of the Week honors, with her big northern pike from Minnesota. Provided photo — Full length view of Ella Drake, who earned Fish of the Week honors, with her big northern pike from Minnesota.

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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