Big steelhead: Mikayla Haak earns Fish of the Week honors for a good catch in Indiana

Mikayla Haak caught a 14-pound, 34-inch steelhead on July 6 while fishing near Burns Ditch in Indiana.

“I used [five colors of Lead Core line] with a Stinger spoon,” the 16-year-old from Crown Point emailed.

She was fishing in a 19-foot Alumacraft with a 150hp Yamaha.

I don’t know if the steelhead caught this year are bigger than usual or if it just seems that way with a number of big fish sent my way.

Also, I am sorry to be posting this FOTW later than usual, no real good excuse, though I could make one up if you like.

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).