Big on open water: Big northern pike from the Des Plaines River shows there is more than ice fishing

Dan Kiska caught his “one decent bite” last Wednesday with a “beast” of a northern pike from the Des Plaines River.

“This time a year, you go out hoping for one decent bite and today I got more than what I expected,” Kiska messaged.

His message made me think about how many “beast” northern pike may be caught around Chicago. I would put the Des Plaines River high among the waters with a chance to latch into one of those beasts. Not sure what which I would rate No. 1, but my top four would be Des Plaines River, Kankakee River, Chicago lakefront and Mazonia SFWA.

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).