A big last-minute pike: Big northern, caught while packing, capped a good day on the Chain, earns FOTW

Josh Monahan capped a good day of ice fishing on the Chain O’Lakes with a late northern pike to earn Fish of the Week honors.

SHARE A big last-minute pike: Big northern, caught while packing, capped a good day on the Chain, earns FOTW
Josh Monahan with big northern pike caught on the Chain O’Lakes. Provided photo

Josh Monahan with big northern pike caught on the Chain O’Lakes.

Provided

As they were packing on Feb. 12 to leave the Chain O’Lakes, Josh Monahan spotted a large red mark 4 feet down while fishing in 9.

“As soon as I started to come up to the mark, the big northern smashed the spoon like a freight train,” he messaged. “The fight lasted about 10 minutes on a [3-pound] panfish rod. Needless to say, I was not convinced I would get the big girl to the top side! What a battle! I’m sure glad I stayed that extra 15 minutes!”

The pike came on an 1/8th-ounce jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head.

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).

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