A Chinook big enough to bust 30 pounds earns Fish of the Week honors

Michael Trombino put a story to the 30-pound Chinook tale for this summer with a 32.1-pound king caught last Monday evening, July 18, out of Waukegan.

“We ended the night in 190 feet, and the king hit in 175 just south of the Reef,” he emailed fellow Trollers Unlimited members. “She hit on our downrigger on a meat rig with a Dragon Slayer flasher. The downrigger was out 30 and down 70.

“The king took 45 minutes to get in, and it was a fun fight.”

He was fishing with his buddy Austin DaValle on the Stormy D, which they own together.

“I wouldn’t have been able to catch the fish if it wasn’t for his help,” Trombino emailed.

On the boat, he weighed his king at 31.57 pounds, but the next morning at Lake Michigan Angler in Winthrop Harbor it weighed 32.1.

Provided

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).