A canoe, a line-testing big fish, family and rain in a Fish of the Week that nearly has it all

Riley Benesch, 4, of Gurnee, who only began casting on her own a couple months ago, caught her first smallmouth bass and northern pike over the weekend while family fishing.

“While casting in her poncho during some light rain I heard her cry that great line every father loves to hear `I got one, I got one,’ immediately followed by the sound of drag peeling out of her little Shakespeare rod and reel combo.” Marcus emailed.

He feared the fish might break off, but emailed, “She kept fighting and reeling while looking at me with the wide-eyed puzzled look of, `Are you going to help me dad?’ I resisted helping her, but coached her the whole way.”

When exhausted, she handed the rod for relief to her older brother Jackson, who reeled the 3-pound-plus smallmouth to the canoe. Marcus netted it.

“After a few holy cows and high fives we all agreed it was Riley’s catch and maybe if dad didn’t buy her such a cheap combo she could have gotten it in sooner all on her own,” Marcus emailed. “I’m still in disbelief about how great of a fish, great of an outing, and great of memory we all made out there.”

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/outdoorsgoes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on in 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).