Fish of the Week: Lake County largemouth

Chris Mahoney was having a slow morning on Jan. 27 ice fishing a small lake in Lake County, until, well, here’s his Fish of the Week tale.

“All of a sudden, while watching the screen [of the Aqua-Vu], all the bluegill scatter and on the bottom left edge, I see just the bottom lip of something BIG!” the Mundelein man e-mailed. “I start twitching my chartreuse jig with a wax worm and nothing happens. I then bumped the jig on the bottom, kicking up some mud and he slammed it.

“I saw that it was a bass when he took it, but with those [Aqua-Vu’s], you can’t always tell how big of a fish you’re dealing with. My reel started screaming, and I tightened my drag a tiny bit, but the problem was that I only had 2-pound-test line. After tangling in the camera cord and luckily untangling itself, and almost getting spooled three times, I was lucky enough to land the monster after close to a five minute battle.”

At 7 pounds, 8 ounces on a certified scale, it was one of the best largemouth taken during ice fishing this winter.

“A largemouth [bass] of a lifetime as far as I’m concerned,” he e-mailed. “I’m still trying to catch my breath.”

Forget FOTW, try Fish of a Lifetime.

If you have one of those, e-mail nominations to straycasts@sbcglobal.net.