Fish of the Week: Shoreline muskie on the Fox River

Jake Kuekerfound gold in the Fox River on July 22, catching and releasing a 40-inch muskie from shore at Fern Creek Park in St. Charles.

“I’ve been watching my son fish all spring and summer,” his mother Kitty Kueker emailed. “He says you need to let people know [there is] no reason to go to Wisconsin, you can catch anything and everything in the Fox River.”

The 26-year-old from Bloomingdale caught the fish on his third cast with a 5-inch Shad Rap.

“He said he will never forgot the rush he felt from the people on shore and in nearby boats clapping and cheering as he brought it in without a net,” Kitty emailed. “The fish left the water five times.”

Send nominations for FOTW, the weekly celebration of big fish around Chicago fishing on the Sun-Times outdoors page, to straycasts@sbcglobal.net.