Brian Marcinkiewicz caught a serious surprise Saturday afternoon on the Fox Chain O’Lakes.

“Something you don’t see everyday: A 22-inch smallmouth bass on the Fox Chain, let alone through the ice,” he messaged.

It came on a 4mm tungsten jig tipped with a wax worm/.

Marcinkiewicz is right about the rarity of that. I am still hoping on my first smallmouth through the ice, came close once down at Giant Goose Ranch near Canton.

Frankly, that is a good smallmouth any time, any way.

Thinking about it now, I believe that is the longest smallmouth through the ice a reader has ever contacted me about.

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.

To make submissions, email ( BowmanOutside@gmail.com  ) or contact me on Facebook (  Dale Bowman  ), X (  @BowmanOutside  ), Instagram (  @BowmanOutside  ) or Bluesky (@BowmanOutside).