Jon Reith caught a big surprise in Plainfield.

“Hooked this hammer crappie and thought it was a GOOD bass,” he messaged Friday on Instagram.

It’s even more impressive than a good bass.

His crappie was caught on a large roach.

As to measurements, Reith messaged, “No measurements but it had t be more than the 2.5lb fish we weighed nearby last year. I can palm a regulation basketball if that helps. . . .”

Oh that helps and I love the comparison.

Reith caught a true surprise—a wayward alligator gar—while fishing for smallmouth bass in the fall of 2021 on the DuPage River and was featured in the column on Oct. 6, 2021.

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), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).