Yet another sign of how big lake trout are going on southern Lake Michigan came Sept. 3 when Romelle Haynes caught a 29-pound laker on Kingfisher Charters out of Belmont Harbor.

“He fought it like a pro, for a good 20 minutes,” his proud uncle Eric Fuller emailed.

Fuller, a long-time faithful reader, emailed that most of the fish were caught on Dreamweaver spoons.

Dr. Atul Mallik caught the Illinois-record lake trout (39 pounds, 2.6 ounces) on May 31, 2021, out of Montrose Harbor on the Massive Confusion. On Aug 5, Ryan Donovan came close to Mallik’s record with a 38.32-pound laker, also caught on Kingfisher.

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).