Let’s send ice fishing in the Chicago area off in style.
Eugene NeSmith caught and released a 28-inch walleye at the end of January on Lake Marie.
“Caught on a jigging Rap at 5 a.m.,” messaged NeSmith, a guide for T-Bone Guide Service and a tournament walleye fisherman on the Fox Chain O’Lakes. “Early bird gets the worm.”
He was using 3-pound line on a Dead Meat jigging rod.
A fish like that is worth a full view.
Eugene NeSmith caught and released a big walleye from the Fox Chain O’Lakes.
Provided
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.bsky.social ).