Doubling up on top predators for Fish of the Week

Here's to doubling down on top-end predators for Fish of the Week.

Eric Stark messaged last week from ChiYak Adventures camp, "Shore camp this week. . . . This kid probably deserves fish of the week."

Yes, Jakub Stachura, 11, does. He caught a muskie from the Fox River, "somewhere between St. Charles and Batavia."

The muskie, which became the record big fish for ChiYak Adventures camp, came on a live bluegill.

"We didn't measure, wanted to release good. . . . I'd say 34 [inches]," Stark messaged.

Then there was Chris Johns, who knows flathead catfish, catching a 43-pound flathead Friday night on the Kankakee River below the Kankakee Dam.

"The big one bit right when I was packing up to leave," he messaged.

It also hit a live bluegill.

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).