Catching no perch but netting a bonus big pike at Navy Pier

Jose Sandoval found sometimes it is not the fish you're looking for, but something even better.

Take last Wednesday when he was fishing for perch at Navy Pier and landed a big northern pike.

"I had nothing to measure or weigh it, but my guesstimate is somewhere around 36 inches and at least 10 pounds," he emailed. "I was out for the perch without success or a single nibble till this guy hooked on. I don't know how my Perch Pounder rig managed to hang on without ripping and I did not have a net to pull him up."

But the "cool guy" fishing next to him, named Andrew, helped Sandoval land it while Sandoval "climbed down the ladder to pull [the pike] out of the water."

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter) 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).