Monster pike near the Playpen earns Fish of the Week

Early Sunday morning Capt. Ernesto Amparan of Thin Blue Line Fishing LLC caught a massive northern pike while scouting for smallmouth bass near the Playpen on Chicago’s lakefront with his buddy David Vasquez.

“I was casting a 3/8-ounce smokey pearl jig plastic tube and started around 5:30 a.m. along the northwest wall,” he emailed. “On my fourth cast, the jig was crushed. Using 12-pound fluorocarbon, I quickly loosened the drag to avoid a break-off. My buddy David managed to net this monster.”

After the photo, it was released. The 43-inch pike had an unofficial weight just heavier than 20 pounds.

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).

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