Days before his golden birthday, Bennett Gotlund caught what might be a fish of the lifetime Monday evening, a 24-inch smallmouth bass landed while coho fishing near McCormick Place.
His smallmouth was likely bigger than the Illinois record of 7 pounds, 3 ounces that Joe Capilupo caught Oct. 14, 2019 at Monroe Harbor.
Gotlund’s smallmouth looks like a pre-spawn female and measured 24 inches by ruler. Capilupo’s was 22 1/4 inches with a girth of 16 1/4.
The day started innocently enough. Their mom Jamie Gotlund took the four kids on a quick staycation downtown during spring break.
“We were going to the Slime Institute, but of course the [older] boys had to do some fishing,” she said.
Their dad, Rudie Gotlund, sales manager at Basa’s Marine where he has worked since he was a teenager, raised them that way, “When those kids were in car seats, they had fishing poles in their hands.”
The Sloomoo Institute was the main destination, but emphasis changed when Bennett and his older brother Noah started fishing while their mother kept the two younger ones occupied.
“Those kids are sick, as far as fishermen,” Rudie said. “They will probably be something for the state for Illinois when they reach high school.”
Noah had brought a box of salmon lures to use and Bennett picked an orange Hot ‘N Tot, a classic salmon lure.
“We were fishing coho, but I caught a smaller smallmouth, then I was just kind of going for smallmouth,” Bennett said.
When he latched into the big smallmouth, it stopped people walking by, some taking photos.
“We had no net, so I just boat flipped it,” Bennett said.
The wall was about 5 feet high. He was fishing with his frog rod, a 7-foot, 2-inch medium rod with 25-pound braided line on a Lew’s baitcaster. If you’re wondering about a fifth grader using a baitcaster, Noah started using one when he was 4 or 5 and Bennett followed his brother’s tradition.
Bennett said he was using the heavy gear because they were fishing “for coho and in case I hooked a brown [trout] or something.”
As to his mom, Bennett said, “She was sitting there. She was like freaking out.”
“Nothing surprises me with these two older ones,” Jamie said. “They seem so lucky. They are always like catching a crazy streak. Sometimes they like to fib and say, `I caught a big one.’ They are always talking about PB for every kind of fish.”
Well, Bennett definitely has his personal best now, at least of smallmouth. His PB of all fish is a 28.8-pound Chinook he caught salmon fishing with his dad.
“We were kind of freaking and like, it is the biggest smallmouth we’ve ever seen,” Bennett said.
Noah took photos.
“I took two pictures and threw it back,” Bennett said. “My dad taught us catch and release. I didn’t want to keep it and have it die.”
Rudie was torn when he was texted photos.
“My son was always taught catch and release,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
If Rudie had been there, he probably would’ve tried to get a cooler and an aerator, then get it weighed on a certified scale.
But that was not to be and Rudie said, “I am just proud of him.”