Surprise catch of a big northern pike while jigging perch and lakers

David Li caught and released a massive northern pike while jigging a blade bait for perch and lake trout on Feb. 24 at the North Slip (85th Street).

“I was actually packing up, ready to leave, when I thought I snagged the bottom,” he messaged. “Then the bottom started peeling drag. Of course my phone died trying to take a pic, so I asked anyone else to take one and send it to me.”

Focused on getting it back in the water as quick as possible after photos, he did not get any measurements. He estimated it as 38-44 inches from the size of his bibs and somewhere heavier than 10 pounds.

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. The online posting here at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors goes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on in the wide world of the outdoors.

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