A fish story: A big crappie from McHenry County with a story earns Fish of the Week honors

Jake Kueker holds his big crappie from McHenry County. | Provided

Jake Kueker had a fish story last week after fishing with Chris Horvath at a spot in McHenry that had been iced over the day before, then opened up.

“I bomb a minnow under a slip bobber about 30 yards out and almost instantly it goes under!” Kueker messaged. “As I’m reeling the slack in before I set the hook, the line somehow gets gets stuck underneath the spool and snap!

“At this point I have no idea if I have a fish on or not and my only concern is my reel. Upon inspection I come to realize what had happened. I quickly turn my focus to finding the other end of my line, and when I do, I start pulling! I am incredibly surprised to feel that there is a fish on. And ultimately, I was ecstatic when it ended up being 16 1/2-inch, 2-pound 4-ounce black crappie!”

It swam off strong at release.

He also added a 15- and 14-inch crappie, too.

A full length view of Jake Kueker holding his big crappie from McHenry County.

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 the wide world of the outdoors.

To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).