Blue catfish for winter blues: Plethora of blues, 2 PBs, come from Powerton

Mike Bogdan caught and released his personal best blue catfish Sunday at Powerton Lake. | Provided

Blues for the winter blues is the way Luis Gonzalez put it.

Gonzalez, of the Chicago powerline and lakefront fishing Facebook group, and friends Mike Bogdan and Tommy Krysciak trekked three hours south Sunday and it paid off with more than 200 pounds of blue catfish at Powerton, the cooling lake near Pekin.

``Shortly after noon, and within minutes of each other, we were all hooked up,’’ Gonzalez messaged. ``Tommy with a 20-pound, me with a new person-best of 41.6 and Mike also with a new PB of 50.8.’’

Bogdan, pictured above with his PB blue before its release, is a noted pursuer of flathead catfish on the Fox River.

Luis Gonzalez with his PB blue catfish caught Sunday at Powerton Lake.

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the Sun-Times. Submit nominations by message on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).