Doubling down on big Chinook: A pair for Fish of the Week

Big king caught by Mike Sheils on Simon Sez out of Montrose. | Provided

The Battle of Big Kings is on, a welcome return to days past.

Bruce Kalinowski emailed that Mike Sheils caught this 39-inch Chinook weighing 26 pounds on Simon Sez off Montrose Harbor. It came on 14 colors of leadcore with a Green Monkey Puke spoon off Montrose in 100 feet of water.

``Not a lot of fish being caught, but a lot of quality fish,’’ Kalinowski emailed.

Montrose was the hot spot.

Saturday afternoon, Capt. Jeff Grapenthien and mate Gregg Peters on the Confusion C4 charter out of Montrose led Mike Barry of Evergreen Park (holding fish with help) to a 41-inch, 30-pound king.

``Caught it near the R4 in 100 feet of water!’’ Peters messaged. ``Clients were stoked and so were we.’’

Mike Barry gets help holding his big Chinook caught on the Confusion C4 out of Montrose.

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