Here’s to really big panfish: A thick, long bluegill and fat thick perch earn Fish of the Week honors

Sam Joseph Militello Jr. with a 10.5-inch bluegill from Lake County. | Provided

Sam Joseph Militello Jr. caught “some beautiful local northern Illinois” panfish last week. He was fishing private waters in Lake County.

“Fattest 11.5-inch perch I’ve ever caught or seen for that matter and a 10.5-inch and almost 1.5-pound bluegill [above],” he messaged.

Sam Joseph Militello Jr. holds the big bluegill in his hand for perspective.

Here’s to fat panfish. And I have a thing for big bluegill, but the perch [below] is a notable fish, too. All in all, I just glad that readers respect panfish enough to send them regularly for Fish of the Week.

Sam Joseph Militello Jr. with a fat perch from Lake 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 https://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).