Drumming up Fish of the Week: Chicago and Downstate freshwater drum share FOTW honors

Big respect for freshwater this week in Fish of the Week.

In early October, Miguel Romero took his buddy Jeff Mucksavage to Montrose Harbor to fish for salmon. Instead, they caught a monster drum.

“It was his first time fishing the lake and I’m pretty sure it won’t be his last,” Romero emailed.

That’s the respect drum deserve.

Jim Barton of Oswegoland Fishin’ Fools and John Olivet caught a big surprise last Wednesday at Crab Orchard Lake.

“This 30-inch freshwater drum grabbed my 1/4-ounce jig and worm and a half hour later we were able to barely get it in the net,” emailed Barton, who said they did a quick release. “We had never seen such a huge drum in our lifetimes.”

Provided by Jim Barton

Benny Hull caught the world-record drum (54 1/2 pounds) on April 20, 1972 from Nickajack Lake in Tennessee, according to the International Game Fish Association. Johnathan Inman caught the Illinois record (38.25 pounds) in May 24, 2018 from Clinton Lake. Click here for the story. Joe Rinella caught the Illinois record (35 pounds) in 1960 from DuQuoin City Lake.

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.

Submit nominations by message on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).