Chasing the dream of a PB largemouth bass ... and catching it

Andy Mironov lived his fishing dream Sunday.

"I’ve been fishing bass for about four years now, primarily here in Lake County around the Chain O’ Lakes and other local lakes," he messaged. "Since then, I’ve had one goal: to catch a [5-pound-plus] bass in Northern Illinois."

He got it done in style.

"I managed to crush that goal with a 6.14-pound largemouth bass at a small private lake in Lake County," he messaged. "It was a tough day of fishing as a storm front was moving in, the rain was spitting and the wind was howling across the lake.

"I only managed a few bites for the first few hours, and thought to give up and go home multiple times. I stuck it out, and it wasn’t until the rain really started to pick up that I found one set of docks holding fish."

In 80 minutes, he caught five largemouth totaling 17 pounds, including the 22-inch, 6.14-pound "Illinois giant!" All came on a wacky-rigged Baby Bass Senko on a 2/0 finesse wide gap weedlees hook.

"It just goes to show with a little luck and a lot of perseverance, you can accomplish your goals!" he concluded. "On to my next goal, a double-digit bass."

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.

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