Young man embraces the utter fun of fishing, catching a really big fish helps

Brady Putnam had good reason to be excited Saturday.

The Glen Ellyn 9-year-old caught a 19.5-pound Chinook (with some help from his dad Randy) on Abigail (Abby Fishing Charters) out of Waukegan. Both Capt. Andy Grein and Capt Scott Wolfe were on the trip.

Some things just make me feel good about life. This is one of them.

"I'd add that he was as excited as I have ever seen a charter customer," Capt. Wolfe texted. "He was a ball of energy the whole trip and wanted to learn all about setting the lines and running the gear. He saw most of the hits and reeled in probably 99% of the fish.

"The smile never left his face for six hours. Back at the dock he wanted to talk to all the other charter captains and ask what they were using and how to catch them. He was hooked."

Brady had very good reason to be excited.

"We sure had an epic day on Saturday!" his dad Randy texted. "Brady caught a bunch of fish and the king salmon was amazing!"

Chinook are commonly known as kings or king salmon. Putnam's king was caught in 135 feet of water off Lake Bluff on a Wire Diver with a Musselhead Tackle Cornfed flasher and Jimmy Fly Bullfrog fly,

Wolfe texted. "[Brady] would like to fish every day,"

Randy texted a photo of Brady's previous big fish, a largemouth bass of a couple pounds from Lake Ellyn. The photo indicates how greatly it awed his little sister Avery.

Wolfe added, "Oh, and Dad said, `Mom is going to kill me when she smells that shirt,' as we were taking the picture."

Brady has a bear hug on the Chinook in the photo.

Wild things

Annual cicadas are out in force around the area from my rambles across multiple counties. For those of us who did not live in an area with an emergence of the periodical cicadas, the evening singing of the annual cicadas, which began in the last couple weeks, seems more noticeable this year. Well, at least to me. . . . Despite what some readers are telling me, I am seeing very few fireflies this year, not just around our neighborhood but when I am out at dusk in other places.

Stray cast

Is the talk of a building a new White Sox park like my dreams of finishing the Appalachian Trail? Reality crushed.