By two stinking ounces.
That's by how much Joe Egan missed the Illinois smallmouth record. Thanks to Tom Palmisano for the photo of the scale at Henry's on Saturday. Egan caught the smallie off a Chicago breakwall.
Egan's 22-inch smallmouth and Alex Porubyanski's 48 1/2-inch muskie are Fishes of the Week.
Porubyanski, 78, of Whiting, Ind., caught his 34-pound muskie from Wolf Lake on Thursday. . . on spinning gear with 8-pound mono and a small silver spoon.
FOTW tops the Midwest Fishing Report each Wednesday in the Sun-Times. An extended online version appears here, usually before midnight Tuesday.
Here's more info:
The complete story and photos of Egan's smallie is posted here.
The complete story of Porubyanski's muskie is posted here.
Thanks to Sam Noto for the photos of Alex's muskie. I think he is right, when he is holding the muskie, it gives a better sense of the heft of it.
A bunch of good entries for FOTW were pushed aside by these two big fish.
E-mail FOTW entries to outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.
It is a great fish, and I know it's a "keeper", but I still wish they had snapped her pic. and put her back.