A memorable birthday outing for Leo Garza turned into a fishing trip for the ages, as he landed a whopping 14.3-pound walleye in Chicago’s Lake Michigan waters. The catch, made on a half-ounce jigging spoon dressed with white tinsel hair, has sent shockwaves through the local fishing community and sparked hopes of a new Illinois record.
Garza, accompanied by his brother Capt. Ernesto Amparan and friend David Vasquez, was initially targeting lake trout when the unexpected catch occurred. “When he lifted his rod, he realized he had a fish on,” Amparan messaged, describing the moment as pure excitement. As the trio brought the fish aboard, they were ecstatic – and initially unsure of what they had caught. “When we put it on the deck, I started jumping for joy,” Amparan said.
The walleye, measured and weighed at Park Bait in Chicago, smashed the unofficial Chicago record for a walleye weighed on a certified scale, previously held by Mike Osuch’s 7-pound, 5.5-ounce catch from 2008. While it fell short of Jim Zimmerman’s Illinois state record of 15.08 pounds, set in 2012, the catch has reignited dreams of a new record being broken.
Walleye are sporadic catches in Chicago’s Lake Michigan waters, making each big catch a notable event. Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, speculates that the fish may have originated from one of the lake’s southern tributaries or possibly escaped from a stocked inland lake. “It might be a fish that escaped from one of the stocked inland lakes or not,” Santucci said. “We do not manage for walleye in Illinois’ Lake Michigan waters, nor do we sample them very often in our nearshore assessment surveys.”
The walleye’s unexpected size and strength left a lasting impression on Garza and his companions. “When I saw this coming up, I said, ‘That is a weird-looking laker,'” Amparan recalled. The fish, unfortunately, did not survive, but its legacy will live on in Chicago fishing lore.
As news of the catch spreads, anglers are flocking to Lake Michigan, hoping to replicate Garza’s success. While the odds are long, the possibility of landing a record-breaking walleye is enticing, and the fishing community is abuzz with excitement. “There may be a bigger walleye out there, but it is really hard to say if and when another one will be caught,” Santucci said, leaving the door open for the next big catch.
For now, Garza can bask in the glory of his incredible catch, savoring the memory of a birthday outing that will be remembered for years to come.
Image/Source: chicago.suntimes
