May 8, 2008
Just about every fisherman I know would love to catch a record-breaking fish. Unfortunately, most of us never get to experience that personal thrill in a lifetime of angling. Sometimes though you know someone or hear of someone who has and if the record-breaking fish was caught in nearby waters it gives you hope that you may yet get lucky some day. That’s kind of how I felt when my friend, Jerry Shoemaker came to me with the story of two brothers from Aurora who each had captured a record fish; and on two consecutive days.
On Thursday, April 24th John Chione (age 13) and his brother Andrew were fishing along the shore near the Montgomery, IL dam along with their friend, retired school teacher William Walsh. Mr. Walsh explained, “We each had two lines out, one baited with corn and the other with worms. We’d landed some small carp and were having a good time when suddenly John yelled, ‘This one is big! Someone get the net!’ I grabbed the landing net and helped him land a huge, silver redhorse sucker. The boys had been reading about record fish in the DNR’s 2008 Illinois Fishing Information guide and both seemed to think that the record for this fish was under six pounds; and that this one most assuredly was over that weight. John had his cell phone and with a few calls we learned what we needed to do to get the fish certified by the DNR. So we got it weighed on a certified scale and witnessed by two people, measured the length and girth, photographed it at various angles, had it certified by DNR biologist Victor Santucci, filled out the necessary forms and preserved it in a freezer.”
Quite an exciting day for a couple of young fisherman, eh? Something to talk about for a long time to come. But wait, that’s not the end of the story. Bill Walsh goes on, “The following day, April 25th the three of us met again at our ‘lucky’ spot. By this time we were quite familiar with suckers and were learning to identify the different types. We were engaged in conversation about the previous day’s exciting events when, without warning, Andrew shouted, ‘I got one! Get the net!’ This time John handled the net and when he set the fish on the ground, we recognized it as a shorthead redhorse sucker. We weighed it and ‘yep, another state record fish! Once again, we went through the process of documenting the catch and once again, DNR Biologist Victor Santucci inspected the catch and the fish was placed in the freezer, next to John’s Silver Redhorse Sucker. Obviously, the three of us and our families are all excited at everything that has happened in the short period of two days.”
John’s Silver Redhorse Sucker weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz, which is 1 lb, 1oz over the existing Illinois record (which by the way was also caught on the Fox River in Kendall County in 2003).
Andrew’s Shorthead Redhorse Sucker weighed 3 lbs, 12 oz, or more than 2 lbs, 9 oz over the standing Illinois record.
As for two state records being set by two brothers in two days, that’s got to be a record that won’t be broken any time soon. Congratulations John and Andrew Chione. Well done!
Just about every fisherman I know would love to catch a record-breaking fish. Unfortunately, most of us never get to experience that personal thrill in a lifetime of angling. Sometimes though you know someone or hear of someone who has and if the record-breaking fish was caught in nearby waters it gives you hope that you may yet get lucky some day. That’s kind of how I felt when my friend, Jerry Shoemaker came to me with the story of two brothers from Aurora who each had captured a record fish; and on two consecutive days.
On Thursday, April 24th John Chione (age 13) and his brother Andrew were fishing along the shore near the Montgomery, IL dam along with their friend, retired school teacher William Walsh. Mr. Walsh explained, “We each had two lines out, one baited with corn and the other with worms. We’d landed some small carp and were having a good time when suddenly John yelled, ‘This one is big! Someone get the net!’ I grabbed the landing net and helped him land a huge, silver redhorse sucker. The boys had been reading about record fish in the DNR’s 2008 Illinois Fishing Information guide and both seemed to think that the record for this fish was under six pounds; and that this one most assuredly was over that weight. John had his cell phone and with a few calls we learned what we needed to do to get the fish certified by the DNR. So we got it weighed on a certified scale and witnessed by two people, measured the length and girth, photographed it at various angles, had it certified by DNR biologist Victor Santucci, filled out the necessary forms and preserved it in a freezer.”
Quite an exciting day for a couple of young fisherman, eh? Something to talk about for a long time to come. But wait, that’s not the end of the story. Bill Walsh goes on, “The following day, April 25th the three of us met again at our ‘lucky’ spot. By this time we were quite familiar with suckers and were learning to identify the different types. We were engaged in conversation about the previous day’s exciting events when, without warning, Andrew shouted, ‘I got one! Get the net!’ This time John handled the net and when he set the fish on the ground, we recognized it as a shorthead redhorse sucker. We weighed it and ‘yep, another state record fish! Once again, we went through the process of documenting the catch and once again, DNR Biologist Victor Santucci inspected the catch and the fish was placed in the freezer, next to John’s Silver Redhorse Sucker. Obviously, the three of us and our families are all excited at everything that has happened in the short period of two days.”
John’s Silver Redhorse Sucker weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz, which is 1 lb, 1oz over the existing Illinois record (which by the way was also caught on the Fox River in Kendall County in 2003).
Andrew’s Shorthead Redhorse Sucker weighed 3 lbs, 12 oz, or more than 2 lbs, 9 oz over the standing Illinois record.
As for two state records being set by two brothers in two days, that’s got to be a record that won’t be broken any time soon. Congratulations John and Andrew Chione. Well done!
