Sometimes you just get the urge to go fishing, you know? Carpentersville’s Nick Wechet woke up on Tuesday morning and his fiancée said to him, “Come on. Let’s go fishing.”
It wasn’t the promise of glorious weather, to be sure. It was cold out with a forecast of clouds, windy weather and colder temps. Weather aside, the engaged couple headed to the banks of the Fox River.
You don’t need a super-duper muskie boat to catch a trophy fish. Sometimes the shore fishermen do as well as the boaters. Wechet proved that fact.
The 23-year old Wechet, who grew up in Lake in the Hills, and his fiancée, Nicole Malkowski, are engaged to be married in 2017 and enjoy fishing together. Although Nick owns a fishing boat, this trip was to be from the banks of the Fox.
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but this was the first time we had gone out fishing this season, in all honesty,” he said.
They positioned themselves below the dam and, after about 30 casts, at approximately 10 a.m. Wechet got a tremendous hit. He was throwing a Devil Head spoon on 80-pound braided line when a big muskie decided to have a meal. It hit the spoon close to shore in fairly shallow water. It felt the pressure and began to run.
“It didn’t take to bring the fish in," Nick said. "I had no net but I was able to grab the fish from the water when I worked it close to the shore line.”
Pictures were quickly taken. Unfortunately, Wechet had no measuring instruments, neither tape nor scale, but he estimated the fish at 50 inches. It was the biggest fish that Nick Wechet had ever caught.
The fish was quickly released back into the water to be caught again another day. The thought of keeping the fish to become a trophy for Wechet’s wall was never considered.
“After I let it go, I sent pictures to some friends and they told me I was crazy for letting it go," he said. "I didn’t really know what to do but I figured it would be to have respect for the fish and to let it go. I had to respect the fish.”
Wechet is an avid fisherman and has been one since he was 5 years old in Lake in the Hills, where he lived for most of his life. He has always been a fan of fishing for catfish on the river. He just started fishing for muskies in the last year or so.
