by Fred Orehek

Mayor Daley caught a 19-pound chinook in Lake Michigan off McCormick Place at dawn Friday, and while his wife was baking it for dinner he proudly displayed a color photograph of his catch to another fishing fan, singer Peggy Lee.

Miss Lee told the mayor during a visit to City Hall that she always tries to work in a fishing trip wherever she goes, and they swapped fishing stories for 15 minutes.

They also talked of other things.

“It’s great to be in Chicago,” said Miss Lee, “because this is where I was discovered by Mrs. Benny Goodman when I was singing at the Buttery in the Ambassador West Hotel in 1941.”

The blonde star, wearing a dramatic white cape and a black silk pantsuit with a long string of white pearls, kissed the mayor on the cheek and whispered something in his ear as he awarded her a medallion, making her an honorary citizen.

She agreed to sing “Chicago” for the mayor and his wife, Eleanor, when they attended her show in the Water Tower Drury Lane Theater Friday night.

After the left, the mayor had more to say about fishing: “It’s the best thing in Chicago right now. They’re coming into Burnham, Diversay, and Belmont harbors to spawn.

“I watched the sun come up in the east and saw Chicago’s beautiful skyline from the lake. There were 40 to 50 boats out there.”

After catching the fish, Daley said, he hurried home and cleaned it, and Mrs. Daley stuffed it and baked it for Friday’s supper.

“It takes 3½ hours to bake it,” he said. “Gotta turn the heat on slow and baste it now and then with a special sauce. Then, you put it on a wooded plate and serve it. It’s the greatest.