Rats, really big largemouth bass: Fish of the Week

Gary Q. Le weighs in with another one, this time his bass of the year.

“I didn’t measure the length/girth, but it was 8 pounds, 6 ounces, caught on a wooden swimbait rat,’’ he emailed. “It was about 4:30 in the morning. I was working the bait close to the reeds when I saw some movement. I then swam my lure right over it when she hit the rat. She first missed, but came back and smacked it hard after a short pause and slow retrieve.’’

Le generally fishes the western suburbs.

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and good stories around Chicago fishing, appears Wednesdays on the Sun-Times outdoors page.

Send nominations to straycasts@sbcglobal.net or via Facebook (Dale Bowman) or Twitter (@BowmanOutside).