ErikMartinezcaughtthefishofhislife,a52-pound flathead, on June 2 from the Fox River in Elgin.
The construction worker, who was targeting flatheads, caught it on a live sucker from a local bait shop on an 888 reel and a Big Game rod.
In his 30 years of fishing, he has caught plenty of flatheads, but none nearly that big.
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).