Erik Brztowski caught ice out right on Thursday and landed a big largemouth bass in Cook County on a marabou jig. A couple days later he duplicated the feat with a big swimbait.
That is no surprise, as the 16-year-old emailed, “I do bass fishing in general every day.”

Erik Brztowski with some of the big ice-out largemouth bass the 16-year-old is catching in Cook County.
Provided
FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories around Chicago outdoors, runs Wednesdays on the Sun-Times’ outdoors page. Submit nominations on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).