For such a big fish, a rare northern Illinois 8-pound-plus largemouth, the first message was remarkably direct.

Mark Alaimo caught this 8 lb 4 oz. largemouth bass at the Plainfield Fishing Resort on Renwick Road.
CORRECTION: His girlfriend Colleen Boe took the photo. I apologize for the errort in the first post.
There were a couple big bass caught in the past week, this is the fall time for them, but Alaimo’s was easily the biggest and earned him Fish of the Week honors.
FOTW tops the Midwest Fishing Report each Wednesday in the Sun-Times. An extended online version appears here about midnight Tuesday.
Doug Tannenbaum e-mailed this follow-up:
[Mark] is a pipeline worker who welds. He currently works with me at Joliet Metallurgical Laboratories as a lab technician. I am a quality engineer. Mark is the good fisherman. He recently caught a huge muskie (plus 2 others) on his first trip to Shabonna a couple of weeks ago. He also caught a 10 lb stripper at Heidicke on his first visit. He is from Ottawa who know lives in Joliet. . . . He is the best fisherman I have seen since Mitch DeLand (Illinois Bass amatuer 2nd place last year).
High praise. And a worthy fish too.
E-mail FOTW nominations to outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.