Matt Spyrka was fishing a Hoffman Estates neighborhood lake with a friend on June 24 when he caught a 22-inch largemouth weighing 6.2 pounds on a black buzzbait cast into the weed line.

``I couldn't believe how big it was until i brought it onto shore,'' the 14-year-old emailed. ``It was the biggest fish I've ever caught.''

Meanwhile, last week on a Will County lake, Wes Serafin caught a 20-inch largemouth on a 9-inch plastic worm. He did not weigh it before releasing.

Summer patterns: topwaters early and late, or artificial worms and Senkos deep.

Just realized I hadn't put this up.

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