Fish of the Week: Two young people double on FOTW with a largemouth bass and a smallmouth bass

Brandon Stawik earned FOTW honors with this largemouth bass from Kemper Lakes. | Provided

Time to double on young earning FOTW.

Brandon Stawik, 9, caught a 5-pound largemouth bass on June 16 from Kemper Lakes. His dad Robert emailed that it came on a plastic worm.

Brianna Snyder, who turns 12 today, caught her first smallmouth bass (photo below) on the Kankakee River last week with her grandfather, George Peters. Many smallmouth had crawfish in their maws.

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the Sun-Times. Submit nominations by message on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).

Brianna Snyder caught her first smallmouth from the Kankakee River.