Earlier this month, Tyler Fisher of St. Charles, Michigan, caught a record-breaking bigmouth buffalo, unseating the previous state-record fish that was caught in 2017.  Fisher caught his fish – weighing in at 32.01 pounds and measuring 38 inches – while bowfishing in the Shiawassee River in Saginaw County. Kathrin Schrouder, a DNR fisheries biologist out of Bay City, verified the new record.

Roy Beasley of Madison Heights, Michigan, held the previous bigmouth buffalo state record, a 27-pound, 35.25-inch fish he caught while bowfishing on Monroe County’s River Raisin in May 2017.

Over the last 10 years, anglers have caught 14 state-record fish in Michigan – a tribute to the growth and health of the state’s world-class fisheries and the long-term management efforts that help sustain them.

According to a recent MUCC study, an estimated 1.1 million licensed anglers a year contribute $2.3 billion to Michigan’s economy. Plentiful opportunities to fish a variety of species continue to draw both new anglers and accomplished veterans to Michigan waters.

State-record fish are recognized by weight only. To qualify for a state record, fish must exceed the current listed state-record weight, and identification must be verified by a DNR fisheries biologist.

The DNR reminds anglers who bowfish to properly dispose of all specimens they harvest. See the current roster of record-setting fish at Michigan.gov/StateRecordFish.