Fishing News

Another year, another bigmouth buffalo state record broken

Another year, another bigmouth buffalo state record broken
Tyler Fisher is the lucky angler who recently broke Michigan’s state record for bigmouth buffalo.

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.

Another year, another bigmouth buffalo state record broken
The latest state-record bigmouth buffalo fish was caught May 5 while bowfishing on the Shiawassee River.

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.