An Indiana angler has shattered a state record with his recent Lake Michigan catch of a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot.
Anthony Burke’s catch on Jan. 6 eclipsed the previous record by nearly three pounds and marked the third time in 13 months that a new state burbot record had been established.
Burbot are native to Lake Michigan and spend most of their time in extremely deep water off Michigan and Illinois, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
They migrate into shallower Indiana waters during the fall and winter to feed and spawn.
“Unseasonably warm weather and light winds on Lake Michigan the last several winters have provided boaters with a longer open-water fishing season and more opportunities to catch fish that are usually not in our waters, like burbot,” Ben Dickinson, a biologist with the DNR, said in a news release.
Burbot are found in parts of Canada and the northern United States, and in parts of Europe. They spend most of their time at depths of nearly 700 feet.
They’re prized as table fare because their flesh cooks up firm and white.
The all-tackle world record for burbot stands at 25 pounds, 2 ounces. That fish was caught in March 2010 at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada.