Anthony Burke of Cedar Lake was fishing for perch in Lake Michigan on Jan. 6 when he landed a burbot that was 37.25 inches long and weighed 14 pounds, 3.6 ounces. Burke’s catch bested the previous record held by Phillip Duracz by nearly three pounds.
Burbot are native to Lake Michigan. They typically spend most of their time offshore in deep, cold water in Illinois or Michigan’s jurisdictional waters. During late fall and winter, burbot move into shallower Indiana waters 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,” said DNR Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson.
