Fish record stood for 32 years in Indiana. It’s now been broken 3 times in 2 weeks

For 32 years, Larry Malicki had bragging rights over Indiana with a record-breaking burbot he caught in Indiana.

When Scott Skafar broke that record — twice — during one outing in December, he didn’t have long to brag about his crowning achievement.

Because less than two weeks later, Phillip Duracz became the new state record holder when he reeled in an 11.4-pound burbot on Lake Michigan. Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife announced the new record holder in a Jan. 17 post.

“The recent warm weather coupled with light winds has provided excellent opportunities for anglers to fish Lake Michigan at a time they are usually unable to access the lake,” Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson said in a news release.

A burbot is a freshwater fish that is often “described as a cross between a catfish and an eel,” according to Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. The only place you can find them in Indiana is on Lake Michigan, state officials said.

Skafar broke the 32-year record on Dec. 30 when he caught two burbots that bested Malicki’s decades-spanning mark. The fish weighed 10 pounds, 2 ounces and 9 pounds, 8 ounces, he told McClatchy News.

Days before his record was broken, he told McClatchy News he envisioned it wouldn’t last for long.

“Now that I know that there’s several of (burbot) out there, I’m kind of eager to see if I can break my own record,” Skafar said. “I feel that now that the ball is rolling... (the record) is gonna be broken a lot quicker now.”

Duracz, who also holds the state’s lake whitefish record, bested Skafar’s mark with his catch on Jan. 10, the division of fish and wildlife said.

But Duracz’ catch pales in comparison to a record-setting burbot reeled in by a North Dakota angler earlier this month. Field and Stream reported that Shane Johnson caught a 19 pound burbot Jan. 3 at Lake Sakakawea.

The world record was set in 2010, when Sean Konrad caught a burbot weighing more than 25 pounds on Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada, according to the International Game Fish Association.

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