Wisconsin man hooks 73-pound buffalo head

[iland99]

JANESVILLE, Wis. -- It only took 45 minutes for Dave Tilton to set an unofficial world record.

He caught a 73-pound, 1 ounce buffalo head - 3 pounds, 1 ounce more than the world record.

``I knew it was a big one,'' he said. ``It feels pretty good ... I wish it could have been a muskie or a walleye, but I'll take it.''

Tilton, an avid fisherman from Janesville, was standing in chest waders, jigging for walleye off Lake Koshkonong's shore Monday about noon.

Tilton, 25, had been fishing about 45 minutes with his uncle, Lloyd Helgestad, when he felt a tap on his jig.

``I set the hook, and it was just dead weight,'' he said.

Tilton, who was using eight-pound test line, said the fish ``was pretty dormant.''

After a 30-to-45 minute struggle, Tilton and his uncle beached her.

The state record for big mouth buffalo is 54 pounds. The world record is a 70-pounder caught in Louisiana.

DNR fisheries biologist Al Byla said it's rare to catch a big mouth buffalo head with a rod and reel.

He also said he was amazed at the quantity of eggs in the fish.

``It must have had 15 pounds of eggs,'' Byla said. ``It was squirting eggs like crazy.''

Tilton said Tuesday he was waiting to get the paperwork he has to complete from the International Fishing Hall of Fame for the official distinction.

He said he plans to send the fish to a taxidermist. After that, he's not sure. He may hang it on his wall.

``All I need is the plaque that says I caught a world record,'' he said. ``The rest I guess will be perks and bonuses.''

The fish was 38 inches long. Byla said most larger buffalo are closer to 50 inches.

Before the buffalo fish, Tilton's biggest catch was a 25-pound barracuda he hooked in Florida.

-Taken from the Star Tribune

[Renneberg]

WOW! thats a ugly fish.

They said that that fish was short only 38 inches. Larger bufalo reach closer to 50 inches.
That means that there is most likly a another world record swimming in that lake.

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"Study to be quiet"

[SCUMFROG]

2 words. YUCK! and WOW.

[Mr Special]

HOLLY HANNA

[2dalake]

It looks like it lived on McDonald's french fries.

[carpusdelecti]

I grew up in that area and have caught many buffalo in the Rock River / Lake Koshkonong but this one is a dandy! Those fish go 30 -40 lb on a regular basis.

[LocalGuide]

Wow huge fish!

I think ugly is a understatement though.

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And keep those hooks sharp!

[huskiesplayer15]

That must have been like pulling a 55 gallon drum through the water! Impressive
Best Fishes
Chris

[carlcmc]

wow.

Too bad they didn't save it to reproduce.

The big ones must have good genes.

[WillTravelToFish]

Don't worry Carl.. there'll be plenty of large habitat spoilers reproducing for you as the bighead and silver carp make their way to lakes... with their sticky eggs moving from lake to lake on the legs of birds. Those slobs carry 5 gallons of eggs in their gut. This fish wasn't so big.. like was mentioned only 38"... it was those **** eggs. Interesting fight though... imagine if that dam had all those eggs and WAS 50" wow... be even happier for taking her out of the eco-sys - take as many as you can!

You keep your garbage fish Carl.. there'll be pleanty more where that came from.

Several Bighead (Carp) - asian carp (aren't all carp) - found in Pepin since Oct 2003.

[carlcmc]

yes, it is true. I saw the paper articled with the picture it came from and it was even discussed on drudgereport.com

so unless you have some link to back up your claim, you probably ought to stop...

[Wavey Davey]

On a related subject, there's a picture going around the internet of a state record Texas catfish. It isn't true. The picture is real, but it wasn't caught in Texas, it's from out of the country.

[iland99]

Right now there are two pictures floating around the internet. One is of the new world record blue catfish, caught in Texas, and it is indeed authentic. The other is of a Wels catfish, caught probably somewhere in Europe. This one is the fake. It was not caught in Texas, since there are no Wels catfish anywhere in North America. It looks fairly similar to a flathead cat from the angle of the pic.

[iland99]

Here is the fake picture:

Here is the real deal:

[Wavey Davey]

carlcmc,
The picture I was refering to was of two guys in shorts kneeling in what looked like a river cradling this huge catfish-like fish.
It claimed it was caught on 2-lb. test line while fishing for crappies. The day after I received the email I received another one explaining that this picture had been circulating the internet with various claims of where it was caught and how. I was only passing on what I've seen and heard about it,
believe what you want, could very well be just another "fish story"...

I would post the links to what I received but I deleted them.

[This message has been edited by Wavey Davey (edited 03-26-2004).]

[Roughfisher]

Two points:

There is a fake AND a real picture of the texas catfish - one is two guys with a European Wels cat. 4 people have emailed me that one. The real one was kept in an aquarium in Texas, the only picture of it is in an aquarium.

Second, bigmouth buffalo are NOT habitat spoilers. They are filter-feeders that keep the water clean and keep the carp population down.

[Doop]

I live only about 20 minutes away from Lake Texoma where that guy caught the new world record blue cat.....that fish was almost bigger than the guy who caught it....he kept it out of the water for over 20 minutes and it's still alive in an aquarium somehow! Tough fish!

[carpusdelecti]

Just to set the record straight, buffalo fish are native, unlike all the nasty carp species which are invading.

[Chad711]

Doop, I was at Witchita Falls back in 93 for 6 months of Air Force Hvac training. Went fishing on Texoma in July, got the worst sunburn of my life!