Angler hooks a ‘poor man’s lobster’ and sets an Illinois state record in the process
It’s an accomplishment to hook a state record-breaking fish, but it’s another wonder when you’re able to do it on your first shot at hunting that particular species.
Luc van Brenk caught his first-ever burbot fish during a visit to Diversey Harbor on Wednesday, a huge beauty weighing 9.68 pounds on a certified scale and checking in at 32½ inches long, said the Ifishillinois’ official Facebook post.
Brenk, along with his fishing buddy Thomas Krysciak, told Fox News that he had never eaten a burbot fish before, but that it was described as a “poor man’s lobster” since it can be cooked the same way according to multiple recipes.
Both fishermen said that they weren’t having much luck before netting the burbot.
“The rod doubled over,” van Brenk told the Chicago Sun Times. “I didn’t even feel it and it went straight down.”
Van Brenk told the Sun Times that he used a perch ring with a wax worm to lure the fish.
“Tommy didn’t know what the hell was going on,” said van Brenk. “He thought I had a steelhead, but it was dead weight. Really, it was just me pulling dead weight up from the bottom. When it got up, it went back down.”
According to Fox News, van Brenk says that one of his friends previously held the record for burbot but had lost it to the catch before van Brenk’s. The previous record was caught in 2018 by Freddie Ray Prebianca, the Sun Times said.
The two anglers took their catch to Park Bait at Montrose Harbor to weigh it officially and learned they broke the record, Fox News said.
“They jumped in each other’s arms, it was like a cartoon,” said Stacy Greene of Park Bait, the Sun Times reported. “They told me they were going back fishing and get another one.”
A burbot is a cold-water species from the cod family, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Angler hooks a ‘poor man’s lobster’ and sets an Illinois state record in the process."