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A man from Indiana broke a state fishing record twice in a single day right before the New Year.
Scott Skafar, 48, of Valparaiso, Indiana, went fishing in Porter County on Dec. 30, 2022, where he caught two record-breaking fish from Lake Michigan, according to a press release issued by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Indiana DNR) on Wednesday, Jan. 11.
Both of the fish Skafar caught were burbots, a gadiform freshwater fish (AKA cod fish), that’s native to Lake Michigan, according to the Indiana DNR.
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The first burbot Skafar caught weighed 10.2 pounds, which surpassed the state’s previous burbot fishing record from 1990 by 2.5 pounds.
Scott Skafar, of Valparaiso, Indiana, broke the state's 32-year-old burbot fishing record twice on Dec. 30, 2022. (Scott Skafar via Indiana Department of Natural Resources)
Skafar then caught a second burbot that beat the old state record by almost two pounds.
"When first catching them I didn’t think much of it," Skafar told Fox News Digital in an Instagram direct message.
Skafar said he looked up Indiana's state record because he knew burbots are a rare fish to catch.
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"I checked the record using my mobile phone to look it up. Seeing it was only 7 pounds, 11 ounces," Skafar wrote on Friday, Jan. 13. "I knew these were much larger."
Burbots are ray-finned freshwater fish. (iStock)
Skafar told Fox News Digital he has been an "avid" fish his entire life and he believes someone else will break Indiana's burbot fishing record again "very soon."
The Valparaiso fisherman said he used St. Croix fishing rods to reel in the two burbots.
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"Adult burbot primarily feed on other fish species such as round goby, sculpin, and yellow perch," the Indiana DNR wrote in its press release. "Burbot are also sometimes called eelpout, lawyer, or poor man’s lobster and have a single chin-barbel or whisker, similar to catfish whiskers."
The Lake Michigan shoreline in Indiana measures 43 miles, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. (iStock)
Burbots are usually bottom dwellers and swim up to Lake Michigan’s surface between the months of November and April when temperatures are cold, the Indiana DNR reported.
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The wildlife agency also noted that burbots are safe to eat and "have firm, white flesh."
