(Northwest Indiana) - A man has broken the state record for the size of a fish he caught in Lake Michigan.

 

Anthony Burke of Cedar Lake caught a burbot that weighed just over 14 pounds and was more than 37 inches long, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The previous state record burbot was close to three pounds less in weight.

 

Burke was actually fishing for perch from a boat about five miles offshore at Portage when he hooked and reeled in the burbot.

 

Burbot are native to Lake Michigan and typically spend most of their time offshore in deep, cold water in Illinois or Michigan. They move into the shallower Indiana waters to feed and spawn during late fall and winter.

 

“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.

Burbot is good to eat, being part of the cod family and having firm, white flesh.