Game and Fish verifies new Buffalo fish record, caught in Heart Butte Reservoir

Fargo, ND, USA / The Mighty 790 KFGO | KFGO

Jun 13, 2022 | 10:58 AM

Mitch Estabrook with record Buffalo caught last month

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – A bow fisherman from Bismarck has set a new bow-spear state record.

Mitch Estabrook arrowed a 60-lb. 8-oz. Buffalo from Heart Butte Reservoir near Elgin in Grant County on May 16. It broke the previous record by 3 pounds, taken at Heart Butte Reservoir in 2017 by Derek Larson of Mandan.

Buffalo is a native fish sometimes confused with nonnative and invasive common carp.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department records indicate that Estabrook’s fish is the largest weighed in the state that was not a paddlefish or pallid sturgeon.