It’s dark — can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face dark — as a fishing boat slowly makes its way along the shore of Crystal Lake, about 20 minutes south of Detroit Lakes, Minn.
Vern Bachmann stands on a platform at the front of the boat, poised to shoot a bow and arrow. He can see fish in the lake thanks to powerful floodlights near the waterline. He points out walleye and northern pike. Those game fish are off-limits to bowfishers. That’s fine with him. He’s after species like common carp, and Bachmann’s favorite prey, bigmouth buffalo.
“They’re more challenging,” Bachmann said. “They fight harder.”
“Here’s one.”
Bachmann looses the arrow, which splashes through the surface of the lake. “Got him.” Then, he drags the thrashing fish into the boat.
“That’s a big fish. Geez.”
It’s a female bigmouth buffalo, looking a bit like a monster goldfish, and nearly as long as Bachmann’s leg. Freshwater fish researcher Alec Lackmann weighs her in at 28 pounds.
“This one’s probably around 85 to 90 years old,” Lackmann estimates.
This bigmouth buffalo has been around since the Great Depression. And she’s far from the oldest of the bunch. Lackmann recently published pioneering research proving these fish live more than a century, not just 30 years as previously thought.
“Notice here on her scales how she’s starting to lose her color? Because she’s dying basically and slowly losing blood pressure and everything,” Lackmann said as he examined the fish. Read more –
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