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May, 2015
Every spring there are events that get people fired up and itching to get outdoors. Turkey hunting comes to mind, as well as bear hunting, shed antler hunting, and searching for morel mushrooms.
In the bowfishing world there is one fish that spawns a little earlier in the spring than others and it draws attention due to its size potential – the Buffalo.
Comprised of three major species – the Bigmouth, Smallmouth, and Black Buffalo, these fish can really fill up a barrel.
I recall a tournament held on Wisconsin’s Castle Rock Lake in the spring of 2012. The Buffalo spawn was in full swing and large fish were seemingly everywhere (except in our boat).
When we arrived at the weigh-in the next morning there were 30#, 40#, even 50# Buffalo being sorted
by most teams. The largest fish was 58 pounds. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the sheer numbers of large Buffalo.
Wisconsin Record Whirlwind
Castle Rock is still producing large fish. In 2013, Matt Schillinger of AMS Bowfishing landed a new state record Bigmouth Buffalo. The 70.5# fish set a new benchmark that we all expected to last for a while, however Matt himself knew that bigger fish were present.
In a recent conversation with Matt he indicated his belief that 80-90# fish were swimming in
those waters. As preposterous as that sounds, Matt’s intuition was on the money.
Fast-forward to April 1st, 2015. Friends and co-workers Greg Johnson and Tom Huff were out
chasing Common Carp and Sheeps-head (Freshwater Drum) on Castle Rock. They filled a couple of barrels and decided to check out some of Greg’s hot-spots for Buffalo.
The conditions that night were windy and damp, but the water clarity was fairly decent allowing them to see up to 5’ in places.
Tom was a novice shooter on his first trip, but Greg was no stranger to big Buffalo. He has chased them aggressively for the past 10 years putting fish up to 50# in the boat.
As they approached the area, they started to see Buffalo. With quite a bit of weight in the boat already, the duo decided to be selective, targeting fish that were 25 pounds or larger.
Tom struck first on a big fish. When it came over the side they put it on their 50# scale and it bottomed out - barely. Tom looked at Greg and gave him a little light-hearted razzing for matching Greg’s personal best on just his first trip out.
That’s all Greg needed to get fired up. A little later Greg sunk his Shure Shot Penetrator tip deep into a very large fish. He fought it to the side of the boat, where Tom double-tapped it with another arrow and they swung it in the boat.
It was clearly larger than Tom’s fish, but Greg didn’t expect that he had a record.
The next morning Greg stepped on his bathroom scale, took a
reading, then repeated the process
BUFFALO MATADORS
Tackling North America's "Bull-Fish"
By: Pete Gregoire
Continued on next page
Matt Schilinger (Center) with his former state record Bigmouth Buffalo taken in 2013. From left to right - Korey, Matt, Todd and Leroy Schillinger
Tom Huff (left) and Greg Johnson hoist their 50# and 72.5# Buffalo respectively.
Photo courtesy of Matt Schillinger
Photo courtesy of Greg Johnson