7
Obscure Adventures Magazine
holding the fish. Although the fish was deflated and starting to dry out it registered close to 80# on the uncertified scale.
Greg called up the local game warden in Adams County who advised him to head to the Stone-Ridge Meat Market in Wautoma, WI where they had a certified scale. He was met there by three DNR biolo-gists who took length and girth measurements as well.
The official weight was 72.50#, setting the new state record for alternative methods (bow and arrow).
Pictures of Greg’s fish spread out across social media and the atta-boy’s came pouring in. Then, a mere two weeks later on April 17th a new picture surfaced. A young man named Trevor Donovan was holding a fish that looked nearly as big as he was and the claim was it weighed in excess of 87 pounds.
I spoke with Trevor and his father Lance about that night and it is the epitome of being in the right place at the right time. Lance asked 17 year old Trevor if he wanted to bowfish on Friday night after school and Trevor was all in. Since his first trip out at the age of 7, Trevor has had the bowfishing bug as bad as
anyone.
However, unlike many bowfish-ermen who search for fish at night,
the equipment they were using was pretty basic. Their 15 foot v-hull boat was pulled down the lake by a small trolling motor and they searched the shallows with a hand-held spotlight connected to a car battery.
In his hands, Trevor still uses the same bow that he shot his first fish with 10 years prior, a Diamond Razor Edge youth bow. Over the years, both Lance and Trevor have had some success pulling in Buffalo, especially during the early months leading up to the spawn. However, they had never landed any real monster fish. Before this fateful night Lance’s personal best was 38 pounds and Trevor’s was approaching 30 pounds.
The night was cold and with a brisk east wind, but the water was clear enough to still offer decent visibility. The first fish they spied was a small common carp, but they didn’t get off a shot.
They continued to scan the water with the spotlight and a muskrat came into view swimming on the surface. As they followed the critter
with the light, Lance spotted a fish below it. Trevor let his arrow fly and it sunk into the fish.
Trevor fought the fish to the back of the boat and in the darkness it was unclear exactly how big the fish was. Still, knowing that it
wasn’t a little fish, Trevor called for Lance to stick a second arrow in the fish for insurance. With this done, they shined the light on the fish for the first time and the celebration began.
Pulling the fish into the boat with a gaff, they laid a tape measure across it and it exceeded 51 inches. Lance did a quick search of Wis-consin state records and realized the current record was 48.75 inches (the website still showed Matt Schillinger’s 70.5# fish from 2013 and not Greg Johnson’s 72.5# recent record from just 2 1/2 weeks prior).
Knowing they had a potential state record, and having only been on the water for 20 minutes, Lance and Trevor decided to try to get the fish weighed immediately. Lance called up his friend Larry Richmond and he tracked down the owner of Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston, WI. By 9:15pm the fish was officially weighed at 87.1 pounds with store owner John Hamm on site to wit-ness the record breaking weigh-in.
Back in high school Trevor may not achieve great celebrity from his catch, but among bowfishermen he should be recognized for landing not only the Wisconsin state record, but also one of the largest Big-mouth Buffalo taken anywhere in the United States, ever!
Trevor Donovan struggles to lift the largest Bigmouth Buffalo ever taken in Wisconsin. The 87.1# 51" fish is nearly as long as the Donovan's family friend Maycee Richmond. (Upper Left)
Trevor Donovan and his new Wisconsin state record Bigmouth Buffalo.
Photo courtesy of Lance Donovan
Photo courtesy of Lance Donovan