A prehistoric freshwater fish was caught in Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas that broke multiple Texas state records. Last week the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced that a massive smallmouth buffalo was caught by Austin Anderson weighing 71.63 pounds. The fish also measured a whopping 44.5 inches in length.
Anderson caught the smallmouth buffalo on June 10, 2024 using a traditional rod and reel. This catch earned Anderson numerous achievements including the Big Fish Award, Water Body Catch-and-Release Record, Water Body Record, and a State Catch-and-Release Record. Wired2fish contacted Austin Anderson and got the full story behind this once-in-a-lifetime catch.
THE STORY BEHIND THE RECORD CATCH
“We used to have this major carp tournament every year at Lady Bird Lake, and this fish was caught like three different times during that tournament,” Anderson told Wired2fish. “So I have known this fish was in there for years.”
Anderson has been aware of this big buffalo for about 12 years. He could even name several people that had caught this exact fish going all the way back to 2016, when it weighed 58 pounds.
About two years ago, one of his good friends caught the outsized buffalo when it weighed 64 pounds and set the lake record. That was about the time Anderson moved to the Austin, Texas area. After seeing his friend catch this fish, he wanted to do the same. Anderson started fishing this lake constantly.
HOW HE FOUND THE FISH
“You can’t really catch buffalo without chumming a lot. So what I do is put a bunch of cattle feed out. I mean I use hundreds of pounds of chum to attract these fish.” Anderson explains to Wired2Fish.
One day he and a friend decided; hey, we have all this bait left over. Why don’t we just dump it all and see what happens? They went on a Friday and dropped 150-plus-pounds of cattle food and came back the next day.
“We had all these high expectations, however we proceeded to not catch a fish for 13 hours straight,” Anderson said.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Anderson decided to wait a day and let it rest, then try again the following morning. When Austin arrived he was about to set his rods up, then he saw the fish jump.
“I thought, oh man, that’s her. I knew it was her because there’s only one buffalo over 60 pounds in this lake. So I got my rig together, I cast it out, then 15 minutes later I hooked her,” Anderson said.
When these fish bite, they just start running. Anderson had a lot of line out at the time of the catch, and when he hooked this fish it ripped 50 yards of line off the spool. Then it took off on another run and got into a snag.
“I’m sitting there for two or three minutes with this fish. I can’t do anything. All of a sudden I feel a pop, and I’m fighting it again,” Anderson said. The fish ran about 30 yards and went right into another snag.
Then the same exact thing happened; it popped out of the snag. At that point the fish ran towards Austin, allowing him to gain a lot of line. Eventually he lands the fish and just starts freaking out. “I knew the fish was big, but I had no clue it was over 70 pounds,” Anderson tells Wired2fish.
AFTER THE CATCH
Anderson started calling every person he knew, basically everyone within a 15 mile radius. He ended up getting about five of his buddies there, certified scales and all sorts of measuring tapes.
“We got all the official weights and measurements on video documenting the catch. Then I was able to get a perfect release on the fish, so it was a really special capture for me.” Anderson said.
Anderson’s catch set numerous records that day, and will undoubtedly be remembered as a legendary capture. He runs CarpPro Texas Guide Service in the Austin area, and has a local reputation for putting clients on once-in-a-lifetime fish. Sure sounds like he does.
