Ben Erb of Bemidji, Minnesota, planned an afternoon of solo kayak fishing near his home on July 3. He’s a graduate fisheries biologist researcher at Bemidji State University, an ardent angler and a big fan of catching bowfin — a native fish he says are largely underrated by America’s anglers.
Around 1 p.m. on that warm and sunny afternoon, Erb launched his kayak into a backwater area of the Mississippi River.
Related: This Kayak Fisherman Found a Bowfin Honey Hole, Then Landed a State Record
“I went to a place I know that attracts some big ones,” the 31-year-old tells Outdoor Life. “The area is about three feet deep, with bulrushes on one side and cattails on the other side. Bowfin cruise between them looking for food.”
He had been fishing for only 20 minutes before he caught and released a good-size bowfin. Before long he saw another mudfish just a few feet from his kayak in clear, shallow river backwater.
“They’re very curious fish and often swim right up to my kayak – and that’s what this one did. The fish was right under my rod tip when I dropped a five-inch creek chub minnow bait to it.
“It chomped my chub by its tail – then it just hovered there, not moving and next to my kayak for maybe ten seconds. My hook was at the bait’s nose, so I had to wait until the bowfin took the whole bait into its mouth and turned to swim away. That’s when I set the hook.”
When the estimated 12-pound bowfin felt Erb’s 1/0 hook set, it went nuts. The bowfun jumped twice and pulled hard against bait-casting tackle and 60-pound test braided line.
“Then it got all tangled in bulrushes and I had to paddle over to it,” Erb says. “There was no place for the fish to run, so it burrowed into the grass.
“When I got to it, I thought it was longer than the one I caught last August. I measured it in my kayak and knew then it was another Minnesota catch-and-release record for bowfin.”
The fish measured 31.5 inches, a half inch longer than his 2025 record bowfin that taped out at 31 inches. For a fish to be certified as a state record in Minnesota, a witness must see the fish and verify its length.
“That’s when I called my good friend Matt Lavrenz, who drove over to meet me at a nearby boat launch,” Erb says.
Lavrenz witnessed the measurement, then the anglers released the mudfish back into the Mississippi River — a place Erb believes holds other bigger bowfin that someday will give up another state record catch. Erb ultimately submitted the catch to Minnesota’s DNR, which recently certified the record.
“Matt and I quit fishing then and went to a nearby Mexican restaurant,” Erb says. “We celebrated with burritos and margaritas.”
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