NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — Earlier in January, an angler from Minot caught a record-breaking burbot. It was 19 pounds and 8 ounces. This makes it the first record burbot catch in years… but how often do people actually break records with their catches?

According to Scott Gangl, the section leader of North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Fisheries Management Division, they receive more calls than you think — but he says it’s pretty rare for people to actually break records. Each year, they only see about one or two new records broken.

“Once they get their certified weight,” explains Gangl, “they have to have it witnessed by somebody that’s at the store weighing the fish too. Once they get that weight, they should give us a call. We’ll send somebody out to verify that the fish was actually what they think it is. Some fish kind of look similar to other fish ,and we have to have somebody from the Game and Fish Department actually verify the species.”

Gangl says the award for breaking a record is bragging rights, recognition in the record book, and a certificate.

The Game and Fish Department offers a list of state-record fish that were caught.