Texas Teen Lands Record Smallmouth Buffalo

A 16-year-old Texas teen set a world record for an angler his age with a monster smallmouth buffalo earlier this month.

According to Pegasus News, Coppell, Texas, resident Austin Anderson reeled in a 50-pound, 6-ounce buffalo during the Lake Fork Carp & Buffalo Challenge on February 29-March 3 at Lake Fork, about 80 miles east of Texas.

Anderson's lunker is no all-tackle record -- that still belongs to an 82-pound, 3-ouncer caught by Randy Collins on May 6, 1993, at Athens Lake in Texas -- but it's certainly the biggest for his age group, and Anderson will be recognized with an International Game Fish Association world record for his age.

"When I landed the fish, I had no idea that it had any kind of record potential whatsoever, it just never dawned on me until Monday afternoon I got a call from (event coordinator) Jason Johonnesson confirming that it was indeed a record catch," Anderson told reporters. "I still having a hard time believing that I actually broke the 50 pound mark. Just two weeks before, I broke a personal best on buffalo at 44 pounds, and here two weeks later it's broken again. Crazy really."

The fish was released after it was weighed and photographed.

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