Terry McConnell fishing Lake Hartwell broke the old South Carolina state record for striped bass by 3 1/2 pounds with a 59-pound, 8-ounce "monster.
While drift fishing with live blueback herring from free line in a
pocket of big water near the dam when the big striper hit about 11:30 a.m.
McConnell hung
on as the huge fish stripped some 150 yards of 20-pound line from his 6500 Ambassadeur baitcasting reel.
Terry fought the fish carefully to the boat and boated him
by hand.
Continuing to fish for two more hours after the potentially record-setting catch,
McConnell and
his fishing partner Tim Hedden took the fish to Garrett's Fishing and Marine
near Portman Shoals
and had the fish weighed - 59-pounds, 8-ounces - on state certified
scales in the presence of several witnesses
who signed a scrap of paper that was
immediately notarized.
The following day the striped bass was lifted from the ice cooler
and certified officially
as the new state record by Dan Rankin, regional fisheries
biologist for the S.C.
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Clemson.
The fish had a total length of 47
1/8 inches and a girth of 32 1/2 inches.