Youth angler catches pending SC state record tautog

Young angler caught big tautog with ACES UP Fishing Charters

While fishing with Capt. Jay Sconyers of ACES UP Fishing out of Murrells Inlet, S.C. on March 6, 15-year-old Malachi Terrell caught a 6.4-pound tautog that is the pending new South Carolina state record.

The young angler from Indiana also landed an 8.5-pound sheepshead during the same trip. And according to Sconyers (843-997-3270) it wasn’t a particularly good day of fishing.

“It was a rough day. The winds were northeast 15 to 20 and these two fish were definitely the highlights of the trip,” said Sconyers. “It’s crazy to think of a new state record coming on a day like that, but it just goes to show that you never know.”

The big fish bit a fiddler crab

They were fishing on one of the nearshore reefs and targeting sheepshead with fiddler crabs when the big tautog bit. Even though he doesn’t catch a lot of tautog, as soon as he saw this fish, Sconyers had no doubt it would beat the current state record of 5 pounds, 8.4 ounces.

“Several years ago, I actually had a 4-year-old customer catch what would have broken the current record. But because I set the hook and fought the fish a second before handing her the rod, it didn’t qualify. A state record has to be caught unassisted. And I knew as soon as I saw this fish that it was bigger than that one. When I saw it, I just yelled ‘get the net,’” he said.

After getting back to Murrells Inlet, Sconyers called SCDNR’s Chris Reynolds and met him at Seven Seas Seafood. They weighed the fish on a certified scale and filled out the necessary paperwork.

“The governor has to actually sign the paperwork to make it official. So right now it’s the pending new record, but we’ve taken all the steps so it’s just a matter of time before it’s officially the new record,” said Sconyers.