At 380 pounds, lemon shark catch off Port Royal Sound breaks records

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Stephen Liesen, dentist of Illinois, has set the new records for the largest lemon shark caught in South Carolina: 380 pounds and 10 feet.

The shark catch on July 22 was made about a half mile outside Port Royal Sound in 35 feet of water to claim the new state record, beating the old state record of 370 pounds set back in 2002 by Ronald Price of Ladson.

It's an impressive catch, but still far smaller than the massive land beast scooped up on Hilton Head Island earlier today.

The shark species is generally not a threat to humans.

Here's more info about the catch from an S.C. DNR press release:

Liesen, 48, wanted to make the most of his vacation to Hilton Head with his family, and planned an afternoon of fishing for him and his son, Weston.  Stephen, a dentist by trade, has always enjoyed fishing and booked a charter trip aboard the vessel "Outcast," owned and captain by Reese "Chip" Michalove.  Outcast Charters is known for its big shark catches.  Last June the twin outboard 26-foot Glacier Bay Catamaran broke a forty-one year old Blacktip Shark record with a 163 pound 14 ounce fish.  The female Lemon Shark put up a good fight and it took Stephen over 30 minutes to get the fish to the boat, leaving him exhausted.  He was using a 6 ½-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stick rod paired with a Shimano Tiagra reel, and had cut barracuda filets for bait.  Captain Chip thought she might be a record breaker, so he called Amy Dukes, the Program Coordinator for the Record Marine Game Fish Program.  Based on estimated measurements of the shark and comparing them to the previous record fish, Chip was pretty sure she could beat the 370 pound record.  The fish was taken to Dopson's Seafood on St. Helena Island where she was weighted on a certified scale later that evening, and Amy Dukes verified the catch of the potential new state record shark.

For a current listing of South Carolina's State Record Marine Game fish, visit the S.C. Department of Natural Resources website at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/fish/saltrecs/records.html. For more information of record fish contact Program Coordinator Amy Dukes with the Office of Fisheries Management, DukesA@dnr.sc.gov, or call (843) 953-9365.

There's a forum post about the catch over on Georgia Outdoor News.

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