Angler sets record for biggest fish — but it’s smaller than you think. ‘Made me laugh’

An angler was fishing with his 8-year-old son in Georgia when he reeled in a catch he couldn’t immediately identify.

It turned out to be a record-setting fish — even though it weighed less than a pound.

Jamie Boyett now holds the state record for the spotted sunfish, also known as a stumpknocker, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said in a June 24 news release.

Boyett said he took his son to one of their regular spots on the Ogeechee River on June 15 seeking redbreast sunfish. That’s when he caught the 12-ounce, 9-inch spotted sunfish, although he didn’t know it at the time.

“When I caught this fish, I honestly wasn’t 100 percent sure what it was,” Boyett told state officials. “A friend said it looked like a stumpknocker, which made me laugh because it was the biggest one I had ever seen.”

Stumpknockers, nicknamed for their habit of floating around stumps for food, typically weigh less than half a pound, according to the wildlife resources division. The fish tend to live in slow-moving streams or ponds with thick vegetation.

“After we got home from fishing, I started cleaning our catch, and something made me decide to just look into confirming the species,” Boyett said. “And I sure am glad I did.”

His friend was right. Boyett beat the previous freshwater sunfish record of 11 ounces by weight, set in 2019, according to state officials.

Boyett is from Portal in Bulloch County, about a 70-mile drive northwest from Savannah.

This story was originally published July 1, 2024 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Angler sets record for biggest fish — but it’s smaller than you think. ‘Made me laugh’."