Angler catches wrong fish and learns he broke a 25-year-old state record in Georgia

A Georgia angler accidentally broke a 25-year-old state record when he reeled in the wrong fish, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

Turns out that fish, a hickory shad, was bigger that any previously recorded in the state, officials said in a news release Tuesday.

Christian Blake Jones of Swainsboro was hoping for a crappie at the time.

Jones told officials he was on the Ogeechee River in Emanuel County when he got unlucky in a good way. That area of the river is in eastern Georgia, between Macon and Savannah.

The shad was confirmed at 2 pounds, 3 ounces, officials said. The previous state record, set in 1995, was 1 pound, 15 ounces. (The world record is also 2 pounds, 3 ounces, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.)

Jones’ catch is even more impressive in knowing hickory shad only appear “sporadically in the lower parts of coastal rivers,” Georgia officials note.

The species prefers the Atlantic Ocean but migrates into Georgia’s coastal rivers to spawn from January through May. They can grow up to 4 pounds and live for six years, the state says.

Jones didn’t say what he intended to do with the fish.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Angler catches wrong fish and learns he broke a 25-year-old state record in Georgia."