Paula and Steve Haney have been fishing together for about 15 years. They had made the trek from Anderson, South Carolina to do a little Santee Cooper fishing out of Hills Landing and Marina at Cross, SC. Little did they know that their pontoon boat would be carrying the new South Carolina state record blue catfish back to the dock.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources records indicate that the previous state record was set back in 1991 by Summerville, SC resident, George A. Lijewski. His blue catfish pulled the scales to 109.4 pounds.
It was April Fool’s day, 2017, but what they caught on Lake Moultrie was no joke. “We were drifting in about 10 feet of water,” explained Paula. “It was about 8:00 in the morning. We were baited with blueback herring. I knew pretty quick it was a big fish, as soon as it bit.”
“I have been catfishing ever since I was ten years old,” offered Steve Haney. “When we caught the fish, I thought it was around 80 pounds. We had no idea it was over 100 pounds, let alone 113.”
“If you fish enough, big fish are going to come along,” said Steve. “It is going to happen sooner or later. We have hung a lot of big fish in the past, but to get one in the boat, with that size of fish, you have to have everything going for you. You gotta’ have the right line, the right hooks, the right rod and be set up right. It just all worked out good, nothing went wrong today, but I wish I had a bigger dip net.”
The anglers tried to put the catfish’s head in the net to start with and too much of the fish was still sticking out. “We ended up having to put the tail in first so it would bend around and we could get most of it in the net so we could pick it up,” said Steve.
“I was shocked,” added Paula. “This is amazing, I had no idea.”
The whole process of certification started when Chuck Turbanic first saw the fish. Chuck and his wife, Kristi, are the owners and operators of Hills Landing Marina.
“When I saw the fish, I knew it was a real big fish, at least 100 pounds.” stated Turbanic. “We have weighed a lot of fish here at the marina, multiple 90-pound fish, since we started operating the landing. This one, you could just tell. It had the girth, it had the length. It held the girth all the way through the tail. I knew it was a good fish, I just didn’t know we were going to be dealing with a state record.”
“When we put the fish on the scales they read 113.8 pounds,” continued Turbanic. “It was only me, my wife and a couple other people around that might have realized what we might have going on. So, the first thing I did was call officer Thomas Spann with SC DNR. We told him what we thought we had. He came over to the marina and looked it over. He then reached out to a state biologist. The biologist came in and confirmed the scales, got the measurements on the fish and started doing the paper work.”
“The certification process is a matter of catching the right fish and getting the right people there to certify it,” clarified Turbanic. “It is simple as that. There is a rumor going around, that if you catch a state record, the DNR will confiscate the fish. That’s just not true. You get to keep your fish. They just have to come in and get some measurements and take some photos for the records.”
“We are all pretty excited for the state, for the sport, for the catfish community, and for the angler,” said Turbanic. “Even though the fish ultimately died, that fish is a product of catch and release. The size of that fish is because of the efforts we have made in the past years promoting and building up the catch-photo-release idea.”
“More and more 40-, 50- and 60-pound fish are being released,” confirmed Turbanic. “Well, those 50-, 60- and 70-pound fish turn into 80-, 90- and 100-pound fish. When you start turning the 80- and 90-pound fish loose, that’s the ones that that will grow to break records.”
“It was a unique experience dealing with a big fish like that. There are a lot of people that spend a lifetime chasing a fish like that and they never even get to see one. Not only did I get to see one, but I had my hands on it and I tried everything I could to revive it.”
“We moved the fish to a 2000-gallon tank and rarely left its side until 11:00 Saturday night. That’s when it became total obvious that all our efforts had failed, we were not going to be able to save her. Sadly, despite a tremendous effort from myself, my wife Kristi Blanton Turbanic, Monty Hill and Richard Chaplin, the fish did not make it through the night.”
Officially the big cat is now in the record books at 113.8 pounds. It measured 52 inches long with a 40-inch girth.
Epilogue: The Haney’s have been overwhelmed with good wishes, congratulations and information seekers since the once in a lifetime catch on Lake Moultrie. “The process with the newspaper and all the magazines are just overwhelming,” said Steve Haney on Wednesday following the Saturday event. “Paula is loving every minute of it. She has been smiling for a couple of days without stopping. Even the restaurant around our hometown knows about the fish!”
“Paula tells me she cannot believe, being a woman, she broke the record, and she couldn’t have done it without me,” joked Haney. “We are very sad the fish didn’t make it. If we had it to do all over again, we would do things a lot different.”
