Saltwater Game Fish Records for South Carolina

Lemon Shark - Photographs

Angler: Stephen Liesen, of Quincy Illinois

Lemon Shark Weight: 380 lbs. - 0 oz.

The marine game fish record for a Lemon Shark was recently shattered by a visiting angler vacationing with his family from Illinois.

Stephen Liesen, of Quincy Illinois, caught a 380 pound lemon shark on Thursday July 22, just outside Hilton Head in 35 feet of water to claim the new state record. This shark beat the old record, which was set back in 2002 by angler Ronald Price of Ladson, SC, by just a mere 10 pounds.

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.