38-Year-Old Satilla Shellcracker Record Broken

Waylon Smith, 17, of Waycross, with the new Satilla River shellcracker record.

A regular fishing day on the Satilla River became extraordinary for Waylon Smith, a 17-year-old from Waycross. He has been fishing for most of his life, and he will certainly never forget reeling in a shellcracker that nearly broke his rod.

Just down from the Jamestown Bridge, Waylon and his friend had been fishing all day long, and it was about 4 p.m. when they were about to wrap it up. They spent the day fishing for bream when he “cast with a little Beetle Spin,” and suddenly, something big started pulling. And with that, a fight was on.

At first, Waylon thought he had hooked a mudfish because the drag almost broke his rod in an attempt to get away. During the reeling, they realized the assumed mudfish was “more of a circle,” and he began to fight harder to get it in the boat.

“It felt like a bass on the end and just in the way it fought showed how big it was,” he said.

It was a minute or two of reeling before he boated the fish. After the catch, the two took a closer look at the mystery fish; they had never seen a bream like it before.

“It was so wide—about the size of a paper plate,” he said. “We were surprised.”

They left and brought it straight to his dad.

“At first, we thought it was a bluegill, but we looked at it and saw the little orange behind its ear.”

That’s when they identified it as a shellcracker. WRD Fisheries would later confirm the species as a shellcracker.

The previous shellcracker record on the Satilla River was 1-lb., 10-ozs., which was caught in 1987. Waylon’s shellcracker weighed 1-lb., 10.56-ozs. on certified scales at Satilla Grocery.

When they realized Waylon had broken the record, excitement took over.

“We just lost our minds,” he said. “We started screaming—we were so excited.”

His friend was especially energized.

“He got real excited about it and now he’s looking to break some records, too,” Waylon said. “We might be making a little competition out of it.”

Satilla River Record Fish

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Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with WRD fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel. GON can correspond with DNR when high-quality, multiple photos are taken of the fish and emailed to GON. All record submissions and photos must be sent to [email protected].

GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.