Georgia man may have record striper with 59-pounder

ANDERSON, S.C. - A Georgia man who has been fishing for striper almost 20 years may have finally landed a state record. <br> <br> Terry McConnell, 50, of Eastanollee, Ga., caught a 59-pound, eight-ounce striper last Sunday, according to the Anderson Independent-Mail. The fish was nearly 48 inches long and had a girth of more than 32 inches. <br> <br> The current state record is 56 pounds, caught by James Robinson of McCormick last year on Richard B. Russell Lake. <br> <br> State Natural Resources Department officials are verifying to see if the fish is a record, the newspaper reported. <br> <br> McConnell said he was fishing with a 20-pound test line near the Lake Hartwell Dam using blue herrings as bait. He said it took about 20 minutes to reel the fish in. <br> <br> McConnell weighed his fish at Garretts Fishing and Marine, where he gets his blue herrings, and at the Natural Resources Department office in Clemson. <br> <br> McConnell&#39;s trophy will be mounted and join six others on the wall of his body shop. <br> <br> ``They range from 42 pounds to 55 pounds,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> When he is not mending fenders or reeling in stripers, McConnell can be found racing cars at area dirt tracks. <br> <br> ``Race &#39;til midnight, get up and go fishing,&#39;&#39; McConnell said.