No fish tale, this scamp could set a world record

MOREHEAD CITY, NC (WWAY) – He’s only 9-years-old, but this Tennessee boy may have caught one for the record books.

Teddy Wingfield, from Lookout Mountain, reeled in the fish on June 2 while fishing in waters off of Atlantic Beach. Officials say the fish holds the record for largest scamp caught in the state and it’s also a pending world record catch.

The scamp weighed in at 32 pounds, topping the former state record by nearly 5 pounds and the world record by 2 pounds, 6 ounces.

Wingfield has applied for the all-tackle world record title through the International Game Fish Association. The application is pending approval.

The former state record, a 27-pound, 1-ounce fish, was also caught off Atlantic Beach in 2012. The current all-tackle world record scamp is 29 pounds, 10 ounces and was caught off Dauphin Island, Ala. in 2000.

Wingfield’s fish spanned 43 inches total length, that’s from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, and measured 28 inches around the girth.

He caught the scamp using a Barefoot jig and 60-pound test line on a Penn Carnage jigging rod with a Canyon reel while fishing on the Sunrise II charter boat.