Local angler reels in what appears to be pacu

Chris Schmidt got a little more than he bargained for after feeling a tug at the end of his fishing line Sunday morning.

Schmidt, 19, and his cousin, 24-year-old Brent Yount, hadn't caught much of anything after fishing for about 30 minutes on Berry's Pond, so when Schmidt felt a nibble on his hook, he just figured he was reeling in an average catch.

But just as most good fish stories go, it was anything but. The creature, the shape of a flattened football, looked kind of like a piranha - a theory that gained credence when the fish bit Yount on the thumb as he freed the animal from the hook.

"The only time I ever seen a fish like that is on the Discovery Channel," Schmidt said Tuesday, recalling the incident.

"I've been fishing here for eight years, and I've never caught this type of fish before," Yount said.

After some research, the young men decided the fish - chomping teeth and all - was a pacu, a variety of fish native to South America and a close, generally less aggressive, relative of the piranha. On Tuesday, after looking at several photographs, officials at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources tentatively identified the fish as a pacu. Brett Witt, spokesman for the state agency, said the pet fish are an invasive species, one that doesn't usually survive for long in South Carolina waters. The fish, which can grow to 33 inches, sometimes outgrow their aquariums, leading owners to toss them into the nearest body of water.

In July 2006, a red-bellied pacu was caught in Georgetown County's upper Sampit River, and another was found in October 2004 in the Ashley River in Charleston County. Still, finding such a fish isn't that common, Witt said.

The fish, which usually eat plants, are also known to eat other fish, insects and natural or artificial bait. And while they're a relative of Hollywood's favorite angry fish, the piranha, pacu aren't usually as likely to bite.

"Not as much as what you would think by looking at (the teeth)," Witt said. "It looks like something out of Star Trek. It's freaky looking."

Witt encourages anyone who catches a non-native fish, like a pacu, to call the nearest Natural Resources Department office.

As for this fish, Schmidt and Yount plan to have it mounted.

"I only fished at that pond twice in my whole life," Schmidt said. The second time, it seems, was the charm.

"You only get one chance in life to catch something like that," he said.

Rhett Brown, owner of Brown's Bait and Tackle at Berry's Pond, said people commonly catch bass, brim and catfish at the pond, which is fed by the South Tyger River. Two years ago, Brown's wife caught an oscar fish, which also had teeth. And that's what he thought Schmidt had caught.

"I thought he had an oscar," Brown said. "They looked it up."