9-year-old gets 6.5 pound brook trout on Moosehead

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

It was his first time ever to catch a fish through the ice, but Solomon Hadley’s fishing guide thinks it probably won’t be his last.

Solomon, 9, was fishing with his parents Eve and Evan Hadley and his grandfather Joe Nelson of Rockport recently on Moosehead Lake with a guide service when he hooked a big one.

Al Rockwell, owner of Reel Moosehead Guide Service, said he had set two traps close to shore and was working on a third when the flag of the first trap popped up. Rockwell told Solomon to set the hook but the fish got away.

Rockwell reset that trap and was putting in a fourth one when the first flag popped up again. The big fish swam back and forth under the ice, visible whenever he passed beneath the hole, but it didn’t want to come up, he said.

Finally, Solomon got the fish’s head pointing up and Rockwell grabbed the brook trout at the gills, he said.

The fish weighed 6.5 pounds, was 25 inches long and had a 16.5 inch girth. Solomon caught it in 2.5-3 feet of water and 14 inches of ice.

Solomon decided to keep his big fish and while Rockwell and the boy’s family were taking photos of him with his catch, the flag went up again. Solomon caught a 14-inch brook trout.

It was perfect timing to show Solomon just what a big deal his huge fish was, the guide said.

Rockwell had a fishing tent on the ice for his clients and Solomon buried his fish in snow near the temporary structure to keep it from drying out.

“He kept digging it out of the snow and carrying it around,” Rockwell said.

Solomon’s parents and grandfather fished too, and had success during the day. But no one could top Solomon’s prize fish.

This fish was the third one that topped 6 pounds in the last eight months, said Rockwell,who has been running his year-round fishing guide service for four years.

“I’ve seen a lot of nice trout before, but this is the biggest one I’ve seen a kid catch,” he said.