Jada Wyman caught her first brook trout last Friday on Moosehead Lake. The fish weighed 5 pounds, 1.5 ounces and measured 24 inches long.
Wyman, who has ice fished Moosehead for six winters, used a Heritage tip-up and a live shiner when she pulled a trap that had no flag raised.
“It had been completely filled with snow from a storm … the spool had frozen and was stuck,” she said.
As she started pulling the line, she felt several hard tugs and fought the fish for about 15 minutes.
“Once I got its head up in the hole, it started spinning and created a whirlpool that sucked it back down,” she said. The fish took off with a lot of line, but once it calmed, Wyman began bringing it in.
She noticed some unusual features once the fish was out of the water: its bottom jaw was crooked, it had cuts on its head and body and it was missing a small chunk of its mouth where some teeth should have been.
“The fight and the freezing hands were definitely worth it to get this beauty.”
It was a slow day of fishing. While a few flags went up, the only other catch was a salmon her father hooked, which was released because the species is out of season until Feb. 15.
Moosehead Lake is known as a fishery that can produce large brook trout. In recent years, anglers and biologists have documented multiple fish in the 3- to 7-plus-pound range, including a 7-pound, 10-ounce fish that broke a lake record, and other catches over 5 pounds.
Wyman plans to get a replica mount of her catch. Not only was it her first brook trout, but it’s also the largest fish she has ever caught.
“A brook trout like that is once in a lifetime.”
