Every now and then something remarkable happens on the water, and this time we’ve got documented proof. Meet Minipi’s “Oldest” recorded brook trout, MPP 328. We’ll call him ‘Fighter’ for kicks.

Fighter was tagged MPP 328 behind his dorsal fin in 1999 at approximately three years old. He was caught that year at Second Narrows weighing three pounds by Michael Antico.

Years later in 2012 Fighter was wrestled in again by Duncan Lewis at the Gorge, weighing three pounds again.

And most recently, this wise fish found his way to First Narrows and latched on to Carl Burt’s grey Wulff on July 1, 2014. This makes “Fighter” a recorded 15 years old! We can’t say for sure he was three years old when first tagged, but if he was, he has lived a remarkable 18 years. And now is more than double in size at 6.5 pounds.

“Brook trout can live to be quite old, not just the Minipi ones but even some of those populations of small fish on the Island. I think Jeff Hutchings found ages up to 7 or 8 in tiny fish from down near Cape Race. But, in general, brook trout in most places don’t seem to get more than about 5…” says Dr. Richard Haedrich, retired Biological Oceanographer and Ichthyologist with research experience in the systematics and biology of fish.

“A fish 15 years old (or more) is pretty remarkable. There’s no arguing with the tag data. It is interesting that even after such a long period the fish had only doubled its weight. I would have thought it might be even larger since fish do not quit growing at some particular size the way many animals do. It’s called “indeterminate growth” and that’s what fish do. A big one is usually very old!”



So meet Fighter, the little brookie that could! We’ll keep you updated if he makes another appearance.