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Fishing boat brings missile to Madeira Beach

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Fishing boat captain Rodney W. Salomon took care with the missile onboard.

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TBO.com

Published: June 8, 2009

Updated: 06/08/2009 12:37 am

MADEIRA BEACH - Long-line fishing boat captain Rodney W. Salomon docked near the Tom Stuart Causeway on Monday afternoon, bringing with him a souvenir he reeled in from 60 miles off the coast of Panama City.

It was an air-to-air guided missile.

And, yes, he had caught a live one.

"I wasn't scared," said Salomon, a fisherman for 10 years and the captain of the Bold Venture. "Why should I be scared?"

Salomon said he snagged the missile on a fishing line more than a week ago in the Gulf of Mexico from a depth of about 700 feet. It looked old, Rodney said, and it had a hole in its side, so he figured it already had detonated.

"So I put it on the roof of my boat and I was fishing for another eight days," he said.

When Salomon docked at Madeira Beach on Monday, he called the local fire department because he said he wanted to keep the ordnance as a souvenir. Authorities instead converged on the area and cordoned off a vacant parking lot near the causeway.

A bomb squad from MacDill Air Force was called in to dismantle the missile on site. The squad released few details about the operation, but the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said the bomb squad confirmed the missile was American-made.

Salomon said the piece of artillery looked as if it had been in the bottom of the sea for a long time. He said he wasn't worried about the device exploding because a commercial fisherman's life already is fraught with risks.

"If the good Lord wanted to take me out, he would've taken me out," Salomon said. "I'm an honest working guy. I risk my life out there every day."

Salomon said it wasn't the first time he has hooked military-issue ordnance while fishing for grouper. And a few days ago he fished out a second missile, but a gauge kept beeping and Salomon feared it was still live so he put it back in the water.

Authorities told the fishing boat captain that the next time he finds a missile, he should report it immediately to the U.S. Coast Guard. Salomon said that was just fine with him.

"I'll take pictures of it and let it go," he said.

The missile was dismantled by 10:30 p.m. and the pieces were taken back to MacDill to be destroyed, Pinellas County sheriff spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said.

Salomon asked bomb squad members if he could keep the missile after it was defused. Authorities told him no.

Editor's note: The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is attempting to clarify the name of the fisherman. This story uses the most recent spelling provided by the sheriff's office.

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