Hundreds of kids who signed up for a fishing competition last Friday showed up ready to fish, but the lake had been stocked with sick and dying catfish.
The children’s fishing rodeo in Tupelo went belly-up because so many of the fish ready to be caught were diseased. Only a few kids caught anything despite 1,700 catfish being stocked in the lake where the competition took place.
Tupelo Parks & Recreation Director Alex Farned told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that a contractor delivered 1,700 catfish Wednesday.
He says the fish were packed too tightly in the truck and had a bacterial infection. Fish began floating to the surface of Veterans Park lake on Thursday. Farned says city workers have skimmed out more than 1,000 dead fish and buried them in a pit.
Farned says the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks hired the fish supplier and will help restore the lake’s catfish population once the situation stabilizes.
