Amory Parks & Recreation Department hosts fifth annual fishing rodeo

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – For several hours Saturday morning, more than 100 Amory area children put away their cell phones and headed to Lake McAlpine.

Kids on the bank of a lake, fishing poles in hand while their parents looked on. In times past this is a scene that could have been painted by Norman Rockwell, but we’ll have to settle for high definition video.

These 15 and under children took part in the fifth annual fishing rodeo hosted by the Amory Parks and Recreation Department, which allowed participants to keep their fish.

“We encourage everyone to keep fish, take them home, cook them. There’s something special about catching or harvesting what you eat at the house,” said Rory Thornton.

“Honestly I never fished until started doing this fishing rodeo, and now I love it. I love it. It’s peaceful,” said Jamica James.

Sherry Hazlewood is the state fishing rodeo coordinator with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.

“We’ve always had a fishing rodeo program, but now we have a structured one. It’s the Catfish rodeo program. We go all over the state. And it’s a big event. We do 70+ a year about 8,000 registered kids. And what we’re trying to do is introduce the kids to the great outdoors. It’s something we’ve been blessed with all of our lives,” said Hazlewood.

Unlike in times past, young anglers of the 21st Century have to overcome a major distraction.

“The digital age has kind of cut down on the fishing a bit. We’re trying to get kids outside nowadays I think that’s very important getting them out of the house and everything. Seems that kids stay indoors a lot more,” said Thornton.

“Now technology takes over, so it’s good to get and enjoy the family get away from the games, you know technology itself. It’s just good to get out,” said James.

And Hazlewood says once many young people first toss in that hook, they get hooked.

“One positive fish will change a child’s life. I have seen life-changing experiences with fishing. I’ve seen big, sullen teenagers, they catch the first fish and would start squealing, and they were hooked for life,” said Hazlewood.

And kids had their prize catches weighed hoping to snag the biggest of the rodeo.

Event organizers said there will be plenty of fish remaining in the lake for anglers to try to catch in the coming days.