Chickasaw County Fishing Derby

HOUSTON, Miss.(WCBI) – Many kids in Northeast Mississippi don’t have the chance to try their hands at fishing.

That is why the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries sponsors roughly 70 fishing derbies across the state every year.

Saturday the Chickasaw Development Foundation teamed up with the State agency to sponsor a fishing derby at Legion Lake in Houston.

Rougly 150 children took part in the event. Organizers made sure that every kid was able to catch a fish.

“When they catch those fish it improves their image of themselves. They feel like they’re a great success. That’s what we try to do. That’s the reason sometimes we put a limit until every child here catches a fish. Then we’ll raise that limit. We want everyone to go home and be winners like we know they are,”said Sherry Hazelwood.

Hazelwood says they had no trouble raising the limit.

They stocked the lake with catfish prior to the event and didn’t give the fish anything to eat in order to enhance their chances of getting caught.