I’m mean really?

 

Wow. What killed them? Hopefully natural causes and not angler caused?

I'm guessing they were dumped there after someone caught bigger ones.  Culling is permitted here under law but people don't care as long as they can take fish home to eat.  They were probably placed in a bucket or on a stringer in hot summer temps and then "released" after a period of time.  For a long time, culling was illegal here in MN and that law was recently changed.  I am not in favor it, unless you are in a tournament.

 

Its possible natural causes killed them but the likelihood is low considering they're all kind of a "pile" in one small location.  Also, its not just one species either, as it appears to be sunfish and perch.

Wanton waste of a game fish/bird/animal is a ticketable violation here in Louisiana...and should be.

That does sting.

If I saw that here in Kansas, I would just assume somebody emptied their catfish bait bucket, before they went home. You see it a lot here.

Are there hook punctures in them?

 

I mean, I do not jump to conclusions too often without really looking in to things. This could be a simple issue like a natural cause, something spilled in to that water way or something else. 

 

Either way, their dead, and will get eaten more than likely from birds, turtles or another fish. 

They didn’t wash up. I fish this place a lot.  I’ve never seen anyone at this place fishing Cats let alone catch one … doesn’t mean someone wasn’t. 

That's disgusting and shameful if a person did that! It's a reality though and it happens daily all over the world unfortunately. 

I have nothing for people who waste our resources.  Catch and eat or catch and release.  

How/ why would this happen? 

I think the hot bucket theory works to explain this one. It's too bad. 

Mr Raccoon gonna have a good feed tonight

21 hours ago, TcRoc said:

I’m mean really?

 

I have seen this unfortunately at ponds I fish at. It makes me super mad; why waste a life this way, either consume the fish or release it so it survives.

were they hooked looking at their mouth? Maybe they were kept out too long and then “released”?

In Kansas you're allowed to catch bait from one body of water (with no nuisance species and not down stream), and use them in another body of water but you cannot release them into that body of water once you're done fishing. So it's not unusual to see something like this when someone is done catfishing and dumps their baitfish on the bank and maybe someone kicked them down into the water or something. 

 

Or maybe someone intended to keep them and didn't get enough to eat and tried to release them and they went belly up instead of swimming off.