60-pound fish found dead in suburban Kansas drainage ditch

OLATHE, Kan. -- A suburban Kansas City animal control officer says she was skeptical when a man called to report a 4-foot-long carp in a drainage ditch.

But Jamie Schmidt, a school resource officer with the Olathe, Kansas, Police Department, soon found herself wrapping up the 60-pound dead fish in trash bags and using a lift to get it into her truck. It was actually 3 ½ feet long.

"It was so heavy and it was wet," Schmidt told CBS affiliate KCTV.

The Kansas City Star reports the unidentified man found the carp Friday in the ditch near an elementary school. Schmidt, who is filling in as animal control officer while the regular one is on maternity leave, thinks it came from a nearby lake after heavy rains.

Schmidt told KCTV that she was so excited she took a picture with the fish and told all her friends it was her big catch of the day. She says it was easier to haul the fish away dead than had it still been alive.

Neighbors who live by the lake where it is believed the fish came from were amazed by its size too. Charlene Hughes told KCTV they see big carp swimming out in the lake often.

"We know they are pretty big, but 60-pounds is bigger than I thought," she said.