A Brooksville man is dead after an apparent fishing accident, Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant told The Dispatch.
John Mark Franklin, 56, died Sunday after getting entangled in a trotline while fishing alone.
A trotline is a fishing line with multiple hooks attached along its length.
Merchant said authorities received a call from a boater Sunday reporting the occupant of a solo fishing boat on the Tombigbee River was caught in a trotline. It appears Franklin was baiting the line when a hook from the line snagged his pants leg, holding him underwater, Merchant said.
The accident occurred on the main river channel near the Lowndes/Noxubee County line. The incident remains under investigation by Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Merchant said.
Franklin owned and operated Franklin Bee Farm, located in Brooksville.
Pierce Moore, owner of Blue Courage Farms, said he and Franklin had been friends since the pair started collaborating about two years ago.
Moore said Franklin started his bee farm about three years ago. Before that, Moore said, Franklin worked in dog training.
“He was just a hard working guy,” Moore said. “Just a down-to-earth country boy from Morton, Mississippi.”
Franklin sold honey at the Air Force base commissaries in Columbus and Keesler, as well as through Blue Courage Farms.
Moore said he and Franklin met up a couple of times each month to talk about life, the hardships they were facing and the day-to-day struggles of farming.
“We as farmers, we all just work so hard,” Moore said. “I know he was working six, seven days a week. I know I am. He probably took an afternoon or was just trying to take some time for himself, and some horrible accident happens. I just hate it. …I’m going to miss him.”
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