KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports$50,000 reward still up for grabs

$50,000 reward still up for grabs

LAKE CITY, MN (KTTC DT) -- A year ago, the NewsCenter first told you about a chance to win $50,000 in Lake City. You should know - that prize is still up for grabs.

The big reward is for anyone who can catch the sea creature named Pepie, now a marketer's dream.

If you look closely, there's something lurking in Lake Pepin.

One angler says, "I caught a glimpse of it sticking its head out the water."

A fish of sorts that's got the tourists talking.

Another tourist says, "It might have been, not might have been, I guess we'll never know."

Many have tried to catch a glimpse of the elusive creature, but a picture won't cut it.

Larry Nielson, Lake City Tourism Bureau says, "We're waiting for somebody to prove the existance of Pepie and we'll write 'em out a check for $50,000."

Larry will only settle for scientific evidence, like DNA, to prove a humped creature really does live 80-feet below the waves of Lake Pepin - the largest lake on the Mississippi River.

As the story goes, Pepie has attacked boaters and fishermen since 1871.

Some call the year-old Pepie promotion a tourist trap.

Larry says, "We aren't looking for billions of dollars, we just want to people to stop in and have some fun."

Jennifer Hoff reporting says, "Some of you might be pretty quick to call this a bunch of hooey, but Larry says only a half dozen people have called him out on this in the past year, heck even I had trouble finding those types of people than I did signs of the lake monster."

A Missouri tourist says about her daughter's Pepie sighting, "She didn't know anything about Pepie."

Which is what makes this young St. Louis Missouri native's story that much more interesting.

The daughter says, "When I was just looking out the window at the beach I saw this big tail come out of the water and it went back into the water."

A local business owner says, "We actually took our chase boat out into the water and this is what we found."

Even Lake City locals have their own stories, some more gruesome than others.

He went on to say, "I don't know exactly what happened, but he is not going back into the water."

So, you decide - but remember, what's waiting in the waters, could be worth a lot of money.

Since this campaign launched about a year ago, Larry Nielson says the city has earned about a million dollars in tourism money.

Larry has also been featured by national news outlets, newspapers, he was even on the largest radio station in Toyko, Japan.