Lake benefits from rain
By TOOTSIE SNELLING
Marion County Park & Lake Reporter
What a glorious rain! Just what we needed to fill the lake and everyone's pond. This will put us in good shape for the summer. Now, just so we don't get buckets more and it all runs out. All we need now is some slow, gentle rains every other week or so and no high winds or hail.
Son Dean was coming back from Salina Friday afternoon and just missed the big hail storm that went through Canton and Galva. They called out the highway department trucks with their snow plows to clear a path off the road. He said it was at least six inches thick and couldn't believe what he saw. He called me on his cell phone to tell me about it. Glad we missed that one!
When the water was running over the north end the cat fishermen came out. They lined the north end and caught some nice channel cat. The best bait for the channel is chicken liver, worms, and shad gizzards.
We heard about a 12 pounder caught, but no one brought one in to weigh.
Throughout this week, fishing has been good. Several drum, a few bass, and some nice wipers were caught. Some crappie were caught between the heated dock and the bank and off some of the rocky points. Fishers used minnows or jigs. If we don't get any more big rains that muddy up the lake, fishing should take off!
We had the Cardinals Campout here this weekend. (They all have Cardinal fifth wheel campers). Most of them were just returning home from the southland and this was their first campout. There were about 15 units. They said their crowd keeps getting smaller as they are all getting older. They used the hall on the rainy afternoons and evenings to play card games and to eat. They usually have a cookout, but the weather didn't cooperate. They like our lake and enjoy shopping in town and eating in the area.
We have the Telephone Pioneers camping group coming next week.
As you know Easter Sunday was cool, but it finally warmed up enough that, with a jacket, we hunted Easter eggs in the afternoon. Our dinner guests were Dorothy and Woody Wilson from Potwin, Mark, Leann, Kiana, and Levi Lewman from Sedgwick, Dean Snelling, Julie, Madison, and Mercedes Adcock, and Dan, Tammy, Seth, and Tristen Snelling. Peg and Paul Silhan, from Salina were Saturday afternoon visitors at our house.
It's getting close to wildflower time. Margo dropped off some fliers that have several of the most popular wildflowers and grasses in Kansas. It has colored pictures and descriptions of them. You would be surprised how many of them we have around the lake at different times. If you would like a copy of the flier, stop by and pick one up. It is put out by KDOT (Kansas Department of Transportation) and explains about the vanishing prairies and how they are helping to preserve them by not mowing all of the ditches and rights of way. Also — they discourage picking wildflowers so as not to destroy the seeds. If everyone picked a bouquet of wildflowers there soon wouldn't be any.
Someone had fun, or I guess that's what they think it was, Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Several mailboxes around the lake were damaged or destroyed. I hope whoever did it knows that it is a federal offense to damage mailboxes. Maybe they will find that out!
