Lake receives needed rain
By TOOTSIE SNELLING
Marion County Park & Lake Reporter
We finally got some rain, not near enough, but every little bit helps. Sure glad we didn't get all that hail and wind that was around. Maybe next time we'll get a couple of inches. Sounds pretty good for this week's forecast. What little we got sure did green things up. The warm days probably helped, too.
The tree man came and cut down the dead pine in the west row of trailers and also a dead American Elm in another trailer row. Dale was afraid to tackle them for fear they would fall on top of a trailer or the shop. Also, the county brought out the crane with a bucket and they patched the holes in the dam. Dale was wanting to get that job done while the lake was down..
We had a Shrine group, the ISIS Nomads, camping here this week. There were about 18 of them. They were from Salina, Russell, Junction City, and a few from Wichita. A few of them came in on Tuesday and stayed all week. They used the hall Saturday evening for their supper, meeting, and playing cards, and finished up with Sunday morning breakfast there. They thanked us for having such a nice facility, they plan on coming again next year.
Due to the nice weather there were several campers out and lots of fishermen, too. This time of year everyone needs a new license and permit and it takes time to write them out. If you were one that had to wait in line over the weekend, I'm sorry, the lines will get shorter.
Spring turkey hunting is on now and we sold lots of turkey permits, too. We had several who came in for second tags, so they were getting their turkeys.
Fishing was pretty good over the weekend. When you have lots of fishermen out, the fishing report is usually better. Heard of several channel cat taken up to four pounds, also lots of small wipers, a few walleye, some going 18", and a few crappie, most of them from the heated dock. The crappie haven't come to the banks yet, but this week or next should be close.
The water temperature was 63 on Sunday and with the warm windy days on Monday and Tuesday that should warm it even more. Now is when you should be out fishing. This is the best time.
Danny and Seth Snelling were out fishing Saturday. They came especially to catch Tristen a crappie to use in her song for the Lip Sync contest on Saturday night. Wouldn't you know it — Dan caught a 37-pound flathead in the swimming beach cove on a bass worm. It took him 20 minutes to land it. By the way, he also caught Tristen a fish too, and she won the Lip Sync contest in her category. Congratulations Tristen!
I went in to watch the USTA FEST 2002 Lip Sync contest and was quite impressed with all the talent we have in our small community. I'm glad I wasn't a judge. It's too bad everyone couldn't win. If you have never seen the contest, you should plan to attend next year, I never laughed so hard in a long time. I had intended to just watch Tristen, then leave, but couldn't tear myself away. I had to stay and watch the end of "Albuquerque." You guys did an excellent job!! I'll be there next year.
I also attended Ginger Becker's first grade program Thursday afternoon in which granddaughter Karly Hess is a student. It was held outside in the school's wildlife area. The class was divided up into groups of threes and they talked on different subjects. One was on fish and how they float and do not have eye lids; one on bugs, insects, and butterflies and the difference between them; one on birds and why some birds don't fly, and how one quail can eat 150,000 weed seeds a day; one on the difference between a frog and a toad; one on snakes and turtles, some turtles can live to be 150 years old; and one on mammals and animals. I hope I didn't forget any. I was quite impressed on the job they did. Ex-governor Hayden was there and he really took to the kids. He got down on his knees, asked questions, and got answers from the students. Then we went inside for a cute skit. What a fun age! After the school program, I attended the Marion Middle School track meet held in Marion. (I went to watch Jayde Hess.) They got most of it off before it started raining, but had a rain delay before they could finish.
As it gets warmer, we get more joggers and walkers. Please watch out for them and remember the speed limits, 25 mph from Kingfisher's to the west, 10 mph through the lake hall, beach, and lake office area.
