Warm weather brings fishermen to lake
By TOOTSIE SNELLING
Marion County Park & Lake Reporter
The warm days of last week really brought the fishermen out. But just because it's warm outside doesn't mean the water is warm enough for the fish to bite. There were some nice crappie caught at the heated dock, also some walleye and saugeye, but they weren't big enough to keep. The best time for the crappie seem to be early morning, like 2 a.m. until sunrise. The best bait still is spikes or wax worms on a jig or ice spoon.
Most of the ice is gone now with the warm temperatures and south winds blowing. We'll see if the cold temperatures of this week refreeze it.
We have a new brochure coming out this year. It's not ready yet, but will be in a few weeks. A couple of changes are as follows: camping fees will change from $10 for electricity to $12 per night and plain camping will change from $5 to $6 per night. An addition to the fishing rules — bringing in or having in your possession live or dead shad minnows is prohibited, commercially prepared shad can be used. Also prohibited is the use of casting nets, seines, traps, or equipment of any kind used for catching fish, minnows, or bait. We hope to have the new brochures in time for the Boat, Sport and Travel show in February.
Friday of last week was Kenny Schmidt's birthday, so to help him celebrate Nancy, Kenny, his daughter Yvonne, Dale, and I went to the Prairie Rose supper club, near Benton. What a delightful place! We went on Thursday because Friday and Saturday were full. We had a small crowd, but had a good time anyway. It's an all you can eat barbecue followed with delicious peach cobbler. After that comes the Prairie Rose Wranglers. Orin Friesen, one of the musicians and joke teller, knew Dale through fishing reports we used to do for KFDI, so he kinda used Dale in some of his fishing jokes. So we all had a good time. If you like good cowboy music and good food, be sure to go. You'll have a good time. Reservations are required. It's hailed as the biggest and newest state attraction.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV Saturday morning with the shuttle tragedy. Like the news said, most of us take the blast-offs and landings in stride and don't pay much attention anymore and that's sad. Only when something happens do we pay attention!
I still have your trash bags. If you haven't picked them up, please do so.
