Gene Atwood holds the 68-pound catfish he landed at Marion Reservoir May 10. He later released it back in the lake.
Don’t call him Ishmael. Call him Gene Atwood.
On May 10, Atwood hooked a lake-record 681⁄2-pound flathead catfish at Marion Reservoir.
“My wife and I were trolling for walleye in 22 or 23 feet of water,” he said. “Earlier in the day, my wife and I had been catching small walleye in the shallows, and we decided to go to the deeper area around Cottonwood Point toward French Creek.”
Atwood was using 12-pound test line and a Thunderstick lure.
“We started catching keeper walleyes in that area,” he said. “Then I hooked one that took 35 or 40 minutes to get to the top of the water, and still couldn’t get it out. So my wife grabbed the dip net and put a life jacket on.
“But when the thing came to the top of the water, she put the dip net down and took her life jacket off and told me she couldn’t help me.”
Even with help from a nearby boat, it took an additional hour and 20 minutes to get the hulking goujon into Atwood’s vessel.
“I was about ready to cut him loose—I was tired!” Atwood said. “But we flagged down a young man from McPherson named Brian Stauffer, who came over and helped out. He lifted it into his boat, then into ours.
“There wasn’t a lot of boats out there that evening, and we were just fortunate that Brian came as close as he did.”
Later that day, at Canada Bait ‘N Tackle near Hillsboro Cove, the fish measured 49 inches from tip to tail.
“It was fun, I’ll say that,” Atwood said, “and when it was over, I thought I should release him and let someone else have some fun.”
Atwood, of Whitewater, is the meat-market manager at Vogt’s Hometown Market in Hillsboro.
“We try to fish at the reservoir about three weeks a year,” he said, “and I always try to catch early May for the best walleye fishing. The first two weeks of May is the best, in my opinion.”
In addition to the record-setter, Atwood netted several walleye.
“I don’t know exactly how many walleye we caught that day, 14 or 15 keepers on the whole trip, I suppose—and we were out here for 10 or 12 days,” he said.”
Aaron Stepanek dives back into first base ahead of a pickoff attempt and inadvertantly touches off a dust storm in the first inning of a 6-4 victory over Abilene. Stepanek was safe, then went on to steal second base and came around to score on a triple by Travis Riesen. Click image to enlarge.
Hillsboro Legion Post 366 won three of four games last week to raise its season record to 10-2.
On Tuesday, Post 366 lost the first game of a doubleheader with Moundridge, 5-3, but rallied in Game 2 for a 5-1 win.
Two days later, Post 366 won both games at Abilene, 6-4 and 6-3.
The 1953 Burns Hornets gathered for a book signing of “Title Towns! Class BB Boys Basketball Champions of Kansas” written by Steven Michael Farney at a reunion on May 26 at Burns. From left: Jack Heyman, assistant coach Bob Dvorak, Ronald Kirkpatrick, coach Harvey Loy, Don Nightengale, Elwyn Fink, Eugene Graves, Danny Stucky and Bob Brenzikofer. Not pictured: Marvin Nightengale, David Carlisle and Richard Hubman.
Travis Riesen snaps off a curve ball and strikes out a Lyons batter looking to end the fourth inning on Thursday. He struck out nine and Legion Post 366 claimed a 7-1 win. Andrew Ottoson / Free Press. Click image to enlarge.
Hillsboro American Legion Post 366 added four more wins to its resume this week and improved its record to 7-1.
Hillsboro outscored Peabody 11-4 and 16-11 on Tuesday. On Thursday, Hillsboro tallied a 7-1 win over Lyons before eking out a 12-11 victory in the second game.
Lyons—Travis Riesen took the hill for the first game and allowed one run and six runners in seven innings.
Gavin Serene heads to the dugout after scoring what turned out to be the game-winning run in the top of the third inning of an 11-2 drubbing of Herington. Photo by Andrew Ottoson. Click image to enlarge.
Legion Post 366 opened its season on Tuesday at Memorial Field and earned a split with Abilene.
On Thursday, the team traveled to Herington and hammered out wins of 17-2 and 11-2.
Herington—In the top of the first inning, Hillsboro jumped out to a 4-0 and never looked back.
Coach Tim Hein described the early-season offensive eruption as a product of “great at-bats and timely hitting.”
“We’ve worked ourselves into good counts and that makes a big difference,” he said.
