No major injuries reported at lakes over weekend

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, June 1, 2004 | 10:40 a.m.

Some left with dozens of fish and tales of the one that got away.

And some came to feed dozens of fish -- tossing handfuls of popcorn off the dock into a dark brown mass of jostling, jumping, splashing, gaping carp.

Still more came for a day of wake boarding, suntanning, general puttering or speeding around the blue waters of Lake Mead on this Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer season.

As many as 188,000 were expected to visit the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which includes Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, over the three-day weekend that is the park's busiest of the year. Between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors come to the lakes during a typical summer weekend.

There were no fatalities at Lake Mead Friday night through Monday, nor any deaths at Lake Mead last year during the three-day holiday weekend that marks the unofficial start of the summer season, Roxanne Dey, spokeswoman for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, said.

No other statistics were available for release this morning, she said.

Last year, the Memorial Day weekend had 11 boat accidents, nine boat fires, and five search and rescues.

With three drownings already this year, and the continuing dropping of the lake level, park officials were asking visitors to be extra careful. The lake is about 70 feet shallower than normal, Dey said.

In addition to leaving Lake Mead with its now distinctive white ring around its edges, the lower water level also puts many more rocks close to or above the surface.

"There's no way we can mark every rock, so boaters should slow down and be careful," Dey said.

In addition to more rocks, boaters also dealt with longer-than-usual lines over the weekend, caused in part by the crowds, but also by the low water that has left some boat ramps unusable for larger boats.

Brian Green, 28, of Las Vegas, said his roommate waited two hours Saturday to get their boat down the ramp next to the Lake Mead Marina.

"Just in the last month it seems like it's gone down two-and-a-half feet," Green said, as he prepared for another day of wake boarding Monday. "It's sad the water's down so far because it makes it harder to launch and there's rocks in places there weren't."

Green said in past summers he and friends would frequent Las Vegas Bay, where the Las Vegas Wash meets the lake, but they don't go there now.

"It's pretty much all sand," he said.

The wait at the ramp Monday morning was far shorter, running as long as 15 minutes or so at times, but generally less, with almost as many boats coming out of the lake as were going in.

Shawn Bollinger, 31, of Las Vegas, took his boat out of the lake at Hemenway Harbor Monday morning after a weekend of sailing.

"We were out here too long and got too sunburned, and we want to leave before all the tourists come out here," Bollinger said.

Shannon Sowers and his crew also left early Monday after a night of fishing on the lake.

"We spent all night in the boat, and we were catching so many fish I couldn't handle it," said Sowers, 45, who went with a friend and his son.

Sowers estimated they caught about 30 striped bass and 10 channel catfish.

And, as always, there were the stories of the monster that got away.

The fish they were bringing home weighed up to about four pounds, but Sowers friend Larry Eilers, 43, said, "There was one that broke the steel leader, and there's no telling how big that was."

Even Sowers' son Sandon, 13, had his own fish tale, albeit less dramatic. He said he was reeling in a pretty fish, but it got off his hook and swam away.

Others were busy feeding the fish, with no plans or equipment to haul them from the water.

Three-year-old Reece Ashcraft threw handfuls of popcorn into a swarm of carp in the clear green water alongside the Lake Mead Marina.

Hundreds of the dark brown fish bobbed to the surface, squirming around and on top of each other, fighting for the popcorn being tossed by children passing by.

"The last time he would get down, but he wouldn't try to touch them," Robert Ashcraft said as his son petted the fish scrambling along the surface.

"It looks like you could walk out there," 30-year-old Brian Godfrey said of the carpet of fins along the top of the water. "These fish have figured out how to get a free meal."

Toni Godfrey, 6, said feeding the fish is what she likes best about going to the lake.

"This is what's cool about coming here," her father agreed.