Record Walleye Spawn Spawns Sightings


Palo Alto: Officially, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources denies they even exist. Unofficially, DNR Ranger Mike Dooley says he's hardly surprised that this year's record walleye spawn in Five Island Lake has caused such a flood in alleged pteranodon sightings. A number of veteran Emmetsburg anglers claim they have been frequently buzzed by huge flying reptiles nesting on the wooded hills overlooking the lake.

     "I seen 'em up close," says Ranger Dooley. "They ain't eagles. They got a twenty-seven foot wingspan and big bony crest on the back of the head. They can face into the wind at just the right angle and just hang there like a huge kite. When they see a fish, they just tuck in those wings and BAM---snap that fish right out of the water. Just like watching a small plane with a beak."

     Milo O'Shaunessey has had several dangerous encounters with the giant flying reptiles. According to his nephew Rory, the most recent brush nearly cost their lives.

     "Unc and I were out very early on May 2. The sun warn't up and both wind and water was dead calm. We were just coming into a little draw at the southeast end of the lake when all of a sudden, there's this rush of wind---coming straight down on us. Now we had a lantern in the boat and a big flashlight, but it was plenty dark cause the sky was overcast so 'course we couldn't see nothin'. Then this wind hits us again---blew my best John Deere hat into the water. Anyway, Unc gets this scared look on his face. So he grabs the big flashlight and points it up in the sky. All we saw was an big dark eye and part of a very, very long beak only about 50 feet above us. Then it vanished into the dark. Next we know, there's rocks dropping into the water around us. Big ones! Bigger than yer head! Well, Unc jumped on the motor and got us out of there 'cause God knows what those things would have done to us if we stayed much longer."

     But Bart Haig, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Regional Manager, adamantly dismisses the sightings as misinterpretations of natural phenomena by uninformed or deluded individuals.

     "There are hundreds of natural causes for people seeing something like this---two of them, I am afraid, are stupidity and drug abuse. These 'flying reptiles' are really eagles or some nut flying dry cleaning bags filled with marsh gas over the water. All I can say is that it's high irresponsible to publish such weirdo-reports!"<





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