By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

STOCKTON -- Since 2002 when it was drained to repair the dam and spillway, the Rooks State Fishing Lake had been a lake without water, just as it had its own bridge to nowhere -- other than from one dry shoreline to another.

That's all in the past now, what with the lake being full.

That's why Mark Shaw, the fisheries biologist, and Michael Zajic, wildlife area manager for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, both have high hopes for the lake.

Already, Zajic is getting the 67-acre body of water about 4 miles southwest of Stockton ready for the grand opening, which might be no more than unlocking gates that now limit visitors to foot access.

For Shaw, spring is when he plans to start releasing water in a lake that now is full but otherwise devoid of fish.

"My plan is to go in with a lot of adult fish," he said.

That way, the agency won't have to stock the lake and then close it to fishing for a couple years to let the fish grow big enough to withstand the pressure from anglers.

Once among a small set of crown jewels in the state lake system, Rooks was closed because the spillway and dam were both in sad shape.

As well, the lake virtually was silted in.

Anglers could stand anywhere on the lake side, casting out as far as they could and still only be in about 18 inches of water.

Today, the shoreline slopes steeply, and water along the east side can be as much as 14 feet deep.

On Wednesday, it was as if the lake never had been dry.

Geese were swimming about, keeping to the west side, away from lake visitors.

"It's really neat, even to me, to see the geese come back so quick," Zajic said.

Even though Webster and Kirwin reservoirs were filling quickly last summer, the result of heavy rains, Rooks lake still was dry as of Oct. 1.

By month's end, however, it was full. Today, water laps over the top of the spillway, feeding the creekbed below.

Even the mini-cove under what had been the bridge to nowhere is full, although Zajic expressed disgust at the empty beer bottle that had been tossed carelessly onto the thin ice below.

That doesn't stop him from clearing away downed timber and making plans to provide access to the shoreline.

"We've been hauling and hauling that stuff off," he said. "I don't want to cut any trees. I just want it where I can mow it."

Rooks State Fishing Lake is considered an intermittent lake, going dry occasionally when Mother Nature fails to replenish the water supply flowing down Box Elder Creek.

"We're at the mercy of Mother Nature," Zajic said, noting the drainage system that feeds the lake is only a couple miles wide, running parallel to U.S. Highway 183 from Plainville to the lake. The lake, incidentally, was built in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration.

When the fishing stockings begin, Shaw plans to include channel catfish, largemouth bass and bluegills.

Catfish of catchable size might have to be purchased, or come from brood stock at hatcheries. Shaw hopes to release bass prior to spawning, setting the stage for a good hatch of young fish.

When the fish population returns, that should mean good fishing.

"I think it will be nice," Shaw said of the lake.

"It is nice to have it full," Zajic agreed as he looked over the still water Wednesday, the Canada geese honking in the background. "This is nice. This is nice."