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DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — This is the big one that didn’t get away. The Quad-City Times reports that a Davenport man caught 60-pound flathead catfish out of the Mississippi River at Davenport on Friday. That topped the 45-pound catfish Samuel Brown hauled in at about the same spot last year.
Brown says he had told a friend he planned to “catch a big one” on Friday. When he did, he noted that he opened the fish’s mouth and “could just about put my head in there.” Brown said he set his line a couple of hours before the giant fish bit. It took him about 25 minutes to reel it in.
Bob Beebensee and DNR Conservation Officer Grant Gelle talk about all things outdoors.
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The Fourth of July holiday weekend is typically one of the busiest times of the year on Iowa’s waterways and law enforcement officers are planning to target boaters who’ve been drinking. Dustin Eighmy is a conservation officer with the Iowa DNR. This weekend, he’ll be patrolling Saylorville Lake near Des Moines. “We’re looking for anyone not having the proper lookout, they’re boating too closely to other boaters, they’re speeding through no wake zones, and when we stop them – we’re looking for the slurred speech, watery eyes, the smell of alcohol, and beer cans in there,” Eighmy said.
DNR Water Patrol boat
Iowa DNR officers are ramping up enforcement efforts this weekend as part of the national Operation Dry Water campaign. Susan Stocker, boating law administrator and education coordinator for the Iowa DNR, says the goal is decrease crashes and deaths. “During 2016, we had a total of 46 boating while intoxicated arrests here in Iowa,” Stocker said. “On a national level, 17-percent of (boating) fatalities involve alcohol, but in Iowa, our rate is 33-percent.”
Six people were killed in Iowa in boat crashes last year. Two of those crashes involved alcohol. In Iowa, it’s illegal to operate a vessel with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of point-oh-eight (.08) or higher – the same as it is to drive a car. Jeff Swearngin, chief of the Iowa DNR law enforcement bureau, says alcohol tends to impair judgment and reaction time even greater on the water.
“When you’re on the water, the effects of alcohol get amplified by the wave action, the wind, the sun, dehydration – you don’t realize how much effect you have with that alcohol,” Swearngin said. “We’re looking to take those folks off the water. The folks who are out there drinking, getting drunk and driving their boat around – they’re not just endangering themselves and their families, but other people who are on the water.”
Boating while intoxicated is not only dangerous, Eighmy notes it can also be expensive. “A BWI fine can up to $1,000 and they can lose their boating privileges up to a year,” Eighmy said. “They’re going to spend a night in jail if they go with us. If you refuse, it’s an automatic $500.”
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES — The approaching Fourth of July weekend usually sees thousands of paddlers hitting Iowa’s waters. With heavy rains in the forecast, the DNR is advising paddlers and boaters to carefully watch water levels and increased traffic.
“While many rivers are at safe and optimal levels today, this may change as we have a chance of heavy rains through tomorrow night and again on Friday,” said Todd Robertson with the DNR’s water trails program. “Levels will be a concern and people must be aware that rain will raise water levels in mere minutes.”
After heavy rainfall, those on the water should watch for debris causing hazards. Some log jams have already been reported, like at the Anderson Access on the Skunk River just below Story City. Paddlers will need to portage around this large log jam.
In addition, the holiday weekend can also bring more boat traffic, more canoes and kayaks on the water, and more anglers. Boaters should also be familiar with Iowa’s boating while intoxicated laws.
Current stream flows are available from the U.S. Geological Survey at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ia/nwis/rt.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A father and son whose Iowa-based egg production company caused a massive 2010 salmonella outbreak have exhausted their appeals and a federal judge has ordered them to begin serving prison sentences.
53-year old Peter DeCoster must report to the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota after July 30 and his 83-year-old father Austin “Jack” DeCoster must serve his three-month term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, New Hampshire, 30 days after Peter is released.
They were sentenced to prison by a federal judge in Iowa in 2015 but appealed their sentences claiming they were unconstitutional and unreasonably harsh. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal in May. The DeCosters, who owned and operated Quality Egg LLC, pleaded guilty to selling adulterated food as responsible corporate officers.
Officers with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today (Tuesday), were called to dispatch a mountain lion from a farm near Galva, in northeast Ida County. The situation arose after a neighboring livestock producer discovered a dead calf that showed evidence consistent with an attack by a large cat late last week. Repeated calls were placed to 911 Monday evening by a nearby landowner who discovered the cat.
DNR officers use lethal action as the last resort option in these situations and every effort is made to humanely remove the animal. Bruce Trautman, deputy director with the Iowa DNR, said “White-tailed deer and other wild animals, particularly the weak or injured, are often the preferred prey. But in this situation, it appears this mountain lion has targeted young livestock and livestock producers are well within their rights to protect their livelihood.”
This is the first confirmed female mountain lion in Iowa. There is no physical evidence that she has produced any young. The Iowa DNR will collect teeth, tissue samples for genetic analysis and examine the stomach contents of the 88 pound animal. This is the fourth mountain lion killed in Iowa and the most recent since 2013 when a four year old male was shot in Sioux County. Since 1995, there have been 21 confirmed mountain lions in Iowa.
Western South Dakota and Nebraska have been the genetic source for the lions killed in Iowa. Mountain lions are not listed as a furbearer and have no protected status in Iowa.
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