A Harlan man was charged with illegal hand fishing after showing his catch in the local newspaper. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 48-year-old Larry Finstad was charged with illegally catching a catfish using his hand in the technique that’s know as “noodling.”
The D.N.R. says someone called in to the poachers hotline after seeing an article in the Harlan Tribune featuring Finstad holding a 30-pound flathead catfish that he admitted he caught by hand in the Nishnabotna River. Finstad was charged at the Shelby County Jail where he was locked up after being arrested earlier for possession of burglary tools.
It’s the second recent arrest here for the sport which is featured in some TV shows, but is illegal in the state. D.N.R. conservation officers charged four men with illegal hand fishing in June after watching them catch several catfish by hand in the Des Moines River near Selma.
The D.N.R. confiscated 174 pounds of catfish fillets at the home of one of the men.