MUSCATINE, Iowa – Does anyone else think that maybe some people are just a little too paranoid about what some describe as weapons?

A Zero Weapons Tolerance law led to a 10-day school suspension for high school senior Keith Larson at the Milaca School in rural Minnesota.

The high school football player and captain of the school’s wrestling team was suspended when he realized he had left his hunting bow in the back seat of his car.

Larson immediately informed school officials of his oversight and was suspended for 10 days.

School principal Troy Anderson defended Larson’s suspension saying, “In my mind, a bow is a weapon and kids at our school should know and follow the rules.”

Even after explaining that the bow was unusable due to being run over by a car the day before, Larson’s pleas for re-instatement fell on deaf ears. Larson hopes to be a conservation agent after college.

In another case, Blaine High School student Tony Richard was suspended for 10 days after a security guard spotted a box cutter in Richard’s car parked in the school parking lot.

Richard explained he uses the cutter to open boxes at his after school job at Cub Foods. The school administrator recommended full expulsion but, after a public outcry of rage the school board handed down the 10-day suspension.

On the lighter side

When Chad Leonard, a Nashville, Ga., angler hooked into a huge fish while fishing the Alapaha river, he wasn’t even sure what kind of fish it was.

All he knew for sure was, the fish was big, ugly and had a mouthful of teeth.

Leonard didn’t have a net large enough to handle the big fish, which turned out to be a 30-pound, 4-ounce longnose gar, but he did have a plan for landing the huge toothy fish – shoot it.

In fact, shoot it twice with a 380 handgun. After dispatching the fish, Leonard paraded the 56-inch fish around town until a conservation officer spotted him and recommended he have the fish legally weighed.

Turns out the fish is now a new Georgia state record gar.

Weather perfect

The area weather has been perfect for boating and fishing. Light winds, blue skies with warm days and cool nights usually trigger fish of all species into their fall feeding mode.

Crappie have moved into shallow water to feed, bluegill can be caught near any wood cover, bass are taking artificial lure fished along fallen trees or along rocky shorelines.

Catfish are equally active, feeding in early mornings, late evenings and at night. Nightcrawlers, stink baits, cheese baits and chicken liver are all good bets to try.

Most catfish, except for large flathead are in relatively shallow water near wood or rock cover. Some are holding just off current areas of the rivers while others are waiting below wing dams for some passing bait fish.

Rivers, lakes and ponds are all producing some nice catches of various species.

Top hot spots

For large flathead catfish, I recommend trying below the Coralville Lake dam. Large minnows or smaller bluegill should take a monster cat.

For channel catfish, it’s hard to beat the Mississippi, Cedar and Iowa Rivers. For numbers of crappie, try Lake Macbride with live minnows or tube jigs fished over wood cover.

Redear sunfish have been biting hard at Lake Geode on some of the old spawning sites that are easily located. Just look for little potholes on the bottom in three to four feet of water.

Farm ponds are great for largemouth bass and most lures will take some fish. For white bass and wipers, try Lake Macbride’s vast open water areas.

Walleye fishing is slow, but a few can be caught below big river dams and wing dams. Fish at least 15 feet deep with shiny lures or live bait.

Johnnie Crain is an outdoors writer from Muscatine. Contact: 563-263-2872

johnniecrain@machlink.com